Officials reject Spurs legal threat
Margaret Ford, chairman of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, insisted they have not put a foot wrong in the process which saw West Ham chosen over Spurs as the preferred bidders for the stadium. Tottenham's lawyers have sent a letter to the OPLC warning off a potential judicial review and demanding answers to a number of questions. Ford said: "In terms of anyone launching inquiries or reviews into what we did, I don't believe we have put a foot wrong in this process. "I have complete confidence we took a decent decision based on a really robust process and it's for other people to decide whether they want to pick holes in that. "At the very start of this process I said, this may be subject to a National Audit Office inquiry, the Public Accounts Committee, it may be subject to a judicial review as it is such a high-profile transaction and we have to absolutely pay so much attention to detail." Meanwhile, the OPLC have insisted that the eye-catching but controversial roof on the aquatics centre will not be removed after the 2012 Games - whoever takes it over. Newham council, who are among the bidders, say the wooden roof would need replacing due to high maintenance costs or otherwise be subsidised. OPLC chief executive Andrew Altman said the roof would be kept. He said: "The roof is one of the signature features of the aquatics centre and the Olympic Park. Does it have a cost implication? Of course. "But that is something we have look at when we are judging the bids." Meanwhile, three bids have been shortlisted to develop the Olympic Village into up to 3,500 new homes. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) have shortlisted Delancey & Qatari Diar, Hutchinson Whampoa and Wellcome Trust, with a final decision to be made this summer. The ODA believe that the deal should guarantee all the £650million contingency funding put into the scheme by the Government in 2009 being paid back.