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Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

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Peiriannydd

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Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostTue Jul 26, 2016 11:39 pm

Is anyone else dismayed by this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-36895145

I know £1.5billion (highest estimate) is a lot of money (roll the "we need to spend more on doctors/nurses/hospitals/teachers/schools" line than most people peddle on newpaper responses), but seriously think what this could do for not only Welsh sporting infrastructure but puting Wales on the map.

Both Manchester and Glasgow made a huge success of the games, wrapping it up in wider regeneration works that I think would greatly benefit Cardiff (let's face it, Cardiff is the only serious contender).

Wouldn't it be better to go for it and send out a message that we're ambitious and open for business rather than crawling under our rocks because some of use in power didn't like the referendum vote?

I think irrespective of whether or not you agree with Labour's social policies etc., it's about time Wales had a government filled with people who have drive, ambition and a positive vision for Wales. I don't see anyone of that ilk in Labour, every one of them has this "we're too small, too poor and too stupid" attitude. Everything is in the too-hard basket. I'm amazed parts of the Metro still appear to be going ahead with those Muppets in charge.
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paul cardiffwalesmap

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Re: Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostWed Jul 27, 2016 12:54 am

Yes indeed I was also dismayed! At the moment we've just really raised the profile of Welsh sport with the superb performance of our football team, in all fairness the Rugby team is consistently up there with the top 6ish in the world, and we've also currently got some olympic gb team members that could well be medal contenders. Next year Cardiff hosts the final of probably the biggest annual football game. We seem to be on the crest of a wave for a nation of 3 million, to keep the profile up there with a bid for the commonwealth games would almost seem like a natural progression. Now £1.5bn is a lot of dosh, but it then improves facilities for the future, also plenty of construction involved, and you then make money out of the games, and what price our profile? I wonder when 'that vote' happened whether at the back of the the WAG's minds was to immediately cancel one on the list of things to do as they could just use it as an excuse not to bother! :roll:
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LocalLurker

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Re: Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostWed Jul 27, 2016 7:24 am

Normally I'd be gutted by this sort of news but we can't blame the government for this. We haven't got the guaranteed funding we would have had from ERDF and Westminster hasn't promised to fill this hole. Luxuries such as hosting the Commonwealth Games and indeed the Circuit of Wales should be kicked into the long grass until we know how much we have to play with, it was a couple weeks ago that it was announced that there were now shortfalls in the Metro project, which is far more important than hosting the Commies. You can add a new M4 round Newport to that list too. This isn't lack of ambition, this is prudent in the face of economic chaos. Don't blame Ken Skates or Welsh Labour for this, blame those who voted for financial uncertainty :roll: After years of hosting fantastic events in our wonderful city, welcome to the new reality
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RandomComment

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Re: Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostWed Jul 27, 2016 11:19 am

I'm a little on the fence on this one. On the one hand, when you consider the investment in sporting and other infrastructure, and the fact that the costs are spread out over several years, the sums involved are not "huge". It would send a signal that Wales is still optimistic and ambitious.

But they are substantial - spread over the next 10 years they would amount to 1% of the budget each year. And thats a budget that in all likelihood will be smaller than it would otherwise have been. 1% of the budget would be enough to fund large parts of the metro over the same time period. Or yes, invest significantly in priority areas of public spending - like a 10% increase in social services spending (maybe useful with an ageing population), or perhaps 5% on schools (maybe useful with our woeful educational performance).

I think the main thing though is that its important that the Welsh government gets value-for-money from its public spending. Big sporting events like this tend to be pretty poor value for money. Direct economic benefits and supposed longer-term 'indirect' benefits can be significantly offset by losses of productivity during the event (extra congestion, absenteeism, etc). Evidence of "profile-raising" is limited except in a few very specific instances (e.g. Barcelona). There is also the opportunity of the cost of the money - see above. For this reason I think I probably agree with their decision on the Commonwealth Games. I'm less sure about the Circuit of Wales - because I don't know enough about the strength of the business case. But again I'd probably err on the side of caution here too. The private sector backers clearly see this as a highly risky proposition if they want the public sector to underwrite 83% of the value of the project and are willing to pay a fairly chunky fee for that underwriting.

Wales needs productive investment in it economy, its skills, and its infrastructure. It does not need vanity projects or potential white elephants - whether we had voted to leave the EU or not. I'm worried the two sporting schemes could have been examples of these so I don't think we can immediately write off the Welsh Govt as "pathetic" or "unambitious". We could just as easily say prudent and cautious...
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Zach

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Re: Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostSat Jul 30, 2016 12:18 pm

Wales needs productive investment in it economy, its skills, and its infrastructure. It does not need vanity projects or potential white elephants


I totally agree :shock:
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Ben In London

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Re: Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostTue Aug 23, 2016 3:32 pm

The plan was ruined once the WAG decided it should be a 'Wales' bid not a Cardiff bid.
They even admitted that this made it far less likely to be chosen!
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Peiriannydd

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Re: Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostTue Feb 28, 2017 9:57 pm

Nice to see another British city showing some ambition:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-39118266

Pity it's one in England and not in Wales (not that I'd want Liverpool in Wales).
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Ben In London

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Re: Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostWed Mar 01, 2017 11:51 am

I'd rather a Liverpool bid than a 'Wales' bid.
The bid would've only worked if it was for Cardiff and it was deliberately sabotaged.
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Cen

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Re: Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostWed Mar 01, 2017 12:01 pm

Ben In London wrote:I'd rather a Liverpool bid than a 'Wales' bid.
The bid would've only worked if it was for Cardiff and it was deliberately sabotaged.

This annoys me to no end. Why does everything have to be national? It makes us in Wales seem so small-town minded. It annoys me as a Cardiffian that we can't take credit for something as an independent city and I'm sure it annoys non-Cardiffians that all but a minor few "National" and "Welsh" things are based in Cardiff. We're too busy marketing Wales when we should be marketing the individual cities that make up the underlying economy and culture.
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Peiriannydd

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Re: Commonwealth Games Bid (or lack of one!)

PostWed Mar 01, 2017 5:40 pm

Cen wrote:
Ben In London wrote:I'd rather a Liverpool bid than a 'Wales' bid.
The bid would've only worked if it was for Cardiff and it was deliberately sabotaged.

This annoys me to no end. Why does everything have to be national? It makes us in Wales seem so small-town minded. It annoys me as a Cardiffian that we can't take credit for something as an independent city and I'm sure it annoys non-Cardiffians that all but a minor few "National" and "Welsh" things are based in Cardiff. We're too busy marketing Wales when we should be marketing the individual cities that make up the underlying economy and culture.


I totally agree! I've been saying the same for a long time. We need our cities to have their own identity and to push themselves on the world stage. I'm utterly sick of this village mentality in Wales where everything has to be badged as Wales/Welsh this and Wales/Welsh that. Also, can we stop naming everything after St David?

Seriously, look how different Edinburgh and Glasgow are as two Scottish cities. I really love Glasgow (apart from the SNP nutters), it feels like a grand old city. Look at the scale of its historic buildings (banks, insurance companies, railway stations), the presence of an underground. The squares, statues and street names are comparable to those of London and Dublin. You get the sense that it was the second city of the British Empire. It's very different from Edinburgh and each have their own identity.
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