Barcelona Housing Demo October 2006

From: The role of Mega events in urban competitiveness and its consequences on people, Carolina del Olmo, Universidad Complutense, Sept 2004

We are tired of hearing about the “Olympic legacy” and the official discourse is repeated again and again that when the mega-event concludes, the installations will remain in the city.

The Olympics project is large and complex. It is not easy to quickly grasp the nature of its probable impacts on the Lower Lea Valley and London. Here is a collection of four useful papers which together give a relatively short description of some of the significant impacts.

Having spoken to a planning decisions officer for the ODA I now find not only is the relocation strategy not agreed but it is not even required as it was submitted under the original planning permissions which lapsed in January 2006 when new proposals were put forward. This was at exactly the same time as JPAT was consulting on the relocation strategy! So we were responding to a strategy which was already dead. No-one told us this and in fact we have been told over the past few months that the strategy was in force even though it was not approved. Now it appears it didn't even exist and was not even required.

Information in this section is taken from a statement by Katy Andrews, Vice-chair of the New Lammas Lands Defence Committee, made in February 2005, unless stated.

The Hackney, Walthamstow and Leyton Marshes are former Lammas Lands. This means meadows upon which parishioners had the common right to graze cattle from Lammas Day (the Celtic Midsummer Day, August 1) following the hay harvest, until Lady Day (old New Year's Day, March 25). These rights date back to before the Norman Conquest, and possibly pre date the Roman era.

A new budget is being negotiated for the 2012 Olympics to include extensive regeneration work in east London. The original funding package is expected to be substantially increased, possibly by £2bn, to take account of work needed to prepare the site for 40,000 new homes after the games, David Higgins, chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, said yesterday.

He told the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, that the creation of the new homes and 60,000 jobs in the Lower Lea Valley had not been planned at the time of the bid. "It seems crazy to complete the games and then in 2013 fit out the entire site," he said. The ODA wanted to use the games as a catalyst for the regeneration of some of London's most deprived boroughs.

A new budget will be submitted to the DCMS, which will in turn have to agree it with the Treasury. The existing funding package is £2.375bn to build the Olympic village and venues, plus an additional £1.044bn set aside for infrastructure work.

Higgins said: "We do not want to take a lot of short cuts and do a lot of superficial regeneration of the valley. The responsible thing to do is to look at what all government departments intend to spend in the Thames Gateway in the next five years. We need to co-ordinate the expenditure." It is thought that could push the Olympic project's total price tag up by between £1.5 to £2bn.

He would not be drawn on the likely additional costs of security for the games. He said London 2012 would take responsibility for in-venue security, but the police and Home Office were responsible for the broader budget outside.

From: London Games set for £2bn budget increase for new homes, Andrew Culf, October 25 10 06, The Guardian

More at: Joined-up costing

See also: Costs rising

Tessa's version

The cabinet was given an upbeat assessment of London's preparations for the 2012 Olympics yesterday by Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, who said it was substantially ahead of other host cities at this stage of the process.

Manor Gardens AllotmentsManor Gardens, bequeathed to be allotments 'in perpetuity' by their original owner the 'Right Hon' Major Villiers, sit in the North central section of the Olympic Park. The LDA plan to remove them to make a footpath to the stadia, destroying in the process a century of devoted cultivation and a close-knit community rooted in this irreplaceable site.

E-mail from pumpkinheadbc2005@yahoo.ca to 2010WATCH, 14 12 06

I have been doing some filming for a documentary that will focus on Vancouver's 2010 Olympic Games. For the past month and a half we have been focusing on the issue of homelessness in the city.

Planning Application 2006/3212

Notes produced by Hackney Marsh User Group.

A planning application has been submitted by Turley Associates, London Development Agency agents, to the London Borough of Hackney. It can be seen on the LDA website.

A copy of the application has been sent to HMUG with the request that comments are submitted within 21 days - ie by December 20th. We have seen no public notices of this planning application.

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.

Allottments near Bully Point Nature Reserve Information in this section is sourced from a report by environmental consultant Annie Chipchase, and a statement by Anne Woollett, Chair of the Hackney Marsh User Group, made in Febrary 2005, unless stated.

From 20 November to 1 December 2006, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Miloon Kothari, conducted a mission to Spain to examine the status of realization of the right to adequate housing….