Olympic masterplan unveiled

Ken Livingstone was today giving the first details of how east London will be transformed if the capital wins its bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

The Mayor was joined by London 2012 bid leader Barbara Cassani at City Hall as they revealed the "masterplan" for the 1,500-acre Lower Lea Valley around Stratford.

The plan shows how a successful bid would enable the capital to host both the world's greatest sporting event while regenerating one of the most deprived areas in the country.

Today's announcement follows the decision last week to appoint the consortium led by the firm EDAW to prepare the masterplan.

London will compete with Paris, New York, Madrid, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Leipzig, Istanbul and Havana. The winner will be announced in Singapore in July 2005. If London is successful, the regeneration package could create around 40,000 jobs, 30,000 homes and 1,000 businesses.

The EDAW consortium, which also involves HOK Sport, Foreign Office Architects and Allies and Morrison, was chosen from a shortlist of six "world-class" bids. It will set out the location of the key Olympic facilities and how they will interconnect with transport links.

Mr Livingstone said the Lower Lea Valley had "all the credentials" needed for a successful bid, including an ethnically diverse population - one of the factors the International Olympic Committee uses.

He said: "The master-planners have been selected from a worldclass shortlist. I am confident that they will produce a plan for the area that will impress and inspire the International Olympic Committee and deliver the new jobs, homes and environmental improvements that local people want to see."

London council tax payers will be asked to pay £550 million towards the £3.6 billion cost of hosting the event.