LONDON, 6 October 2004 — London mayor Ken Livingstone has approved a multibillion pound project to redevelop his city’s gritty eastern edge in a bid to balance out the sprawling metropolis’ east-west divide and improve its 2012 Olympic bid, a British newspaper said yesterday.
The 3.5 billion pound (5.0 billion euro, 46.2 billion) project for Stratford envisions a mini-city of affordable housing, office space and shopping hubs created atop a disused railyard, the Guardian reported.
It also, notably, would sit next to the future site of the Olympic stadium and accommodation for Olympic athletes, should the British capital win its bid against rival cities including New York and Paris to host the 2012 Summer Games.
“Stratford City will transform this area of east London into a thriving new urban community,” Livingstone said.
Sebastian Coe, the former middle-distance medalist who leads London’s 2012 campaign, hailed the development as “giving a further boost” to the Olympic bid.
“By creating new homes and jobs and bringing derelict land back into use, Stratford City will make a tremendous contribution to the regeneration of east London, which is one of the key objectives for London’s bid.”
Livingstone, the left-wing Labor mayor, has often voiced his goal to “swing the axis of prosperity” further east, to the traditionally popular and industrial sections of London, from its posh, leafier neighborhoods in the west.
The new development will further the development of the “Thames Gateway” — a plan to build more housing and businesses along the river eastward into Kent and Essex.
It plans for 5,000 houses, 30 percent of them “affordable”, and its boosters say it will create jobs for 34,000 people in the Thames Gateway area.
The British capital is one of five candidate cities to host the 2012 Games, the others being Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris. The winning bid is to be announced in Singapore in July 2005.
Springstein Denies Doping Allegations
Meanwhile, Athletics coach Thomas Springstein yesterday denied allegations that he was involved in doping, despite German police finding the banned steroid testosterone during a search of his home last week.
“I’m not aware of being guilty of anything,” Springstein said in an interview with the Super Illu magazine.
Springstein, 46, said he was “shocked” to hear about his house being searched while he was holidaying with his partner Grit Breuer.
“It hit me like a bolt out of the blue,” said Springstein, who has since been suspended by his club and dumped by the Sydney 2000 Olympic 800m champion Nils Schumann.
