2012 bosses deny demolition plan

2012 Olympic Games, London UK

London 2012 bosses have denied they are seriously considering a plan to flatten the Olympic Stadium after the Games.

Reports have suggested the £525m venue could be demolished and replaced by a Premier League football ground.

But the London Development Agency (LDA), the body responsible for the post-2012 use of the site, has moved quickly to play down these claims. A spokesman for London Mayor Boris Johnson said Johnson was "not aware of any plans to demolish the stadium". He added that the mayor remained committed to finding a viable, long-term use for all the permanent Olympic venues and wanted "athletics to be part of that legacy".

The favourite option remains converting the 80,000-capacity venue into a 25,000-seat stadium with an athletics track and at least one "anchor tenant", a football or rugby team capable of filling the venue on a regular basis. A guaranteed revenue stream is crucial to the venue's future as no local or national authority wants to be responsible for the upkeep of a rarely used athletics centre.

Initial talks with West Ham United about a move to Stratford collapsed early on over the issue of the athletics track and its use for international events, and Tottenham Hotspur, the other Premier League side close enough to be a realistic candidate, appear to favour redeveloping their current home. Chelsea have also been touted as possible future tenants although there seems to be little substance to those claims as they want to stay in west London.

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