Baroness Karren Brady CBE, West Ham Executive Vice-Chairman, revealed today she offered to help the owners of the Stadium, the London Legacy Development Corporation, improve its management operations 15 times but was refused.
At today’s meeting of the London Assembly Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee, Baroness Brady said it was the high costs not the level of rent that had led to the Stadium’s poor financial position.
Gareth Bacon AM, Chairman of the Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee said:
“The relationship between the London Legacy Development Corporation and West Ham has been strained, to put it mildly. Millions of pounds have been spent on legal cases to iron out different interpretations of the contract. This needs to stop.
“We have discovered that the Mayor, who promised more than a year ago to take personal charge of the stadium, has only met Baroness Brady once.
“However, we were pleased to hear today some thawing in the relationship has taken place. We would urge both sides to build a more constructive relationship to protect the Olympics legacy for Londoners.”
Notes to editors
- The Budget Monitoring Sub-Committee supports the work of the the main Budget and Performance Committee to scrutinise budget and performance in a wide variety of areas across GLA and its functional bodies including Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, the London Legacy Development Corporation, and the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
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