Under new plans announced Monday for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games the Times reports that 95 businesses threatened with being moved from their present site just north of Stratford in East London have been saved.
But the lawyer for more than 200 firms, many of which still fear compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), claims that plans for the Olympic Park had been drawn up so as to save compensation money “now that the overrun in the budgets can be perceived”.
The 95 businesses, affecting about 1,200 jobs, will no longer need to be relocated because the temporary car and coach parking on Fish Island, on the edge of the Olympic Park, will be moved to a multi-storey car park in nearby Stratford. Also, new homes will not be needed for 70 residents in the same area.
According to the Times a public inquiry still seems inevitable this summer for many of the remaining 206 companies fighting the threat of CPOs unless an agreement can be reached. The LDA is offering firms alternative land on which to build premises or cash payoffs to buy new premises, but many firms have complained that the compensation is inadequate.
Mark Stephens, a lawyer with a West End firm of solicitors representing the threatened businesses said, “the spin is that this move will save jobs. However, it has actually been done so that the LDA does not have to play the cost of the CPO. Many leaseholders in the area will also see their rents go through the roof when the leases come up for renewal. It is a fallacy to say that the move will save jobs”.
The target for vacant possession of the main Olympic site is next year so that work can start on the main projects.
