The Head of Community Development informed the meeting that the Paralympic Games road cycling would be held at Brands Hatch between 5 and 8 September with training held on 3 and 4 September 2012. The first practice on the Paralympic track had been held earlier in the week. 225 paralympians would be competing at Brands Hatch for 32 gold medals. Brands Hatch was selected 18 months ago as the site for its undulations and camber which made it more challenging than the alternatives. 4km of the course were on the track and 4km on the road.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) had intended that all visitors to Brands Hatch travel by train. Those who travelled to Sevenoaks railway station would be taken by shuttle bus to the venue. Parking had only been provided for those with a ticket for the event. The Council with Kent County Council had therefore hired a field at Wrotham Hill to provide greater capacity for spectator parking, with the intention of reducing pressure on local communities.

The responsibilities of the District Council for the Paralympic event were listed. It would be responsible for crowd safety outside Brands Hatch and nearly 200 volunteers had been recruited, with half already trained. Each volunteer had been offered a ticket to the Paralympic training event earlier in the week. A crowd management company had also been hired and was to provide additional staff. The Council had been asked to clean the roads of the course, and would be paid additional monies for that part of the course which was inside Brands Hatch. A standing Safety Advisory Group had been established to consider every agency’s emergency plan for the event. The Community Development team was involved in producing the Event Plan, recruiting and training volunteer stewards, ensuring crowd management and safety, and communications with the local community.  The Health and Leisure Manager had engaged and strengthened links with local stakeholders, especially community groups, by giving presentations to them. Finally the Council would also be responsible for toilets and first aid outside of the venue.

Estimates put the economic benefit to the District at £1.36 million but the Head of Community Development advised caution with this figure.

The tagline of the legacy was to “Be Inpired, Be Active”. One aim was to encourage cycling in the District by creating new cycling routes and promoting Sky Rides, which were community-led bike rides. It also included proposals for an outdoor gymnasium at West Kingsdown, greater disabled access to local tourist venues and the History of Olympia school workshop which was provided by the STAG Theatre.

The Olympic torch relay was due to go through the District on 20 July 2012 and would take 1 hour and 20 minutes. It would be transported by convoy until Seal from where each runner would travel approximately 300m with the torch. Most of the torch runners came from outside the District. Officers were aware that so far, elsewhere in the country, attendance at the torch relay had been much greater than expected. Leaflets had been circulated to all parishes abutting the route.  Barriers would be put up in selected parts of the route at 4a.m. on the day and traffic would be stopped on one side of the road. Each shopkeeper on the route had been visited, given a leaflet and directed to the website so that the most could be made of the event.

The Committee thanked the Officers and volunteers for their hard work. The Head of Community Development reminded the meeting that it was a corporate effort and many different Teams had been involved at one stage in the process. It was also noted that the Parish Councils had organised events for the torch relay and local churches had offered their facilities too, such as their toilets and their halls.