DCMS invites public comment on 2012

Critics of the controversial Wolff Olins-designed London 2012 branding will get a chance to voice their concerns to Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and London 2012 chairman Lord Coe in the first of a series of question and answer meetings announced today by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Jowell and Coe will face members of the public later this month in a new initiative, designed to give people the chance to grill those involved in organising the games.

According to a DCMS spokesman, the meetings have not been set up in response to last week’s widespread condemnation of the branding. He explains that they were announced this week because venues and dates have only just been finalised.

The first of the London 2012: Ask the Team meetings will be staged in Birmingham on 25 June. Jowell and Coe will be joined by Sir Roy McNulty, acting chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis and local councillor Chris Saint, who heads the local 2012 Nations and Regions group in the west Midlands.

They will take part in an hour-long question and answer session, which will also include a presentation about progress so far on the road to 2012.

The Ask the Team event will be hosted by BBC Radio Five Live presenter Victoria Derbyshire and will be preceded by a 40-minute phone-in broadcast across all five BBC local radio stations in the west Midlands.

Tickets for the event will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, through BBC local radio stations, by visiting www.coievents.co.uk/london2012 or calling 020 7261 8400.