Bexley is stepping up its support as London hits the home stretch in the race to host the 2012 Olympics. Senior reporter JOHN HIGGINSON talks to those involved ...

Key figures from the borough were given their own pod in the London Eye as a thank you for giving their support to the London 2012 Olympic bid.

On the same day, London was chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as one of five cities to make it through to the final round of bidding.

Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid also made it through with Rio de Janeiro, Havana, Istanbul and Leipzig all falling at the penultimate hurdle on May 18.

The winning city will be announced in Singapore in July next year.

Londoners are predicted to pay up to £20 extra on their council tax to fund it.

Mayor of Bexley John Eastaugh said: "The event on the London Eye was a fun launch of what we hope will be a successful bid.

"Bexley is in a great position geographically to benefit enormously from the event should the transport infrastructure be in place.

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"The Olympics will provide long-term benefits to the borough in terms of aditional tourism and aditional spending on sport."

However, London Assembly Green Party leader and mayoral candidate, Darren Johnson, says the infrastructure will not be in place to host the games until 2020.

He said: "Before considering hosting the Olympics, the London Assembly and the mayor must ensure London is a city that has a good quality of life for all Londoners. Let's go all out for 2020 when I am confident we will have improved much of London's most pressing areas of neglect."

News Shopper is supporting the bid by displaying the London 2012 logo on our masthead.

Money matters

If the capital gets the green light to stage the event it could cost £3.6 billion in total, which includes:

  • £2.375 billion from public funds
  • up to £1.5 billion from the lottery
  • up to £625 million from a London tax
  • up to £250 million from London Development Agency

However, consultant Arup says additional tourism income of up to £610 million will be generated by Olympic visitors, and the tax yield from the 9,000 jobs created could see the Games making a profit of £82 million.

Sydney made a profit of £3.3 billion when it held the Games in 2000 when roughly half the World's population watched 10,000 athletes from 199 countries in the largest-ever Olympic Games.