Government 'no' to Picketts Lock

London's dreams of staging the World Athletics Championships in 2005 were shattered today as the Government scrapped plans for a new £110 million track and field complex at Picketts Lock.

In a move which will cause severe embarrassment to British sport and Prime Minister Tony Blair, who made personal guarantees to world athletics officials that the capital would be ready for the championships, the Government has now shelved the project amid fears over costs.

A Government report into the scheme carried out by former Prison Service director Patrick Carter found planners underestimated running costs and concluded transport links to the Edmonton site would be too expensive to improve. The report also raised doubts over whether the complex, which included plans for a 43,000-seater stadium alongside an indoor training centre, would be ready in time.

UK Athletics chief executive David Moorcroft and officials from Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, who own the Picketts Lock site, were told of the decision at a meeting with ministers this afternoon.

With no other sites or stadiums in London considered good enough, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell will tomorrow meet Lamine Diack, president of the world athletics governing body the IAAF, to plead with him to accept Sheffield as an alternative host city for the event. But that offer is likely to be rejected with the IAAF preparing to reopen the bidding for the championships.

Although the British Olympic Association said today their work on a bid to bring the 2012 Olympics to London will continue, the decision to scrap Picketts Lock is likely to end any realistic hopes of bringing the Games here.

With the future of Wembley still hanging in the balance, Britain's standing in international sporting circles has been severely damaged by today's decision.

Failure to stage the World Championships in London in 2005 will almost certainly end any hopes of staging the Olympics. As for Picketts Lock and UK Athletics the future is just as gloomy. Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and Enfield Council had hoped to use the championships and stadium complex as a springboard for regeneration of the run-down area.

Moorcroft, meanwhile, had hoped bringing the event to London would spark serious investment in the sport. Now, by way of compensation, he is likely to receive a lottery award from Sport England to fund the development of grass roots athletics.

The Picketts Lock project was launched in 1999 after it was decided to alter plans to house athletics at the new Wembley.