Orient hammered as legal appeal to share Olympic Stadium rejected

Olympic stadium

By Andrew Warshaw
September 20 – English third tier club Leyton Orient have lost their bid to win a judicial review into the controversial decision to grant Premier League side West Ham sole football tenancy of London’s 2012 Olympic Stadium.

Orient, the nearest professional club to the stadium and who currently lead their division, wanted to share the venue and said they felt “a real sense of injustice” at the decision.

In a statement the club, who fear they could go out of business, said it was ” deeply disappointing” that the High Court ruling appeared to have been taken “only on financial considerations, when the purpose of the stadium’s legacy was regeneration of the area with a community focus.”

But lawyers for the London Legacy Development Corporation said the case was “unarguable” and “lacked merit” and in a statement the corporation said it was pleased the court agreed “that we ran a fair, open and transparent competition”.

The stadium will now be primarily shared between West Ham, expected to move in from August 2016, and track and field under the auspices of UK Athletics.

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