Monday, May 21, 2012

London Olympics 2012 May site tour

Early on Friday last week I went on a guided coach tour of the London Olympics 2012 site. This is the 3rd tour for Newham Councillors I have been on I think since I was elected in May 2010.

The change in the last 2 years alone has been remarkable. I also use to run/cycle into work and back through the site for many years before that. That change is simple breathtaking. Beforehand the area was an industrial estate dominated by scrap merchants, sweat shops, electric pylons and burnout buildings. There was some decent businesses but the area was known for the number of work related deaths and serious accidents.

It is now like being on a different part of the planet. Click picture to bring up detail.  I'll post some better ones on Facebook later.

This tour saw that the main Olympic stadiums and athletes village is pretty much complete but there is plenty of ongoing work going on to build the temporary buildings and sponsor concessions. 

The more I see of the green spaces, the trees, the flowers, the footpaths and waterways, the more I look forward to the post Olympic Queen Elizabeth Park.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not sure how any Councillor can be proud of the Olympic park. I have been there are I am not impressed. The only interesting building is the Aquatic centre, which will look pretty once the extension/wings are removed after the Olympics.

The Olympic park forced the loss of 5,000 jobs at Capenters industrial estate. I meet people and they often say they did business with Carpenters. The council failed to see the importance of Carpenters.

On another issue. As I was unlucky with ANY olympic tickets. I bought 5 tickets at £20 each for the TEST event at the olympic stadium (£100 + 6 booking fee).

Only to find out a few weeks later Newham Council was dishing out free tickets to residents for the same event. It looks like I have been robbed and my ticket fee no doubt to subsiside the freebie ones. As for the night of entertainment it was 'rubbish'..... I was hoping it would be a night to remember.... POssibly a concellation for those that did not get Opening Ceremony ticket..... It was a total waste of my money.

Opening Ceremony tickets: Did you know Londoners spend £9billion on the Olympics. The private sector only contributed a few hundred million in sponsorship, but got 50% of the opening ceremony tickets. The remainder 50% was offered as a ballot, but there was a tiered price structure and the Olympics organisers have not disclosed how many £20 tickets they had on offer. The rest were expensive tickets at £150 upwards....

John Gray said...

Hi anon

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose? but I am very proud of the Olympic site. It is going to be a fantastic asset to Newham.

Where did you get this 5k jobs figure?

I would agree with you that "sponsors" have too many tickets but that is hardly the fault of Newham.

I have heard a lot of positive feedback about that event (see above).