Olympics

Useful Olympic links for March 8th through April 25th

Olympic news roundup for 17:51: Olympic torch to borough cost £10k | HeraldandPost | News | Wellingborough-and-Rushden-News – How the Olympic Legacy has affected London’s independent businesses | Independent Everything – A report released by the Federation for Small Businesses … Continue reading

Torch relay bill update – 128 authorities, £5.5m

128 public authorities spent a combined £5.5m on staging the Olympic torch relay, according to the latest figures being compiled by Help Me Investigate users. The figure – based on Freedom of Information requests to local councils and police bodies … Continue reading

Correction: CCTV spending by Aberdeen City, not Aberdeenshire Council

We previously reported that Aberdeenshire had spent part of their torch relay funds on CCTV. This should have said Aberdeen City Council. We apologise for the error. The original post, and the database, have been corrected. Aberdeen City Council’s torch relay expenditure … Continue reading

Correction: CCTV spending by Aberdeen City, not Aberdeenshire Council

We previously reported that Aberdeenshire had spent part of their torch relay funds on CCTV. This should have said Aberdeen City Council. We apologise for the error. The original post, and the database, have been corrected. Aberdeen City Council’s torch relay expenditure … Continue reading

Sutton Guardian picks up Olympic torch relay figures

The Sutton Guardian have reported on local spending on the Olympic torch relay disclosed as part of Help Me Investigate’s investigation. Mike Pyle writes that the local council paid £9,000 for the torch’s journey through the area. This covered stewards, … Continue reading

HMI’s Olympic torch relay spending data in The Guardian’s datablog

Apologies for not publishing this earlier, but we have also been publishing the data on public spending on the torch relay in The Guardian Datablog. You can find it here.

Leicestershire’s £230,000 Olympic torch relay bill – Leicester Mercury

The Leicester Mercury’s Dan Martin reports on torch relay spending in the county: “The council said it footed a bill of £102,641 when the torch came to the city last July. Most of that, £81,560, was spent on a giant party … Continue reading

The Olympic letters that cost as much as road closures – Birmingham

The Birmingham Mail have published one of the stories from our investigation into torch relay spending: “Birmingham City Council spent over £16,000 on letters to residents when the Olympic torch relay came through the region – almost as much as … Continue reading

Discover your council’s Torch Relay spending – and help find out more

We’re opening up our database of £4m of spending based on FOI request responses from 100 local councils and police authorities. As we reported last week, the responses contain some interesting budget decisions – from a specific staff position in … Continue reading

Raided reserves, extra staff, and lots of bunting: how did your council foot the £13m torch relay bill?

By Carol Miers, Juliet Ferguson and Paul Bradshaw Funds intended for maritime festivals, economic development, council reserves and food markets were among pots which were raided to pay for torch relay bills, according to an investigation by Help Me Investigate … Continue reading