As Steve pointed out in the Or maybe there's an extra swan in the CGI? post, the ODA's latest 'unveiling' of plans for the Athletes Village landscaping contains nothing that hasn't already been publicised previously by LendLease (who are responsible for the project) on their own Athletes Village website.

Dorset County Councillor Tim Munro has described the proposal to to moor a private cruise ship in Portland Harbour to house 800 police for the Olympics sailing events as "disgusting".

Paul Norman reveals that IKEA have acquired the Sugar House Lane site for housing development.

Oh that housing legacy!

It seems the OPLC, the Olympic Park Legacy Company, has revised the amount of housing for the 'legacy' downwards from 10-12,000 units to 8,000.

Of course, it has to be pointed out the housing on the Stratford City site, the Athletes' Village, was going to be built anyway as planning permission had already been granted before the Olympics took over the land.

Activists and journalists in South Africa have for some time been publishing accounts of forced evictions of shack dwellers to make way for the World Cup. There are also accounts of corrupt land deals backed up by lethal enforcers.

.: © Martin Slavin

Olympic Games displace people through eviction. They also result in higher land values and the consequent displacement of poorer residents through rises in rents and higher house prices. A recent report by Dr Georgios Kavetsos of the Cass Business School has confirmed that this process is underway in the vicinity of the 2012 London Olympic Park.

Flagged up recently on our newsgroup was an article on the opendalston blog on the financial difficulties facing developers Barratts, contractors for the so-called Dalston Olympic Transport Interchange and numerous building projects around Stratford High St.