Sutton Councillor slates "boring" Olympic banners in Cheam

8:50am Saturday 9th June 2012 in News By Sophia Sleigh, Reporter

Sutton Councillor Mary Burstow Sutton Councillor Mary Burstow

A councillor slammed the “boring” Olympic banners in Cheam.

Sutton Council was given £50,000 of funding by the GLA to spend on decoration ahead of the Olympic Games.

In her blog, Liberal Democrat councillor for Cheam, Mary Burstow, has slated the banners in Cheam village as a waste of money.

Mrs Burstow said: “I have just driven past the Olympic Banners in Cheam village. They are the most boring, uninspiring displays I have seen in a long time. They would look so much better in Sainsbury’s Car Park.

“To add insult to injury one even reads “Sutton”. We are in Cheam, not Sutton. Perhaps the Olympic authorities are in league with the Post Office (and the post code saga) to make Cheam part of Sutton.

“What a waste of money. I suspect if we had asked A-Level Art Students from Cheam High School they would have done a much better job.

“Let me be clear. The banners were not chosen by Sutton Council. The Olympic authorities told us which designs we could have - then charged us an arm and a leg for them.

“We could not commission anything more original as the Olympic authorities have copyright on all things Olympic.

“The GLA offered all London Boroughs a very limited and expensive menu of banners to choose from. There was no choice.”

Related links

The money was to be spent on bunting, flag poles and other Olympic themed displays from Locog, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games', official supplier Icon.

What do you think? Send your opinions to ssleigh@london.newsquest.co.uk.

Comments(10)

Giles C says...
9:36am Sat 9 Jun 12

At least there are banners up unlike over the Queens jubilee in Sutton where nothing was put up....

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lordofzombies says...
11:16am Sat 9 Jun 12

why are we bothering? the Olympics will be in london, and mostly east london. the only thing to celebrate around our area will be the traffic!

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Michael Pantlin says...
5:17pm Sat 9 Jun 12

The Olympics themselves are boring to anyone not interested in sport.

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Michael Pantlin says...
5:20pm Sat 9 Jun 12

The most distasteful banner is the expensive one across the front of our St. Helier District General Hospital which appears to promise so much while in fact departments are being shut down, staff have been pushed out of their jobs and patients are faced with the prospect of a long and difficult trek to Tooting to swell the queues for treatment there.

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Monstermunch17 says...
7:18pm Sun 10 Jun 12

What is this ridiculous thing people have got about not being Sutton? It's pathetic, get over yourselves.

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Giles C says...
9:46pm Sun 10 Jun 12

I would be more concerned about he boring Councillors in Cheam....

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Mr Philski says...
8:57am Mon 11 Jun 12

I agree on the councillors comments, I too have seen the ones dotted around our way and they certainly do nothing to get me excited about the Olympics! Since "winning" the Olympics we have seen so many negatives start coming out the woodwork be it security threats, rising costs and fears about transportation and gridlock in London, my guess is it will be another hyped up and expensive folly that won't live upto the organisers expectations....time will tell.

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Krissi says...
9:13am Mon 11 Jun 12

what I would like to see, when this Olympics is over, is the council selling or raffling all of them off, with the funds going to a good cause chosen by the people of the borough as I'm sure there are people out there who would live a souvenir of this once-in-a-lifetime event,or would that just be too sensible?

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Angela M says...
4:44pm Mon 11 Jun 12

What about the bizarre purple-squares-with-
olympic-facts they've painted on the floor in Sutton High Street? It seems the Olympic legacy is now to include annoying remnants of pink-purple paint stuck between the bricks of the previously clean pavement. Nice.

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Surreydon says...
4:58pm Tue 12 Jun 12

"The banners were not chosen by Sutton Council. The Olympic authorities told us which designs we could have - then charged us an arm and a leg for them".

No surprise there! The 'Sebastian Colympics' are a nice little earner for some, and a scandalous waste of money for most......

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