Stadium complaint ‘not anonymous’
Exclusive: West Ham Olympic move rebel says he warned chiefs
THE MAN who submitted the so-called anonymous complaint to the European Commission blamed for scuppering West Ham’s Olympic Stadium move believed authorities knew he was behind it all along, City PM can reveal.
A deal with the football club was scrapped in October amid fears it would be delayed by legal action, with legacy chief Baroness Margaret Ford blaming a “sickening” and “vindictive” anonymous complaint.
But architect Steve Lawrence, who helped draw up initial plans for the Olympic Park, says he had extensive correspondence with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in which he told them he was contacting the EC.
Lawrence also believes his complaint was used as an “excuse” to abandon the deal because Ford’s Olympic Park Legacy Company feared it would lose a looming judicial review of its decision to choose West Ham as tenants. He told City PM: “I challenged DCMS and the Greater London Authority many times. They told me they had a robust process in place. I challenged them again and, when I didn’t get a response, finally I contacted the commissioner’s office and I told DCMS I was contacting them.”
A spokesperson for DCMS confirmed it had corresponded with Lawrence but said it “didn’t have any knowledge” he intended to complain to the EC. An OPLC spokesperson said it had not known Lawrence was behind the complaint until yesterday.
Lawrence says he complained over concerns the project would become a burden on the taxpayer, and that a £40m loan from Newham council to West Ham might constitute illegal state aid. He says he sent 32 emails to bodies including DCMS, the GLA and OPLC before contacting the EC on 23 September 2011.
He concedes he did ask the European Commissioner not to publish his name, as it was not relevant and might attract harassment, “knowing of course the authorities would know who the complaint had come from due to the history of correspondence between us”.
Lawrence emerged as the man behind the complaint yesterday, telling Sky Sports News: “My feeling is that they used the complaint as an excuse for pulling out in advance of the judicial review as they knew they were going to lose.”