LLDC’s finances during the COVID-19 crisis

A new report from the London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee has warned that the London Stadium, the home of West Ham United, is costing Londoners more than £8 million per year to run. If West Ham are relegated to the Championship, this cost could increase by £1.5 million.

The London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee has today published its findings of its investigation into the finances of London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), the body set up for managing the physical legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games.

The report also uncovered that:

• COVID-19 has added substantially to construction and development costs for LLDC’s flagship regeneration scheme—the East Bank. While the true cost of COVID-19 to the scheme are still being modelled, confirmed costs to the taxpayer have already mushroomed by £151 million since the pandemic began. Costs were already accelerating prior to COVID-19, increasing by 22 per cent between June 2018, when the Mayor publicly launched the project, and the 2020-21 Budget
• there is now increasing risk that the LLDC will be unable to repay all of its anticipated £520 million of borrowing and no planned date when this will ever change
• there is no Plan B if key organisations like the V&A do not eventually become tenants due to COVID-19
• despite being an entertainment hub, the park has made less of a loss during the pandemic because there are no events being put on.