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Fears over legacy in the 'forgotten Olympic borough'
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent18 Nov 2008
HACKNEY has become the "forgotten Olympic borough", with a promised legacy of 8,000 skilled jobs falling victim to the recession, local politicians claimed today.
They spoke out over the likely demise of the £380 million plan to house creative industries on the site of the Olympic media centre.
Most of the media facilities are expected to be temporary after private funding for a permanent development dried up during the credit crunch.
Local politicians say that without the media centre, Hackney will be the poor relation of the other four Olympic boroughs - Newham, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich and Waltham Forest.
They warn that it will enjoy few economic benefits but still suffer noise and pollution. Residents of Leabank Square in Hackney Wick have already written to International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge to complain about the disruption during building work.
Assembly member Andrew Boff, the Conservative Olympics spokesman, said: "It's the borough that the Olympics forgot. Hackney residents are going to have to pay a price for the Games both environmentally and through their pockets. Newham is obviously going to get some regeneration benefits."
Mr Boff, who was defeated in the race to be Hackney mayor by Labour's Jules Pipe, added: "Originally, all sorts of promises were made and permission given on the basis of the Olympics coming to London. Now that supposed legacy is not going to be inherited. It looks as if people are just going to have to pay more bills. The awful thing about [the Games] is the lack of thought about the legacy - it was sold to Londoners on the basis of certain legacies and these seem to be receding.
"People are starting to ask questions because the Games were sold to them on the promise of the media centre. I would say the mood now is cynical."
The Olympic Park will be on Hackney's doorstep and the handball arena, which will become a multi-sports facility, is within its borders.
But critics say these legacies alone will not deliver the promised 8,000 high-quality jobs. Meg Hillier, Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, said: "We're not so worried about not having the stadium. We want the legacy, not the glory."
Mr Pipe was a 2012 enthusiast and convinced residents of the employment benefits from the media centre, which was originally to have been the size of Canada Tower in Canary Wharf. He wants a blue-chip anchor tenant for the site but so far talks with 30 companies have failed to produce results.
Hackney council said: "We are continuing to fight for permanent buildings for our legacy vision of a digital village that will allow for the growth of Hackney's expanding creative industries."
Reader views (18)
Well...we put these clowns in power through our voting and guess we got what we deserved. Idiots on the left cheaters on the right....
- James, Leicester, 09/12/2008 21:44
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Give the people bread and circuses, and they'll never notice the police state creeping up on them. The olympics is a diversion, a petty entertainment to keep our eyes and ears away from the truth.
- Neil, london uk, Airstrip ONE ., 01/12/2008 14:10
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The logo is quite apt; yes, its a confusing mess which neither explains nor portrays anything at all. It is though absolutely right for 2012. The chaos surrounding all aspects now, combined with spiralling costs for NO LEGACY worth noting (supposedly a pre-requisite for any host and detailed in the Olympic Charter) is but a foretaste of the monumental mess this games will be, if we ever get there.
The ONLY lasting legacy clear already is the mammoth millstone around the necks of the inhabitants of this isle. Thanks New Labour; what a bunch of incompetent and self-serving nit-wits they have turned out to be. You will require all your well-honed spinning and wriggling skills to get out of this Mother of all monumental cock-ups; and as is daily revealed in the London Evening Standard, you haven't finished botching it yet!
I bet you are wishing London hadn't 'won' the vote now!
Richard of Worcester
- Richard Atkins, Worcester. England, 28/11/2008 11:39
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I agree with Ron, the London Olympic logo is a bloody eyesore. It is also a disgrace, having been designed to satisfy the politically correct criteria of making no discernable reference to any of our national flags or emblems, save for the fact that it is a mess, just like NuLiebour Britain.
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster, 28/11/2008 04:41
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For Gawdsakes change the logo: it is incomprehensible and looks like mess of smashed crockery. Just because this is what Britain looks like from abroad doesn't mean everyone has to give up and have a logo like it as well.
- Roz, Chamonix, France, 26/11/2008 12:34
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L.Taubler - Baby P is relevent to Haringey not Hackney!
How can Hackney or any other borough benefit from the games with NOGO BOJO cancelling everything he can. Wateland is what Boris will be remembered for.
As Ken Livingstone admitted he got the games to get back from central government some of the money London has lost to other parts of the country especially after Thatcher took away Business Rate revenue and distributed it to the tory shires.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 24/11/2008 20:12
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I think that after "Baby P" people will remember this cesspit of a bororough for a very long time indeed.
- L.Taubler, London / UK, 24/11/2008 10:18
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Newham is already getting "legacy in advance". The new North London line platforms at Stratford station open in January 2009, as passengers from Hackney will know.
- Alan Griffiths, Forest Gate, LONDON. UK, 23/11/2008 08:53
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8000 jobs - you're having a laugh! It was never going to happen in the first place. It was a lot of twaddle and whitewash, like the Millenium Dome - where are all the thousands of promised jobs from that gone?
- Lb, Bromley, 21/11/2008 02:35
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What about the residents of BArking & Dagenham, Redbridge and Havering. We have had to pay extra council tax for the OPlympics but will receive nothing in return.
- E Sullivan, London, 20/11/2008 12:28
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Despite Waltham Forest's only involvement with the Olympics being the paralympic archery and the 'temporary' loss of several football pitches for a coach park, the council is tremendously excited. They've devised their own logo, which has only got four rings, and are busily closing all the public lavatories in order to make our guests feel welcome.
- Mdj, Leyton, e10 london, 19/11/2008 00:04
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Despite Waltham Forest's only involvement with the Olympics being the paralympic archery and the 'temporary' loss of several football pitches for a coach park, the council is tremendously excited. They've devised their own logo, which has only got four rings, and are busily closing all the public lavatories in order to make our guests feel welcome.
- Mdj, Leyton, e10 london, 19/11/2008 00:04
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Anyone who's investigated behind the 'legacy' spin always knew this was a colossal fraud. Local people aren't cynical, they're furious at the continuing mendacity and self interest of these career politicians.
They KNOW it is ridiculous con - look at Tower Hamlets, highest percentage unemployment in the country but containing the employment hotspot of Docklands, and it's right next to the City - as is Hackney.
Even if the place got built, only a handful of Hackney people would have got jobs there - what were they going to do, hang a sign on the Media Centre saying 'only Hackney residents need apply'?
The sooner the whole tottering edifice of Olympic nonsense, lies and broken promises collapses the better.
Maybe we could then reclaim at least a little bit of what we've lost.
- Mike H, Hackney, UK, 18/11/2008 23:50
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What a travesty!
The regeneration legacy was pivotal in securing the 2012 bid for London.
Hackney residents will no doubt revolt.
- Donna Lightbown, Hackney Resident, 18/11/2008 18:43
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Hackney host the Olympics? The council couldn't protect the bike shed in my flats, despite paying someone to watch it twenty-four hours a day.
- Robert, Hackney, 18/11/2008 17:18
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Boff is quite right - Hackney Labour have, yet again, sold the borough down the drain.
- Alexander, Hackney, E8, London, 18/11/2008 11:20
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I didn't know anyone worked in Hackney?
- Eddie, London, 18/11/2008 10:35
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@ Andrew Boff, please we're not all tories and the mood is not cynical, you're behind the times of course.
The mood is one of incredible simmering anger (a bit like the late '80s).
- Lee, Dalston, Hackney, 18/11/2008 10:00
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