London Stadium probe ordered

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has ordered an investigation into the finances of London Stadium after being told the total cost of converting the arena for use by West Ham has soared by £51m more than previously revealed.

Mayor Khan announced his investigation after Sky News learned that the estimated annual cost of moving “retractable” seats, installed to improve the view for football, has risen to £8m, and that moving the seats back and forth for summer events including athletics could take a month.

The original estimate was it would cost just £300,000 and take only five days to move the seats at the end of the football season and another five to move them back after the summer. Engineers now estimate it could take 15 days to move the seats in each direction.

The seating issue threatens the viability of the stadium’s summer schedule, which next summer includes concerts as well as athletics, and could even delay West Ham’s return for the start of the new football season.

The increase, calculated by stadium operators in the last fortnight, takes the cost of converting the arena for football from £272m to £323m. This includes £309m of “comparable” costs, and £14m of “further enhancements”, including expenditure on seating and stewarding.

It takes the total cost of the stadium to £752m, all of which has been met by the taxpayer apart from a £15m contribution from West Ham.

Khan is said to be deeply concerned at the cost increase and deputy mayor Jules Pipe told Sky News they have inherited “a mess” from previous mayor, Boris Johnson.

“Last year the previous administration told the public that the costs had risen in total to around £270m. The new Mayor has now been told that cost will be over £320m,” Pipe …

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