Dear Diary

Went to the Legacy Launch at Stratford Circus on 29th February. Felt a bit out of place as the room was full of besuited people, known as stakeholders. The meeting was addressed by the Mayor of Newham, Mr Armitt of the ODA, Mr Russell from the LDA, Mr Prior, the masterplanner, Kees Christiaanse from Rotterdam, Ade Ayepitan, paralympic athlete and a journalist who was chairing, whose name escapes me.

Who the hell or what the hell does the LDA think is 'the community'? Below is a comment from Martin Slavin of Games Monitor, who tried to follow up an LDA 'consultation' with 'the community'. Sustaining communities was one of the buzzwords used by the LDA to justify its Olympic programme. We know what that meant for Clays Lane. Demolition. What does it mean for the Legacy? Who knows? In this case the community seems to be a few officials who, in all likelihood, do not live where the development is planned. East London is now faced with further ransacking by developers who plan to build skyscrapers fanning out from the City where, incidentally, almost no-one lives. Maybe that is the LDA's perfect community. Banks, offices, council committees and as few residents as possible.

On 15th January leaders of the five London 'Host Boroughs' submitted a written memorandum to the House of Commons Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport. This outlined their concerns about how well the ODA were likely to supply adequate design and financing to a sustainable social legacy for the people of those boroughs.

COMMUNITY projects in the poorest parts of Wales will suffer a double whammy thanks to a decision to divert large amounts of Lottery funding to the London Olympics, a Welsh MP has claimed.

Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price said research by Alliance, the coalfield communities campaign representing local authorities in former mining areas, suggested projects in Wales would lose £107m as a result.

Minister for the Olympics and London Tessa Jowell claimed on Monday [10th December 2007] that the 2012 Games have "high levels of public support".

Well, she would say that, wouldn't she?

In truth, reaction to the Government's announcement it was presenting the nation with accurate costings for the 2012 London Olympics was, to say the least, mixed.

Clays Lane Co-op under demolition Photo by Mike WellsNot the blue fence but the Fencing Hall falls out! Pity. Clays Lane residents suggested events like this could easily be held in other locations meaning their estate could have been taken out of the Park. In fact, we tried to argue that the whole Games could have been parcelled out to a range of existing facilities!

It is now reported that the hall, which is at present located next to the Athletes' Village, may not be built and the event could be relocated to the Excel Centre at a saving of £90m. Hardly an original idea and one specifically put forward by residents at the Compulsory Purchase Inquiry.

Letter to the East London Advertiser

THE Olympics Development Agency has missed yet more deadlines for relocating our cycle circuit at Hackney Wick which closed last November.

London's 2012 Olympics has been nothing but a total loss for road-race, time-trial and mountain-bike cross-country that we used to do so successfully at Eastway.

The London Assembly commissioned research into the long-term benefits of hosting the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The research, produced by London East Research Institute at the University of East London, examines the lasting impact of hosting the summer Games had on Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, measuring their achievements in nine key areas including employment, urban renewal, skills and sports participation.