On 15th October Shona Abantu-Choudhury posted the statement below on the noise and dust at Leabank Square on the Leabank Square Blogspot along with pictures of the machinery at work. You can see what other residents have to say by following the 'comments' link below his statement on the blogspot. Shona and his wife Nadira were also interviewed by BBC News. This follows earlier reports contained in More ‘Anecdotal’ Complaints of Noise and Dust from Leabank Square Residents about the situation at Leabank Square. Residents are increasingly concerned at the steadily diminishing legacy they and others in Hackney Wick will inherit once the Games are over. Having lost a vital green space at Arena Fields they are now worried the promised replacement parkland will not materialise.

The designs for the Olympic Parklands looked very impressive at the recent public consultations.

When they appear in reality they may prove a disappointment on the basis of their trial run at Marsh Lane Fields. To get planning permission for the temporary replacement for the demolished Manor Garden Allotments on the Olympic site, there was no place for modest claims.

Despite admitting that there is no housing legacy from the Athletes’ Village, as the housing would have been built anyway, the ODA is still claiming the Athletes’ Village is an Olympic Legacy, a kind of Time Lapse Legacy, because they assert that the involvement of the Olympics means the project will be delivered earlier than it would otherwise have been, see article ‘2012 Legacy Housing Double Counting’. So I decided to ask another FoI question to establish when the ODA thought the housing would have been delivered if the ODA had not taken over the site and to ask them to further explain their reasoning.

Following the criticism of his posting about Stratford City (see 2012 Blog**ng Lies and Censorship) Mr Higgins seems to have been alerted to a negative comment from another respondent, dg (see below), who also pointed out that Stratford City was planned before the Olympic Bid was won. So our Dave had another shot at convincing blog readers that Stratford City really is an Olympic gain (see further below). Apart from dg the only other responses came from some very impressionable shopaholics or possibly ODA staff!

It’s not only the Chinese who censor comment! The following 'terminological inexactitudes' appeared on the London 2012 Blog from David Higgins, Chief Executive of the ODA, as the London Olympics tries to purloin every development in the vicinity of the Olympic park for the ‘Legacy’. Not only do we have a post-Games legacy but now a pre-Games legacy! Stratford City, Stratford 2011, Newham Council Major Opportunity Zone 1 (as in Newham's Unitary Development Plan) or whatever it's called is now just another example of the catalytic effect of the Games, even though it was approved before the Bid was won, was designed to stand alone if the Olympics did not come to London and had been Newham's pet project for the previous decade. The Mayor of Newham was so protective of this scheme that at one point he put out a press release accusing London 2012 of endangering its survival.

There has been no end of promises for a sporting legacy for London in the wake of the 2012 Games. But fine sentiments alone are not going to deliver it to future generations of Londoners, argues Kurt Barling, BBC London.

Waterlogged Allotments at Marsh Lane Fields. Feb 2008 © Martin Slavin

Almost three out of four people believe the 2012 Olympics will bring no real benefit to their area, a survey finds.

In London, host city of the Olympics, six out of 10 people said there was nothing really in the Games for them, the survey for BBC's Inside Out found.