Livingstone against West Ham Olympic Stadium move 23/02/2010 |
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Former London mayor Ken Livingstone believes West Ham’s plans to move into the Olympic Stadium after 2012 could fall flat in the courts.
Livingstone helped London win the Games with the promise that the stadium would be used to host athletics beyond the Olympics.
"There's a legally binding contract between the mayor and the International Olympic Committee that the stadium will be an athletics venue," Livingstone told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"If we had said we were building a football stadium, we would not have won.”
However, new West Ham owners David Gold and David Sullivan still believe there is a “serious possibility” the club could relocate to the arena.
"I'm sensing an easing of the stance that it should be a legacy to athletics," Gold said.
"We have to be more pragmatic. Do we want to have a stadium like we have at Crystal Palace which just deteriorated and rotted away because it wasn't sustainable?
"We believe there is a serious possibility that we could strike a deal that would take West Ham to the Olympic Stadium.
"If that can be done, we would have a super stadium that could take the club to the next level."
Mayor of Newham Sir Robin Wales, whose borough is home to Uptown Park and the Olympic Stadium, believes the move would be a “sensible solution”.
Wales, who sits on the boards of the Olympic Park Legacy Company and Games organiser Locog, said: "My view is to develop the stadium as a football stadium in legacy and use the money from West Ham and the developers to then build a proper athletics offer in London. “
He thinks there could be a “problem with the legacy” if the club did not move into the £450m venue.
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