LDA facing £327m in Olympic park claims

The London Development Agency is facing outstanding claims of £327m from 109 firms affected by its compulsory purchase of the Olympic park site four years ago.

The revelation has prompted calls from lawyers and firms involved for the LDA to step up its efforts to resolve outstanding disputes.
Chris Allan, head of compulsory purchase orders at Finers Stephens Innocent, which has acted for about 100 of the claimants, said the LDA’s delays were crippling businesses.

“It’s a double whammy killer - they’ve delayed on payments and they’ve lowballed on valuations.

“I can’t understand why they’re holding on to that money. Many of our clients have been crippled by delays - a public body should not be acting in this way.”

But a spokesperson for the LDA said the estimated cost of the claims had been budgeted for and that the LDA’s total land acquisition budget had not increased above £1.15bn. According to information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the LDA has a budget estimate of £186m for the £327m of claims.

The LDA says it has paid out £103m to claimants as part payments, leaving a current budget remaining in the LDA accounts of £83m to pay for full and final settlements.

To date the LDA has paid out 90% of the assessed value of the land where there were disputes with landowners, leaving the rest up for resolution.

Some 193 firms were relocated as part of the LDA’s compulsory purchase of the manufacturing district in Stratford, London, which was handed over to the ODA in 2007.

A director at a firm that was relocated by the LDA - who refused to be named for fear it would jeopardise his claim - said the majority of his firm’s claim had not been resolved.