Morning:
9°c
Olympic Games bosses find jobs for only 115 of the unemployed
Amar Singh and Matthew Beard10.06.09
Only 115 unemployed east Londoners have had jobs on the construction of the Olympic Park, it emerged today.
Figures from the Olympic Delivery Authority show that 20 per cent of the 4,101 workers at the Olympic Park are from the five surrounding boroughs - and of these, just 115 were unemployed.
Ministers have claimed the Games will regenerate the five "Olympic boroughs" - Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest - which include some of Britain's most deprived neighbourhoods.
Dee Doocey, Lib-Dem London Assembly spokeswoman on economic development, said: "The work the Olympic Delivery Authority is doing in training is superb but the targets they have set for local unemployed people put back into work are too low."
Sebastian Coe, chairman of the 2012 organising committee, has asked the International Olympic Committee to break with the tradition of calling the Games the "best ever" to make sure it delivers its legacy promises.
Lord Coe spoke at a meeting of 400 residents in Walthamstow, also attended by Mayor Boris Johnson.
He said: "Come back to this city five years later and declare them truly a great games when they see what we have done to drive sports participation and legacy."
Last night's meeting at Walthamstow Assembly Hall aired questions on the use of £1billion of taxpayers' money to build sports venues, local sports facilities and poor public transport links.
The Mayor's new Olympic legacy chief, Baroness Margaret Ford, answered audience concerns by guaranteeing access to sports facilities after the Games.
Reader views (7)
I WAS ONE OF THE 115 EMPLOYED .BEEN LAID OFF WHY ?
YOU COULD NOT WRITE ABOUT WHATS HAPPING ON THAT PARK
THERE WOULD BE A ROIT IF ANY HAD THE GUTS to speak out.
I DO 100 MILLION ?
- Chris, LEYTONSTONE
I am unemployed in thurrock have all quilications for a job on the olypimics but cannot get a job there because i dont live in the Tower Hamlets catchtment area whitch i can comute to the sites in 40 mins.Should"it be equal oppertunitys for all the unemployed in the whole of Great Britian, and not a closed shop.
- S.W. Thurrock, Essex England
They should poll local residents. Would you prefer:
a) reduction of council tax?
b) better council services?
c) a velodrome?
- The Masked Avenger, hammersmith
Maybe there is a chance that some unemployed people in East London don't want to work. Just visit the Stratford Centre and have a look.
- David, London
East Londoners having been banging on about this for the past couple of years, the place is bursting with Eastern Europeans.
No Jobs for our boys in the building game, they have lied about this from day one. Anther fine labour balls up.
- Mrs, London UK
It was blatantly obvious from day one that they lied and cheated in order to win the bid. Having won it tax payers are now left with debt which they will be repaying for the next fifty years. It was never a priority to provide jobs for the unemployed in East London - the main reason for wanting to host the games was seen as a means of bringing a few "has been" athletes back onto the front pages of newspapers.
- R.F., Yorks, UK
Another Labour promise lies in tatters - Helping its unemployed voters of Tower Hamlets to find work.
Can they do anything other than put up taxes and ruin an economy?
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke
