Picketts Lock fiasco leads to call for 'events minister'

London stands no hope of attracting any major athletics championship in the future, MPs warned yesterday in a scathing report into the collapse of plans to build a national stadium for the sport.

London stands no hope of attracting any major athletics championship in the future, MPs warned yesterday in a scathing report into the collapse of plans to build a national stadium for the sport.

They denounced the Government's handling of the "sorry and convoluted" saga of how athletics was removed from plans for a revamped Wembley and switched to Picketts Lock, only for that project to be abruptly scrapped and the 2005 World Championships lost. They also condemned the lax controls on Lottery hand-outs to sport in the light of the failure of the two projects.

In a fiercely worded report, the Culture, Media and Sport select committee demanded an overhaul of how Britain bids in future for world championships.

The International Association of Athletics Federations meets next week to award the 2005 games to a new city. Britain has appealed for the tournament to be switched from London to Sheffield, but the chances are slim.

The MPs say: "If Sheffield is rejected... the Government should seriously consider whether there is a last opportunity to return to the original strategy of a stadium at Wembley for football, rugby and major athletics events.

"Without this, there will be no venue for athletics in London capable of staging the World Athletics Championships, or the Olympics, and therefore little prospect of attracting these events to the capital."

The MPs – who head their report with Oliver Hardy's "another fine mess" catchphrase – said the Picketts Lock project was "plucked out of the air by the Government and then abruptly dropped".

In a reference to Chris Smith, the former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, they accused ministers of becoming involved in projects beyond their scope and powers. They said the decision to remove athletics from Wembley was "taken in a hurry on flimsy and subjective grounds" and the development of Picketts Lock "perverse" and "bizarre".

Smith's replacement, Tessa Jowell, set up a review of the Picketts Lock plans shortly after her appointment, only to pull the plug on them three months later.

The committee says: "We fail to see any justification for the shift in the Government's position on Picketts Lock, from confidence to alarm." The MPs say that ministers have to face up to tough decisions on whether they want Britain to bid for prestige tournaments and whether they are "prepared to fund such ventures to a realistic level".

"It is no good making fanfare commitments to host events from a reducing Lottery fund with a presumption that private-sector support will bridge the gap." The MPs called for the Government to appoint a minister with the sole task of driving through major events, sporting or otherwise.