Funding negotiations on the Olympic village will not be finished until at least Christmas, according to David Higgins, chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority.

The ODA, which is in talks with developer Lend Lease over the level of private funding required for the £800m village, does not expect a resolution to be achieved this year.

Higgins said: “We were fortunate in that we have been able to start piling on site already, but we won’t have an agreement on funding before Christmas.”  

Lend Lease is understood to be struggling to raise finances for the development as a result of the credit crunch.

Higgins added that the main building programme for the village was still on track.  

The village also came under the scrutiny of the London mayor’s Olympics watchdog last week. It issued a report that said the overall budget for the Games’ venues had risen by £106m in the past eight months. It added: “Significant additional public sector funding is likely to be required to deliver the village.”

As Building went to press, London mayor Boris Johnson was expected to propose the diversion of some funds from the Homes and Communities Agency’s £1bn London affordable housing fund to help pay for the village.

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