2012 Summer Olympic development
The bid needed to detail the time plan for any further construction work that was required, and the London 2012 team came up with a schedule that would see all the facilities ready by 2011.
[41] Alan Cowell from The New York Times said that people had compared the logo to "a broken swastika or a comical sex act between the Simpsons".
In the wake of the problems that plagued the Millennium Dome, the organisers' intention is that there will be no white elephants after the Games and instead that a "2012 legacy" will be delivered.
Some of the new facilities will be reused in their Olympic form, while others, including the 80,000 seater main stadium,[57] will be reduced in size or relocated elsewhere in the UK.
The plans are part of the regeneration of Stratford in east London which will be the site of the Olympic Park, and of the neighbouring Lower Lea Valley.
This has required the compulsory purchase of some business properties, which are being demolished to make way for Olympic venues and infrastructure improvements.
In addition, concerns about the development's potential impact on the future of the century-old Manor Garden Allotments have inspired a community campaign, and the demolition of the Clays Lane housing estate was opposed by tenants.
Passengers must change at London St Pancras and travel out to Stratford with the Javelin service to reach the Olympic Park.
[66] Pudding Mill Lane DLR station, which is located within the boundary of the Olympic Park, will close entirely during the Games.
[67] TfL has also built a £25 million cable car across the River Thames, the Emirates Air Line, to link 2012 Olympics venues.
[68] It was inaugurated in June 2012 and crosses the Thames between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, carrying up to 2,500 passengers an hour at a heights above 50 metres (160 ft) in the air.
[71] The Olympic Park would be served by ten separate railway lines with a combined capacity of 240,000 passengers per hour.
In particular, the sailing events at Portland are in an area without direct motorway connections, and with local roads that are heavily congested by tourist traffic in the summer.
The costs of mounting the Games are separate from those for building the venues and infrastructure, and redeveloping the land for the Olympic Park.
[88] The costs for staging the Games (£2 billion) are funded from the private sector by a combination of sponsorship, merchandising, ticketing and broadcast rights.
[90] In November 2007, Edward Leigh MP, criticised the organisers for significantly underestimating the cost of staging the games, suggesting they had either "acted in bad faith or were incompetent".
[93] The Wales on Sunday newspaper claimed former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair broke his promise to not use National Lottery funding for the Olympic games.
