IF CARPING over costs was an Olympic event, we could waltz towards 2012 assured our first gold medal was in the bag.
After Beijing's fanfare heralded Britain's best medal haul in a century, the unity and pride of late summer has given way to normal service.
This week, tensions between Scotland and London over the 2012 Games escalated, and not just in the ongoi
ng row about a Team GB football team.
Stewart Maxwell, communities minister, lodged a formal submission to Andy Burnham, the UK sport secretary, demanding the return of millions of pounds Holyrood believes has been diverted from Scotland to help finance the vast Games' infrastructure in the capital.
The latest controversy to prompt accusations that the benefits of 2012 will be geographically isolated, emerged following from the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), the public body responsible for developing and building new venues and infrastructure.
Scotland, it would appear, is playing a minimal role so far. Out of 801 firms carrying out work for the ODA, only 10 are based north of the border. That is despite the fact Scotland is home to 7 per cent of Britain's businesses (ironically, it was an Edinburgh-based design firm, Navy Blue, that created London's 600-page bid document to the International Olympic Committee).
Furthermore, The Scotsman understands that of the 40,000 suppliers registered on CompeteFor, an ODA website which allows firms to bid for contracts, only just over 900 are based in Scotland.
That makes the hope expressed by Jack Perry, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, that Scotland will generate orders of around £500m seem optimistic to say the least.
Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister, suggested that the blame lay at the door of the devolved administration, claiming the Scottish Government has not embarked on any "real drive" to "maximise the benefits" available to them.
However, Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire who sought out the figures, warned party politics might be impacting on Scotland's role.
"The benefit of the Olympics ought to be felt throughout the whole of the UK," she said. "That was the promise made at the time of the bid."
The foisting of blame will doubtless continue, but it the Scottish outpost of the London 2012 Business Network was only launched two months ago, well behind similar initiatives throughout every region of England, as well as Northern Ireland and Wales.
So far, the Scots firms involved are performing relatively low-key work. Kilsyth-based Ritchies, for example, is testing materials for an ODA contractor cleaning up land, while Glasgow's NORD Architecture is designing an electrical substation.
Professor Adam Blake, who conducted a detailed study on the economic impact of London 2012, which formed part of the UK Government's Olympic Games impact study said: "It is unlikely there would ever be a completely even spread throughout the UK on a project like this, based in London. The main reason is transport costs."
It is though, the basis of Mr Maxwell's letter namely, what will become of money earmarked for good causes in Scotland – that remains the most contentious issue.
If we are to take the official budget of the Games, £9.3bn, it is almost a third of the entire budget of the Scottish Government. Of that, some £2.2bn will come from Lottery funding, a figure that is nearly eight times the cost of Glasgow's Commonwealth Games in 2014.
The SNP administration believes its share due totals around £150m, and should be returned as a "matter of natural justice" according to Mr Maxwell.
It is thought that because of direct contributions to the London Olympics, the Big Lottery Fund has lost out on around £73m in its budget, the Heritage Lottery Fund by £18m, and sportscotland by approximately £13m.
The Scottish Government also estimates a drop in income of around £30m because of reduced sales from Lotto games dedicated to fundraising for 2012.
For Mr Maxwell, the return of those millions will improve life in Scotland not just up until 2012, but beyond 2014, creating a "legacy" from the Commonwealth Games.
"We have a vision that stretches far beyond the number of medals we win – although it goes without saying that we're committed to maximising those too," he told The Scotsman.
The bite is already being felt by smaller organisations. Seemingly unconnected to the fanfare 2012, they are complaining that funding is drying up.
For example, the team behind New Lanark, a conserved 18th century mill village and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Lanarkshire, has warned that part of the site might collapse due to lack of capital for vital restoration work.
Arthur Bell, chair of the conservation trust, said: "There is a perception in Scotland certainly, that there is an awful lot of money being siphoned off to go to the east end of London, and while we wish everybody the best in 2012, we don't want to see our heritage put at risk."
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) too has repeatedly voiced concerns.
Lucy McTernan, its acting chief executive and director of corporate affairs, points out that at a time of economic doubt, the last thing good causes need is having further reductions in their budgets.
She said: "The top-slicing of lottery funding in this way is leaving a projected shortfall in funding for good causes over the Olympic period. While some of the lottery distributors are fully devolved, the principal funder of the third sector, the Big Lottery Fund, is only partially devolved in structure, and remains centralised in policy-making, and constrained from fully matching its funding priorities to Scottish needs."
The ODA, however, refutes any idea that the benefits of the Olympics will be limited to the London postal district.
Football, for example, will come to Glasgow's Hampden Park, although the finals will be contested in Wembley. Furthermore, 28 separate facilities in Scotland are earmarked to host pre-Games training camps. The geographical spread is impressive, comprising major resources such as the Royal Commonwealth Pool and the Sportscotland National Centre, to smaller hubs like Denwood Target Shooting Centre in Aberdeen, and Edinburgh's Peffermill National Hockey Academy.
Prof Blake, head of economics at Bournemouth University, believes that for all the rows over contracts and Lottery funding, Scotland will gain.
He said: "I think the main benefit will come in terms of tourism. There will be visitors from certain markets coming into the UK who will want to see Scotland, not just London.
"The majority of visitors will be domestic, followed by people from the European Union, and it is unlikely they will extend their stay to go outside London. But the key is long haul markets, visitors from places like the US.
"And if all goes well, there will be even more visitors in the years after 2012. The Games organisers and the DCMS have programmes to get journalists all around the country."
Professor Simon Shibli, a specialist researcher in the Olympics, said: "It is rare for somewhere like the UK to be hosting two major multisport events in the space of a few years, but by impressing people with, for example, the football at Hampden, Scotland can really benefit in 2014 and beyond."
London's taking us for a ride, roll on 2014
Stewart Maxwell Communities MinisterTHE London Games are funded, in large part, by astronomical amounts of lottery money, and the loss to Scotland's good causes amounts to an eye-watering £150 million.
And what compensation can Scotland expect from helping fund the London jamboree? There's a possibility of some training camps, although no guarantees, and perhaps some Scottish companies winning London 2012 contracts. This week, hard pressed Scots firms, already reeling from the economic downturn, received a slap in the face after figures showed only a handful of businesses have won lucrative London Olympics contracts. That's hugely disappointing.
As a government, we will do all we can to help Scottish companies bid, and secure London 2012 contracts. Agencies such as Scottish Enterprise are already working hard behind the scenes to help that process.
Our sights are focused on a bigger prize that will deliver lasting benefits for the people of Scotland. The Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 will showcase the best this country has to offer.
We have submitted a formal bid to the UK Government to retrieve the £150million in lottery funds drained from Scottish good causes to finance London 2012.
We have big ambitions for our 2014 legacy, but the return of £150million would allow us to do even more to enrich communities across Scotland.
Gold-seeking companies must join the race
John Armitt Chairman, Olympic Delivery AuthorityTHE largest project Great Britain has seen for generations is now less than four years away, and the opportunities are available for Scottish businesses. Ten Scottish companies or organisations have already won work directly supplying the Olympic Delivery Authority. Many more have won work supplying the ODA's contractors and are preparing to compete to win future work.
These aren't just numbers. These are real Scottish companies that can really get a piece of the economic gold the Games are delivering.
The ODA and London Organising Committee (Locog) expect to allocate more than £6 billion of work as part of an estimated 75,000 business opportunities covering direct contractors and their supply chains over the coming years. London 2012 can offer Scottish businesses of all sizes golden opportunities in the current economic climate.
The latest "business benefits" figures published this week have shown that small and medium-sized enterprises make up 81 per cent of the 919 companies from Scotland registered on CompeteFor, the "dating agency" that aims to match businesses with Games-related opportunities.
With Scotland set to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, there is a huge chance for Scottish businesses to benefit from these two world-class sporting events. I am sure Scotland will have many winners from the London 2012 business race.
The full article contains 1659 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
