The Olympic Delivery Authority is to be given up to £160m from other parts of the Games’ £9.3bn budget to pay for operating the venues in advance of the Games

The money will pay for venue security, test events and operating venues for elite athlete training.

The cost, which has not been raised before, follows Building’s report in September that the ODA was wrangling with other bodies, including the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and the Met, over the cost of managing the park before the event, partly because construction was on course to finish early.

A report by the culture department this week confirmed the rise, and said that £13m had already been allocated from contingency budgets.

In total, the cost of the Olympics has risen by £21m in the past 12 months, owing in part to a big drop in the expected land receipts from selling Olympic land after the Games.