Diane slams Olympic Legacy plans set to benefit rich not poor

Diane Abbott MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington is calling for Olympic legacy plans to be redrafted following fears that local people will miss out on the benefits left by the 2012 Games.

Her concerns follow a report released today by a London Assembly committee which warns that plans for the redevelopment of the Olympic site after 2012 are at risk of further marginalising local communities by allowing wealthy outsiders to ‘buy up’ homes set to be built on the site.

Diane, who has previously voiced concern over the fact just 2 % of all workers on the site are from Hackney, the lowest of all five Olympic boroughs, believes the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) need to put local needs first to ensure valuable regeneration opportunities are not missed.

Diane said: “Myself and Londoners have been misled into supporting the Games with a promise of regeneration for the Olympic boroughs and for that to not be realised would be a huge missed opportunity. Leaving local communities worse off than they were before the Olympics is not an option. The Olympic boroughs are some of the most deprived in the country and have had to sacrifice a lot to hold the Games. Homes and businesses have been bulldozed and communities uprooted to make way for the Olympic venues. It would be disrespectful to those communities if rich outsiders were free to come in and buy up the new flats and leave no legacy for the local people. I think OPLC need to seriously reconsider their plans.”

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