Issues

Stratford is situated in the London borough of Newham, after London successfully won the Olympic bid in July 2005, Olympic park was needed and all focus was then put on the regeneration of 200-hectare of industrial site famously known as stinky Stratford. In one of my findings it was argued that “Hundreds of jobs were lost when businesses were forced to make way for the Olympic site, and nearly 80 companies are still in dispute with the local authority over compensation”, Local residents were also displaced; an example of this, is the Carpenters Estate, some of the tenants were asked to make way for the BBC and Al Jazeera sports news teams who used the tower blocks for their studio during the Games.
During the construction of the Olympic site local’s fear, the old Stratford could be left behind, this reaction occurs whenever an event is proposed, because such event produces positive and negative impact on the host community, in terms of economic, social and environmental impact, this includes prices of goods and services as well as the price of property which in the end puts burden on the local residents.

According to Ritchie et al, “Perceptions of increased costs associated with the hosting of a mega event may also impact upon the image of the destination from prospective visitors (Ritchie, 1984). Hillier (1998), for instance, suggests that the success or failure of an event can affect the image of the host city. Taxes may be increased to assist the public sector to fund the costs associated with the hosting of such events, which may actually increase over time due to mismanagement. A clear example is the 1976 Montreal Olympics, which took several decades to repay the costs of hosting the mega event”(Ritchie et al).

Media representation of Stratford prior to the Olympic Games never manifested, before the summer event, the economic benefit of the games was constantly in the media, the increase  in rental and house prices and jobs for local residents was highly anticipated in the media as well. House prices and rental prices have failed to take off as anticipated after an initial spurt, and have underperformed relative to the rest of London during the past four years, property analyst Home track says according to  Avril Ormsby of Reuters. Local residents also argued that construction jobs went  to foreign workers and the new homes and Olympic tickets went to the wealthy (local voice). This is a pure contrast to what was portrayed in the media.

During the Olympic Games, Local businesses didn’t have the full benefit of tourist that came for the event as back route was created to the Olympic park from West Ham tube station, thus cutting off access to local business. On a positive note, Westfield was the main gateway to the Olympic Park in Stratford, a previously neglected part of east London became a place of destination, attracting investment and tourists. Westfield was counted Europe's largest shopping centre of its kind, alongside more traditional tourist destinations such as Trafalgar Square.