LONDON, Nov 20: The venue for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics at the 2012 London Olympics is set to be moved for cost-cutting purposes, but organizers decided Wednesday to retain the temporary arenas for basketball and equestrian.

A report by accounting consultants KPMG recommended that a temporary, 6,000-seat venue in the north Greenwich area is relocated, but the Olympic Board has delayed a decision on that and the shooting site at Woolwich.

“The draft conclusion of the KPMG report is that there ought to be an economic opportunity to shift, so over the next few months we will look at ways to shift that,” London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton told the city assembly on Wednesday ahead of a 2012 board meeting.

The change could result in savings worth a reported 40 million pounds ($60 million; 47.5 million euros). The existing Wembley Arena in north London is considered a possible replacement venue for the three sports.

But Deighton said it “did not make economic sense” to move a 12,000-seat, 60 million pound temporary arena for basketball in the main Olympic Park to a permanent site elsewhere.

“The KPMG review showed that there are no significant savings to be made from moving the venue off the park to an existing permanent facility,” London 2012 said in a statement after the board meeting.

Equestrian events will remain at Greenwich Park because none of the alternatives were close enough to accommodate the modern pentathlon show jumping event, which needs to be located close to the Olympic Park to allow the completion of all five events within one day.

Alternative venues would also require accommodation for competitors as they would not be within guidelines for travel time from the Olympic Village.

“Given these considerations, an alternative location for equestrian and modern pentathlon would not result in lower costs than Greenwich Park,” London 2012's statement said.—AP