In July 2008, at an ODA open meeting a Leabank Square resident, Sona Abantu-Choudhury, was told that the only convenient location for a soil washing machine was opposite his estate and that it was essential this machine worked late into the night. At that time the machine was washing away until 10pm! Residents were complaining about the disturbance this machine was causing them and Mr Abantu-Choudhury pointed this out to the ODA representatives at the meeting. Far from showing sympathy they insisted this was the only option. Later, after a further meeting the ODA agreed to reduce the wash cycle to 8pm, although residents were told this alteration meant the machine would have to continue in operation for several more months.

Then suddenly at the end of 2008 the machine was closed down!

So I decided to ask a Freedom of Information question to find out what had happened, see the attached response. It turns out from their response, see items 1 and 2, that there are three more machines at a different location and that, despite the fact that there is still a considerable amount of material to be washed, these machines are adequate for the task of completing the job!

So why did the ODA cause so many problems for these residents? The ODA insisted that this was the only convenient location for the machine. This was not true, yet they were vociferous in their insistence that this was so. In fact there was another ‘convenient’ location. It also now turns out that this machine was not needed for the time originally stated and therefore, even if it had to be situated opposite Leabank Square, could have been operated at normal working times. The ODA states in its response that the machine has been closed three months ahead of schedule. In fact residents had been told the machine would be needed up till early summer on the 10pm working schedule and until the end of 2009 on the 8pm schedule, so this statement does not match what residents had previously been told about the length of time the machine would be in use.

So it transpires that the ODA, with Hackney's agreement, worked this machine late into the evening at hours which seriously disturbed residents even though they had three other soil washing machines and maybe the capacity for more, as I haven't asked how many machines they could have had working in total, situated at different locations on the Olympic Park. Residents at Leabank Square could have been spared this unnecessary disturbance.