London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that there is a "big question mark" over the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics because of a "failure to regenerate the east of the city with homes that are affordable," according to Sullivan & Parker of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Four years after a Games whose £9B cost was justified on the basis it would "revive a huge area of polluted post-industrial land, the mayor has been scathing about the plans for the site." Khan said, "I thought the Olympics were great. I think there is a big question mark about legacy, or lack of. I am not sure we have got the benefits out of the Olympics we should have done in relation to affordable homes or in relation to the number of homes. It is massive real estate, prime real estate. You have got fantastic public transport links. We should have had far more homes being built more rapidly that are affordable." His comments come as the Olympic Stadium "completes its contentious transformation to be the new home of West Ham." By '31, the London Legacy Development Corp., which is controlled by the mayor and is both planning authority and the main landowner in the area, "plans to oversee the construction of 24,300 homes." Some of the profit from housing developments in the park "will be passed back to the government to repay the costs of staging the games and redeveloping the area." The mayor said that he "now wants the government to rethink arrangements for the area." Khan: "I think the opportunity the Olympics presented is in danger of being squandered unless the government works with me to make sure we have got the best deal for what is left of the opportunity." LLDC CEO David Goldstone said that rising property prices are "almost a symptom of the success" of the area’s improvement (FT, 8/3).
