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

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

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

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.'

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

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.

Typical, just when you think the hysteria surounding the Olympic Park can't descend any further into farce, along comes cuddly Red Ken to jump on the bandwagon. Carbon footprint? Please, the stadium has to be almost rebuilt irrespective of who takes it on. Good grief, they've wasted 400m+ of tax payer's money on a virtual prefab. Who was responsible for that Ken? Oh yes, the last Labour government. If they had had an ounce of foresight, the whole project could have been built a lot cheaper & with the future in mind as well as a new tenant already lined up instead of the mishmash we have now. No permanent toilets just about sums up the entire project. Stick to your lizards Ken.

You no what red ken should shut his mouth....What he did with the parking around the ground was a utter disgrace.....his ideas cost the average joe alot of money.......

Is that David Lammy behind Livingstone in that picture???? If it is I suggest that Livingstone tells that plank to give the club a break with all the ridiculous demands that have forced Levy to look elsewhere.

Mr Livingstone needs to ask why 400m of tax payers money was spent on a stadium which is not fit for anything other than athletics for a few days. Spurs are finding 450m hard to take for the new White Hart Lane and that includes all the hospitality suites and rebuiding a large chunk of north Tottenham. Has anyone considered the tax payer in all this? Spurs are the most likely to give some return on our money. If West Ham get relegated it might prove too much for them to cope with.

We're really scraping the bottom of the barrel now................. carbon footprint indeed. Mr Livingstone knows, but is not honest enough to say so, that the original bid envisaged an 80,000 capacity stadium for the Olympics, and that as soon as the Olympics were finished, two thirds of the stadium would be demolished and a 25,000 rump would be left for athletics. Two thirds of the stadium was designed for two to three weeks use. Calculate the carbon footprint on that. West Ham's bid envisages 180-200 million worth of work. No carbon footprint on that? Crystal Palace going to be a park? Crystal Palace FC, don't think so. They have no money, but with Tottenham's bid could move into a new 25,000 capacity stadium with the opportunity of temporary ugrading to 40,000. Odd that the media haven't presented it in that light! Mr Livingstone was actively and prominently involved in the creation of a white elephant, and wants to con the public into thinking that he hasn't. Typical Red Ken.

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