Did he jump or was he pushed? Jack Lemley, former head of the London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), said he resigned his position in October blaming political interference. He accused Culture Minister Tessa Jowell and London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone of failing to respond to concerns about costs and contamination of land on Olympic sites.
But now the Guardian reports that ministers, Olympic officials, and London’s mayor became concerned about Lemley’s position at the ODA and would have probably fired him at a meeting with Jowell in October if he had not agreed to resign and take what became a severance package of around 400,000 pounds gross – including the tax due on a payoff that gave him 150,000 pounds net, double the three months salary of 75,000 pounds he was legally entitled to.
The Daily Mail reports sources saying, “he wanted a vast payoff and talked about getting lawyers involved. At one point there was talk of him wanting the best part of one million pounds to go”.
The Guardian reports the ODA was already investigating complaints involving potential conflicts of interest and claims that Lemley may have committed the ODA to spending money outside his authority. There were concerns about various issues, reports the newspaper, from the serious to comparatively trivial issues.
According to the Daily Mail the Culture department said regarding his claim to have raised concerns about finance, “we, not he, initiated a full-scale cost review….”.
Regarding his claims that he was silenced, a statement said, “it was certainly not the case the Mr. Lemley was prevented from speaking at the Olympic board. In fact, as ODA chair, the board expected him and the chief executive to provide regular progress reports and to bring forward key decisions for approval”.
Meanwhile the Observer reports that Jowell told the newspaper Sunday that changes to the planned regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley in East London where the Games will be held would significantly add to the “credit” column of the eventual Olympic balance sheet.
Once the Games are over, the number of homes being built to house competitors and officials in the Olympic Park Athlete’s Village to be sold for private and social housing is likely to be increased.
But according to the newspaper the largest source of profit will come from selling the land around the Olympic Park. Government sources say it would generate four times the one billion pounds spent on acquiring the land because the regeneration will make the area more attractive.
