The LDA's Chair George Barlow said that an Olympic bid, centred on a new stadium at Stratford in east London, could deliver great economic benefits. "The event would bring significant social and economic benefits to the local community and London as a whole, and it would also be of benefit to the rest of the UK. Past Olympics have brought global recognition to cities like Barcelona and have confirmed the attractiveness of cities such as Sydney," he said.
A study by planning and economic consultants Arup on behalf of the LDA; the Greater London Authority and the British Olympic Association concluded that a successful Olympic bid would boost social and economic prospects in Stratford and the Lower Lee Valley, an area of high unemployment and deprivation, creating 3,000 full time jobs in east London
The UK has a chequered history of bidding for major events in recent years, successfully hosting the European football championships in 1996 and the Commonwealth games in 2002, but ignominiously failing to deliver the World Athletic Championships after it proved economically unfeasible to deliver a dedicated athletics station at Pickett's Lock in north London.
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