Stadium ‘white elephant’ anxiety

Sports Minister Hugh Robertson confirmed that legal challenges by Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient, as well as an anonymous complaint to the European Commission, had sparked fears that long-running disputes would render the showpiece venue for next year’s Games obsolete after the summer of competition.

The fallout means the stadium will remain in public ownership and will be leased out to an anchor tenant following a new tender process by the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC). But it does boost London’s chances of hosting the 2017 World Athletics Championships.

West Ham and Orient have already confirmed they will bid to become tenants while Tottenham – who recently announced they would be staying at White Hart Lane – welcomed yesterday’s decision and re-emphasised their belief that their initial bid to take over the stadium represented the best return for the taxpayer.

But yesterday’s twist in the saga has raised concerns the stadium will become a white elephant, as some previous Olympic stadia have turned out to be in cities such as Montreal, Atlanta and Athens.

London’s bid was made on the understanding that a legacy beyond 2012 would be at the very heart of what the Games stood for, but with renewed uncertainty over what will be done with the 80,000-capacity stadium, the legitimacy of that claim is open to debate.

Nevertheless, confidence in the Games remains high, with more than 70 per cent of people answering ‘no’ to the question of whether the Olympics were a waste of money in an online poll conducted by the Yorkshire Post yesterday.

More than 200 Yorkshire businesses have won construction contracts to work on the Olympic Park, while the county will be the home to five days of the Olympic Torch Relay early next summer. Olympic athletes from superpowers China and the United States will be among many basing their training in Yorkshire and up to 60 White Rose athletes will bid for gold in London next summer.

Beyond that, the Government were yesterday putting up a message of defiance that the collapse of the West Ham deal would not have a negative impact on the Olympic legacy.

Robertson said: “The key point is the action we have taken (yesterday) is about removing the uncertainty. The process had become bogged down in legal paralysis.

“Particularly relevant has been the anonymous complaint to the EC over ‘state aid’ and the OPLC received a letter from Newham Council yesterday saying because of the uncertainty they no longer wanted to proceed. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back and we thought it better to stop it dead in it tracks now.

“We know there is huge interest in the stadium out there from private operators and football clubs and crucially we remove any uncertainty.”

Some £35m already earmarked under the Olympic budget will be used to transform the stadium after the Games. Prospective tenants will then be asked to bid for the stadium with the retention of the running track sacrosanct.

The tenants would pay an annual rent to the OPLC which should actually prove to be less costly for the likes of West Ham.

Robertson added: “This is not a white elephant stadium where no one wants it. We have had two big clubs fighting tooth and nail to get it. The new process will be more like how Manchester City took over the Commonwealth Games stadium which is regarded as a leading example of how to do it.”

London Mayor Boris Johnson insisted the stadium would not become a burden to the taxpayer.

He said: “I am confident that this decision is the best way to ensure we have certainty over the stadium’s future.

“I believe it will also put us in the place where we always intended to be – delivering a lasting sustainable legacy for the stadium backed up by a robust but flexible business plan that provides a very good return to the taxpayer.”

The deadline for bids is January. The Games start on July 27.

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