When Councillor Alan Burtenshaw, the vice-chairman of Watford Borough Council, was recently invited to tour the London 2012 Olympic site, the Watford Observer asked him to share his thoughts on how the building works are shaping up.

Here are his views following his visit to the Stratford site and on what the Games might mean for Hertfordshire:

“What do people think of when ‘The London Olympics 2012’ is mentioned? I recently had an opportunity to visit two of the sites that will be used in less than three years time as a guest of ‘Hertfordshire Is Ready For Winners’ consortium.

“The first venue was the White Water Canoe Centre, right next to the River Lee Country Park close by Waltham Cross.

“I have to say that on seeing it, a lot of imagination had to be used to visualise what will be there. A lake that will form the holding tank to supply the actual canoe course is still under construction as is the majority of the rest of the venue.

“Up to 12,000 spectators will be catered for during the games but the venue will have a ‘legacy’ course that is anticipated to host up to 70,000 visitors a year.

“Let’s get one thing straight right away, the main part of the Olympics will be happening on our doorstep and it will be a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience.

“The Olympics have taken place in our country twice before, once before in the early part of the 20th Century at the start of the whole Olympic movement and again in 1948, at the ‘Austerity Games’, when the world was recovering from World War Two.

“In Hertfordshire we are ideally placed to ‘do our bit’ for these games with a number of venues where pre-games training camps can be situated. Let’s not forget that not long after the Olympic Games take place, the Paralympics also happen.

“We moved on to the main Olympic site at Stratford, not an area that I am familiar with, and I was immediately struck by the really close proximity to the City of London.

“Seeing Canary Wharf, St Paul’s Cathedral and the ‘Gherkin’ in the background was most strange. The 500-acre site was a hive of activity with the main Olympic Stadium immediately recognisable and the Olympic Village accommodation well advanced.

“We had an opportunity to get a spectacular view of the whole site from the 22nd floor of a senior citizen residential block of flats on the edge of the site. Apparently the 22nd floor of the block had been especially constructed for such visits, the first being Her Majesty the Queen.

“Construction on the site seemed to be well advanced and the magnitude of the project was quite breathtaking.

“All in all it was a wonderful opportunity to see first-hand what the Olympic vision is all about and especially the ‘legacy’ from it. That is one thing that I think we need to understand. Not only will this run-down area of Newham be regenerated but the majority of facilities being built for the athletes will remain to be used by future generations.

“Make a date for late summer in 2012 and take the opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”