Tower Hamlets Takes Legal Action Over Marathon Route

By · November 24, 2010 at 11:30 am · 4 Comments · Latest News · Report an error ·

Marathon runnersThough the brouhaha over his controversial election has yet to simmer down, Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman is pressing on with other important borough business: his council has begun legal action against the 2012 Olympic organisers over the re-routed marathon, despite the IOC approving the westward shift last week.

The original marathon route, which took in parts of Tower Hamlets and finished in the Olympic Park, was amended in October, with the new route beginning and ending in the Mall. Organisers said that the decision was made for the sake of “minimising disruption”, but many, including the borough’s MPS, disagreed, saying that it was a cynical decision designed to showcase some of London’s more tourist-friendly sights and keep the eyes of the world away from the insalubrious streets of the East End.

Despite the IOC confirming the route, and Lord Coe stating that their decision is final, Mr. Rahman is to seek a judicial review. There is also a petition on the council’s website that supporters can sign. Yet there seems little chance that the route will be revised a third time. Lord Coe is not one for turning, and it seems likely that poor Tower Hamlets, despite being an ‘official Olympic borough’ and experiencing all the disruption that entails, will be left without a single event.

Photo / Stuart-Lee

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  • Muhammad Haque

    You say about Tower Hamlets Council that it “…has begun legal action against the 2012 Olympic organisers…” but the hypertext link you provided takes the viewer to a BBC online item.
    That is NOT evidence of legal action. Have you seen actual claim documents seeking the stated judicial review? If you have, what is stated there to be the ‘legal ground’? You should tell viewers that and more. Such as the assertion, attributed by another ‘news’ outlet a fortnight ago to the same Council bureaucracy, that the change of the 2012 Games marathon route was “illegal”. There has been no statement anywhere that we can access in the public domain that has been categorically referring to any contract between any party representing Tower Hamlets and the decision-makers of LOCOG to the effect that there would be a route or indeed an ‘Olympic event’ in 2012 ‘in [or substantially covering or including] Tower Hamlets’.
    We have formed the view, purely on the basis of the key evidence in this context, that Tower Hamlets Council bureaucracy has been exposed as being – and as having been for the past five years- incompetent. That incompetence has been in the main a direct consequence of the undemocratic way that the ‘powers’ and the ‘remits’ of the Council have been misappropriated by the controlling clique that has taken away the key decision-making powers from the elected councillors. This misappropriation in our view and on the evidence has been taking place for years and it is this grotesquely unjustifiable deficit that deserves the utmost and the first attention of anyone who may be wishing to come across as b being interested in turning the Council into a democratic one. Under the circumstances, such a prospect looks very unlikely. So what is the answer? The answer must be sought by mobilising ordinary people behind a credible and community-based call addressed at the Government via all elected holders of office that the people of Tower Hamlets are shown the respect that is owed.
    2030 Hrs
    Wednesday
    24 November 2010
    BHANGEELAAR!
    THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AN ELECTED MAYOR IN TOWER HAMLETS

  • Muhammad Haque

    You say about Tower Hamlets Council that it “…has begun legal action against the 2012 Olympic organisers…” but the hypertext link you provided takes the viewer to a BBC online item.
    That is NOT evidence of legal action. Have you seen actual claim documents seeking the stated judicial review? If you have, what is stated there to be the ‘legal ground’? You should tell viewers that and more. Such as the assertion, attributed by another ‘news’ outlet a fortnight ago to the same Council bureaucracy, that the change of the 2012 Games marathon route was “illegal”. There has been no statement anywhere that we can access in the public domain that has been categorically referring to any contract between any party representing Tower Hamlets and the decision-makers of LOCOG to the effect that there would be a route or indeed an ‘Olympic event’ in 2012 ‘in [or substantially covering or including] Tower Hamlets’.
    We have formed the view, purely on the basis of the key evidence in this context, that Tower Hamlets Council bureaucracy has been exposed as being – and as having been for the past five years- incompetent. That incompetence has been in the main a direct consequence of the undemocratic way that the ‘powers’ and the ‘remits’ of the Council have been misappropriated by the controlling clique that has taken away the key decision-making powers from the elected councillors. This misappropriation in our view and on the evidence has been taking place for years and it is this grotesquely unjustifiable deficit that deserves the utmost and the first attention of anyone who may be wishing to come across as b being interested in turning the Council into a democratic one. Under the circumstances, such a prospect looks very unlikely. So what is the answer? The answer must be sought by mobilising ordinary people behind a credible and community-based call addressed at the Government via all elected holders of office that the people of Tower Hamlets are shown the respect that is owed.
    2030 Hrs
    Wednesday
    24 November 2010
    BHANGEELAAR!
    THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AN ELECTED MAYOR IN TOWER HAMLETS

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    I’ve heard the route is 4 laps – what a shame

  • http://www.sextoys2you.co.uk/Rabbit-Vibrators/c20/index.html Rabbit Vibrator

    26 miles is a long long way to run

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