A high-powered report says that Weymouth and Portland is missing out on a chance to benefit from the Olympics.

And it says the government needs to move fast to make sure there are not further ‘missed opportunities’ to promote the borough.

A report by the House of Lords Olympic Legacy Committee said that legacy was seen as being ‘London-centric’ and opportunities to promote tourism in Weymouth and Portland through the images captured of the Dorset coast had not been capitalised upon.

The Lords recommended app-ointing a minster to be in charge of delivering legacy outside of London.

It stated: “Outside London, it is not clear who is responsible for taking forward the legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“This is leading to the perception that the legacy is ‘London-centric’.”

The report said that the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy had generated ‘significant legacy use plans but said that requests for financial support in attracting further major events had been unsuccessful.

The report said Weymouth and Portland had received ‘fantastic’ television coverage during the Games, showing the Jurassic coastline, the Georgian seafront of Weymouth and the surrounding area.

It said: “The area has potential for tourism expansion and watersports and outdoor activity.”

But it added: “There is a huge opportunity for the area and the UK as a whole to benefit from edited sequences of this filming ... but despite requests to Visit England and Visit Britain, this has not been achieved, which is a huge missed opportunity.”

The government said it was committed to using the inspiration of the 2012 Games to provide lasting change.

• Dorset County Council’s head of community Paul Leivers pointed to legacy benefits including the relief road, cycle ways, investment in the Osprey Quay site and regeneration of Weymouth seafront.

He said the report provided a snapshot.

He added: “The county council as partners have got a clear understanding of what the legacy has achieved already.

“We need to continue to work to pursue the opportunities coming out of that.”

He also said there was a lot of potential. A full legacy list is now available online at www. dorsetforyou.com/sailing2012.

Events heading for borough

Challenge Weymouth is an iron distance triathlon event run for the first time next September.

Philippa Morgan, spokesman for the event, said they were keen to host the event in Weymouth because it had been an Olympic and Paralympic host borough.

She said: “Definitely one of the reasons we wanted to come to Weymouth was because the Olympics were held there.

“We knew the infrastructure was there to host a major event.”

She added that a key part of that was the relief road and infrastructure.

She added: “We knew Wey-mouth welcomes large sporting events.”

Steve Dadd, from Weymouth Sailing Club, said it was hard to say whether membership increases to the club this year were a result of the Olympics or because of the ‘excellent efforts’ of the clubs to promote the sport.

He said membership to the club increased significantly during the Olympics because sailors wanted to ‘rub shoulders with Ben Ainslie’ but has now, as expected, dropped again.