Businessmen Stage Protest Of London 2012 Games

Businessmen fearing they will be squeezed out by the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games staged a protest Thursday outside City Hall. The landowners on the site of London’s proposed Olympic Park say they face being forced to move and will not get a fair price of their land.

On Tuesday the London Development Agency (LDA) confirmed it has refused to meet a proportion of the 1.2 million pounds in legal and other professional fees incurred by some of the 308 firms in Stratford, east London, despite agreeing to meet the “justifiable” costs incurred during negotiations over relocation and compensation.

Many of the businesses believe the LDA is stalling over compensation deals because it has neither the funds nor the land to provide suitable alternative sites for those businesses that wish to move.

Mayor Ken Livingstone said the LDA would try to reach voluntary agreements with firms. Neil Coleman, the Mayor’s policy adviser, said the Mayor had insisted everyone should get full market value and be compensated for any loss of profits.

Mary Reilly, chairman of the LDA said, “we have been in touch with all the businesses. Twenty-four have signed up. It is our intention to negotiate with everybody and we would like to reach private agreements with them all”.

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