Boff and Livingstone clash as West Ham named preferred bidder for Olympic Stadium

Panoramic view of the Olympic Stadium. Photo: ODA

Politicians crossed swords as West Ham Football Club beat Tottenham Hotspur as the ‘preferred bidder’ for post-Olympics stadium residency.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company has announced that it has chosen the West Ham bid on the grounds that it best fulfilled their five criteria: value for money, the ability to deliver, the ability to reopen as rapidly as possible, the ability to ensure the stadium remains ‘a distinctive physical symbol’, and the ability to allow ‘flexible use of the stadium’ for other sporting events.

The Spurs plan was seen as wasteful, in that the club would have torn the stadium down and built another, and they were not so keen on the idea of sharing the stadium with other organisations when they were not using it. West Ham is prepared to work with the structure currently under construction and allow a range of other events to be held there.

Former mayor of London and Labour mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone said, “I am pleased that the Olympic Legacy Park Company have decided to recommend West Ham as the preferred tenant in Stratford after the Games. This is the right decision for Londoners, the right decision for sports fans and athletes and the right decision for those who are working to deliver a long-term Olympic legacy for the capital”.

Not all are happy with the outcome, however. Andrew Boff, Hackney resident and spokesperson on the Olympics for the London Assembly Conservatives, remains unconvinced by the move: “A decision in favour of West Ham is a sad day for London,” said Boff.

“The West Ham bid will cost the tax payer £40million; the Spurs bid would have cost nothing. The West Ham will rue the day they lumbered themselves with the Olympic Stadium, whereas the Spurs bid would have succeeded”, he said.

“The future of the Olympic Stadium will depend upon the fortunes of the main tenant. Top football clubs throughout Europe have tried and failed to accommodate athletics tracks. Barcelona, Ajax, Stuttgart and Munich have all had to either mov…e or rebuild. Munich’s gate increase by 29% when they dumped the track.

“The criteria given to the OPLC to select the bidder included the daft remit to ensure that athletics was included on the site so the Spurs bid was discounted despite having more realistic ambitions for athletics.

“If you want to kill athletics, then there is no better way than drowning it in a 60,000 seat stadium. There are only three events in the world this year which require 25,000 seats.

“Few things are certain in life but, along with death and taxes, you can be sure that West Ham will be asking to remodel the stadium without the athletics track in a few years time. Oh, and that also means that Newham’s residents, who learned about their “loan” to the project after a secret meeting of the Council won’t be getting it back. Auditor Anna Shields said of the Newham decision: ‘To go ahead on this basis is suicidal. Nobody is scrutinising it’.

“The broadcast centre was due to attract high tech media jobs to Hackney. The only viable bidder to date is an indoor ski resort. Hackney’s Space Studios, who know about this stuff, criticised the Media centre as being completely unfit for for purpose – a “”monstrosity that is an insult to the creative community of Hackney”.

The decision must now be approved by both the government and London mayor Boris Johnson.