Olympic Stadium kept empty till 2016, London Assembly told

Boris Johnson has been attacked at the London Assembly today over delays to securing a tenant to move into the Olympics Stadium.

The Mayor came under fire at Question Time on his role as chair of the London Olympics Legacy Development Corporation.

The Assembly’s Budget chairman John Biggs, whose east London constituency includes the Olympic Park, insisted it was “unacceptable” that the stadium will be closed until 2016.

“At this rate the Closing Ceremony of the Rio Games would have happened before the stadium in Statford opens again,” he said.

“The Mayor has had four years to plan ahead to make sure a main ‘anchor’ tenant was found—but has failed. This now leaves us with a very expensive empty stadium.”

He called for a long-term and sustainable use for the stadium as a legacy for east London.

The Mayor stated today that a stadium tenant would be found by 2015 or 2016.