91Èȱ¬

Just saw the report of this story on 91Èȱ¬ London News and was surprised that the market traders believe that people who use Stratford centre are not the right clientel for Westfield. I can't wait for it to open what with the recent rise in travel costs and the lack of choice in the area for shopping we can't wait to have such a wide choice so near by to us in Forest Gate.

I assume the shopping centre is there to stay : how many local busniesses and their employees will fold as a result. I wonder what the net job gain will be??

I DO want to claw-back as much taxpayer money as possible during the Olympics, but, it seems quite laughable that the first thing most visitors to our Olympic Park will see is M&S. Perhaps we want to sell them warm knickers in case it's wet and chilly!

All joking aside, it's cool to see everything looking quite smart and easily on-schedule!!

I walked around the Olympic site in the weekend and was very impressed - the velodrome is looking sharp and gracious, the swimming centre inspiring, the stadium magnificent (and perfectly pitched) and the energy centre simply sublime. I thing the designers, builders and organiser are to be congratulated.
And congratulations to Westfield for taking a risk and building in East London. They have already hived off 50% to a pension fund, taken a good profit out and look likely to continue to do so. I also predict the centre will be packed with shoppers and will be commercially successful in the future.
But this glass and stone centre could be anywhere, erewhon, Shepherds Bush, Lakeside, or even Dubai. It's just a boring Westernised mall. Where is the connection to the Cockneys, the Huguenots, the Islamic communities, the African communities, the Polish communities, or to any in the immigrant melting pot that is Newham? Where is the connection to the individuality that is a keystone of the area (certainly not in a multinational landlorded glitzy shopping centre). Where is the space for innovation or spaces that haven't been sanitised, anesthetised and trivialised? Where are the allotments? Why is rampant commercialism the only way?
In fact why does the whole area look like a reverse prison ("it's the terrorist threat m'lad"), where outsiders impose by decree their fancies (a big iron vertical turrd there, they'll love that, they will) or their whims (hmm, be nice if the marathon finished by the palace, too risky to run by old Stratford).
I looked at the plans for the bridge while in Stratford library some years back - it was originally going to be locked shut at night! They quickly dropped that stipulation but the spirit of that sentiment is still obvious around the site. As with Canary Wharf, I fear that the benefitting locals will be the new community that moves to the site.
So congratulations. There will be some amazing new sport facilities, a busy shopping centre and hopefully a green linear park. But really West London has just been successfully extended into East London. East Londoners will be welcome as shoppers but in other, perhaps subtle, ways - design, decree, (security) detail or simply price - will become awkward outsiders.

I walked around the Olympic site in the weekend and was very impressed - the velodrome is looking sharp and gracious, the swimming centre inspiring, the stadium magnificent (and perfectly pitched) and the energy centre simply sublime. I think the designers, builders and organiser are to be congratulated.

And congratulations to Westfield for taking a risk and building in East London. They have already hived off 50% to a pension fund, taken a good profit out and look likely to continue to do so. I also predict the centre will be packed with shoppers and will be commercially successful in the future.

But this glass and stone centre could be anywhere, erewhon, Shepherds Bush, Lakeside, or even Dubai. It's just a boring Westernised mall. Where is the connection to the Cockneys, the Huguenots, the Islamic communities, the African communities, the Polish communities, or to any in the immigrant melting pot that is Newham? Where is the connection to the individuality that is a keystone of the area (certainly not in a multinational landlorded glitzy shopping centre). Where is the space for innovation or spaces that haven't been sanitised, anesthetised and trivialised? Where are the allotments? Why is rampant commercialism the only way?

In fact why does the whole area look like a reverse prison ("it's the terrorist threat m'lad"), where outsiders impose by decree their fancies (a big iron vertical turdd there, they'll love that, they will) or their whims (hmm, be nice if the marathon finished by the palace, too risky to run by old Stratford).

I looked at the plans for the bridge while in Stratford library some years back - it was originally going to be locked shut at night! They quickly dropped that stipulation but the spirit of that sentiment is still obvious around the site. As with Canary Wharf, I fear that the benefitting locals will be the new community that moves to the site.

So congratulations. There will be some amazing new sport facilities, a busy shopping centre and hopefully a green linear park. But really West London has just been successfully extended into East London. East Londoners will be welcome as shoppers but in other, perhaps subtle, ways - design, decree, (security) detail or simply price - will become awkward outsiders.

I was under the impression that this development land was previously given by the Government to London and Continential Railways to help pay for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, in addition to the Kings Cross railway lands. The connection with the Olymics is therefore a happy coincidence for subsequent owner Westfield.

Yet again Stratford City is treated as a London 2012 legacy. It is nothing of the kind. This shopping centre/office/hotel/housing development is an entirely separate project which already had planning permission before planning permission was granted for the London Olympics.

Stratford City is not being made possible by the infrastructure developments created by the Olympics. In fact there are very few infrastructure improvements. Nearly all the transport infrastructure was already in place apart from some improvements to the DLR and Stratford Station layout. One of the attractions of Stratford was that it was one of the best connected places in London.

It is not true that all visitors to the Olympic site have to go through Stratford City to get onto the Olympic Park. There are entrances all around the Olympic Park. In particular large numbers are expected to use West Ham station/the Greenway on the south of the site but they will also use Leyton Tube in the east and the coach park entrance in the north.

As for the idea that visitors to the Olympics don't have anything else to do, this is just bizarre. First of all, surely they are coming to watch the Games. But, second, all cities have other things to look at. If Olympic visitors want to take time out there are plenty of sights to see in the city they are visiting, which in fact Olympic tourists seem not to want to do as the Olympics is famous for its negative impact on other forms of tourism. Maybe shopping is the only other thing sports fans are interested in! Personally I don't think a few hours wandering around a shopping mall counts as a leisure activity. But even if it does Mr Warner may be surprised to discover other cities do have shopping malls which jaded Olympic visitors can visit.

Woo Hoo, this is what the real Olympic legacy will be - another shopping centre.