Feature

London Legacy Development Corporation chairman resigns

David Edmonds has resigned as the chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation as the dispute surrounding the London Stadium and its anchor tenant, English Premier League club West Ham United, took a new twist today (Thursday).

Edmonds had worked in the role for just over a year and had served at the LLDC – which was set up to manage the long-term planning, development, management and maintenance of the 2012 Olympic Park in Stratford – since it was established in April 2012. The London Stadium is the centrepiece of the Olympic Park.

West Ham moved into the facility at the start of this season, but there have been well-publicised teething problems, including crowd disturbances during matches against Watford and Chelsea.

There has also been widespread criticism of the financial arrangements behind West Ham’s anchor tenancy and the renovation of the stadium itself.

Earlier this week, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan ordered an investigation into the finances of the former Olympic Stadium after learning that the cost of transforming the facility into a suitable venue for West Ham had risen by £51m (€56.5m/$62.2m).

“David has made an enormous contribution to the legacy of the London 2012 Games and he has helped to steer the organisation through some extremely challenging issues,” LLDC chief executive David Goldstone said. “We thank him for all his hard work and wish him well in the future.”

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