Lord Lucas calls for cheaper permanent facility at Surrey guns centre instead of temporary venue at Woolwich

Plans to build a £40m shooting venue at Woolwich for the Olympic Games have been lambasted in Westminster.

Conservative peer Lord Lucas said the project was a “most appalling waste” and called for the 2012 shooting events to be moved to Bisley in Surrey, where the National Shooting Centre is based.

During question time on Tuesday, Lucas said: “Is it not a strange definition of cost-effective and a most appalling waste to spend £40m on a shooting venue at Woolwich, which will be destroyed immediately after the Olympics, rather than £10m less for a facility at Bisley that will be used for generations?”

Gun
The peer described the plan as "a strange definition of cost-effective and a most appalling waste"

But former Tory sports minister Lord Moynihan, who is chairman of the British Olympic Association and a director of the 2012 organising committee, said holding the shooting at Bisley would require “highly sensitive development” on greenbelt land.

Lord Davies of Oldham said: “The Olympic Games are London's Olympic Games and should take place as far as possible within the confines of London."

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