By Laura Williamson Last updated at 2:47 PM on 18th January 2011
Ken Livingstone has said he is 'horrified' at the thought of Tottenham Hotspur taking over the Olympic Stadium.
The former Mayor of London, who helped to bring the 2012 Games to the capital, believes the environmental impact of Tottenham's plans to rebuild the stadium would be 'horrendous'.
Vision of the future: Spurs hope the Olympic Stadium will look like this
Livingstone told local government magazine The MJ: 'I would be horrified at the thought, if Tottenham get it, that you demolish a stadium we've just spent 400m building and then build a new one.
'The carbon cost of a stadium is horrendous. We used half the normal amount of steel and concrete that you would use on a stadium of that size - and there were environmental reasons for doing that. To demolish it? There's a carbon footprint cost here which is just not acceptable.'
Protest: Tottenham fans gathered before Sunday's clash against United to voice their disapproval of the club's stadium plans
Livingstone is instead in favour of West Ham United taking over the Olympic Stadium. The Hammers propose to keep the running track and conform to the London 2012 bid committee's promise to keep an athletics legacy at the 'core' of the stadium.
Tottenham argue keeping an athletics track would severely restrict spectators' viewing and enjoyment.
Just say no: Livingstone says he is 'horrified' at the thought of Spurs taking over the Olympic Stadium
The north London club have instead pledged to invest 20m in redeveloping the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace.
UK Athletics have, however, so far declined to engage with Spurs' proposals and are backing West Ham's bid.
The matter was further complicated on Monday when Crystal Palace announced plans to relocate from Selhurst Park and return to their first home at the National Sports Centre.
Livingstone said: 'The athletics facilities at Crystal Palace are standing up only by willpower. If we hadn't won the Olympics, the Mayor of London would have had to have found a couple of hundred million pounds to create a modern athletics facility or we weren't going to have one in the city.
'I think for a great world city to not have an athletics capacity is ridiculous. And [so] the Olympics are god-sent. You leave an athletics legacy at the Olympic site, and you then give the people of Crystal Palace back their park.
'If they decide to go for West Ham, then you have football and athletics there, that's fine.'
we have a full size athletics track at Ashtons in Woodford only 8 miles from the Olympic stadium and at most i see 2 or 3 people using the track to train each day and when there is an athletic event no more then 200. people love athletics but only top level! Spurs will get 60000 to watch a side like Wigan or Manutd where as u may get a large crown to see Usain bolt but who will turn up to see a lower level of athletic competition. the general public only care about Olympics and world championships athletics. As for west ham they cant fill there own stadium and will have to offer cut price tickets to get enough fans for a reasonable atmosphere this cut pricing is not fair on local side Leyton orient who will lose business as a result.
- Paul Grant, Highams Park London, 18/1/2011 16:06
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