RT HON TESSA JOWELL MP, MR GERRY SUTCLIFFE MP, MR DAVID GOLDSTONE AND MS NICKY ROCHE

9 DECEMBER 2008

  Q240  Mr Sanders: Can you confirm whether you are considering leaving the main press centre to Stratford City and making the broadcast facility a wholly temporary structure?

  Tessa Jowell: At the moment obviously we are pursuing a twin track but within the overriding objective to maximise the legacy benefit for Hackney and the Olympic boroughs once the Games are over. We are pursuing the planning of a single site for the press and broadcast centre at Hackney Wick, which was the originally intended site, and there have also been some discussions about a split facility part of which would be at Stratford. As those discussions reach their conclusion, which we expect to be quite soon, I am very happy to give the Committee an in confidence update on that.

  Q241  Mr Sanders: What legacy benefits would the split site option provide?

  Tessa Jowell: These are precisely the considerations that we are looking at now, but our hope is that the legacy will bring jobs and investment to Hackney. A number of live options are currently being considered for that.

  Q242  Mr Sanders: I believe your department said that the decision would be made before Christmas. Is that still on track?

  Tessa Jowell: I do not want to be obscure about it, but I think that a decision by the end of the year or early next year will give direction of travel. This is a facility that potentially is one and a half times the size of the Canary Wharf tower. If you can imagine the scale of it, we have to ensure that in identifying a firm runner for a potential use, feasibility studies and so forth are undertaken, but it is my wish to keep the Committee updated on this without at this stage being as open as I would like to be about the stage of very active negotiations.

  Q243  Mr Sanders: But the proposed construction date is May, is it not?

  Tessa Jowell: Construction will start in May, but we are building a media facility for the Olympics and that will start on time in the spring of next year. Therefore, the legacy use has no bearing on the construction timetable.

  Q244  Mr Sanders: But if you are constructing two things you need to know where you are constructing it, do you not?

  Tessa Jowell: I can give you an absolute assurance that the decisions will have been taken well in advance of that and that construction will proceed on time. I am afraid you have to accept that at the moment we are engaged in a number of very fast-moving discussions. Whilst I would be very happy to brief the Committee on them we really need to allow them to mature before we go public on them.

  Chairman: We should probably stop there given the time. Thank you very much.