London 2012 Continuing the regeneration in East London Examples of urban regeneration Plans for 2012 Impact on area

The Olympics - a major undertaking During the 16 days of the Games athletes will compete in 300 events, with coaches & officials, attended by other members of the Olympic community. Over 7000 sponsors will attend. The Paralympics alone will involve 4000 athletes and 2500 officials, equivalent to Manchester’s Commonwealth Games in newspaper, radio, TV, & internet journalists will work there Over 9 million tickets will be sold (500,000 spectators a day at events in and around London) operational personnel will work, of whom will be volunteers, e.g. stewards, marshals, & drivers.

Why here? The Lower Lea Valley The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the catalyst for the regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley in east London. See comparative statistics further on

Start Exhibition Centre - Excel Site of Olympics Stadium Multi-sports arena – site of old Hackney Stadium Clays Lane - site of new Olympic Village Scale ׀______________________׀ 0 1 km Stratford transport ‘hub’ – an interchange between underground and surface rail Stratford City – new commercial and residential development near new CTRL station

London Docklands

Regeneration – Since late 1970s

Royal Docks – closed in 1980

Docklands Canary Wharf development The Olympic Stadium on Marshgate Road, Stratford Multi-sport venues on the site of Hackney Stadium The ‘Dome’ – to be part of a new sports complex under the proposed bid The Lea river The Olympic Park

What are the potential impacts? Over 3000 new jobs and 4,000 homes are planned for the area, giving investment into one of London’s poorest boroughs. Newham has amongst the highest crime and deprivation rates in the UK. Would the Olympics bring prosperity and improved quality of life? The Olympic village is a project on the scale of a small town, which would, according to the bid, be converted to low cost housing after the Games. But – Sydney’s experience of this is that costs of staging the Olympics were so high that it was necessary to sell houses at market price in order to recoup losses. Hackney Stadium, a former greyhound track, will be the site of the new Olympic stadium. The site is now a dilapidated bus depot and is derelict. Costs – a political hot potato, adding to Council tax

The current site of the back of what will be the Olympic Stadium. The power lines will be buried underground, amongst the first work carried out on the site and one which would not have been done had the Olympics not been won.

The Olympic Stadium site as it looks now from the towpath of the City Mill River.

One of the 380-odd companies which will be relocated to make way for the development. This company is on the site of one of the entrances to the main stadium.

The organisers claim that 3,000 permanent new jobs will be created, although opponents of the Games are concerned that some of the 11,000 existing jobs in the Olympic Zone will be lost.

Typical Housing in Newham – Canning Town

Current dereliction

Part of the River Lea which will flow behind the main stadium. Several waterways run through the proposed site and are host to a rich diversity of flora and fauna. It is intended to incorporate these waterways in the Olympic Park.

The area close to the Olympic Village. Former UEL Halls of Residence Travellers’ site Some of this estate will be demolished to make way for the bed Village. After the Games the village will provide new housing for new homes, a ‘substantial’ amount of which are promised as ‘affordable’.

The derelict Hackney Wick Stadium – to be demolished for the Volleyball, Basketball and Handball venues

And not everyone supports London’s Games …

Impacts on property prices and affordability? Local people fear ‘gentrification’ – and being squeezed out

Docklands Flats