A CITY Hall inquiry has begun into how any deal involving the 2012 Olympics stadium will affect East London. Several bids already on the table to take over the stadium after the Games

By Mike Brooke

A CITY Hall inquiry has begun into how any deal involving the 2012 Olympics stadium will affect East London.

Several bids already on the table to take over the stadium after the Games.

The investigation by the London Assembly is looking at similar stadium-led regeneration projects to assess the prospects for the community.

The Assembly's economics committee is to consider how the conditions of the agreement for the stadium and the vast media centre could be used to maximise the social and economic legacy for the community, when experts give evidence on June 8. A report is to be published in the autumn.

"The stadium and media centre will be two of the largest employers in East London," said the Assembly's economics chair Len Duvall. "Getting the right deal is key to guaranteeing the long-term legacy.

"Our priority is to ensure the regeneration maximises the long-term social and economic benefits."

The media centre nearing completion at Hackney Wick, ready to house the international broadcast centre and main press centre during the Games, has office capacity half that of London's Canary Wharf. Its 800,000 square feet could be transformed into a state-of-the-art creative industries centre after 2012.