Mayor: 'I'm not wedded to Olympic Stadium deal for West Ham'

Boris Johnson has vowed to make the legacy of the Olympic park one of his top priorities and promised the site would “open with a bang” next year.

The Mayor, who last month installed himself as chairman of the legacy agency, insisted that he was not “wedded” to a football club moving into the Olympic stadium, the future of which could be decided this month.

He told the Standard: “People’s anxiety and doubt is now going to be projected onto the legacy and I want to make sure I’m there and explain to Londoners what we are doing.

"The London Legacy Development Corporation has a great board and London’s legacy is in a better place than any other previous Olympic city — we are motoring down the track.”

The legacy corporation is due to decide on the stadium’s future at this month’s board meeting. West Ham remain front-runners with three other bidders — a Formula 1 consortium, League One’s Leyton Orient and the UCFB College of Football Business.

The Mayor said: “There are good talks going on.

"But I remain absolutely convinced that the stadium entered into the hearts of the nation — people saw what a wonderful place it was.

"It works as a rock venue and for all sorts of purposes. We are very interested in a football solution but we are by no means wedded to one.”

Last month it emerged the extra cost of converting the stadium could reach £160 million — on top of the £486 million cost of construction.

Negotiations between West Ham and the legacy corporation concern fitting retractable seats at each end of the stadium. The Mayor believes that a profit could be made from a football tenant.

The non-football alternative is to install businesses there and work with concert promoter Live Nation.

One insider said: “West Ham’s requirements for a full-scale conversion are very expensive and they will take longer to construct.

"They want covered seats behind the goals but something like that may delay the reopening — you have to ask why do you need them and how much they cost.

"The stadium is like a cauldron already, the Olympics proved that. The Mayor is personally involved in the reopening — that’s his priority. He wants a football club but not at any cost.”