Olympic flame ignites mighty row as smokery shouts ‘foul’

Businesses being turfed out of their premises to make way for London’s Olympic stadium will meet the London Development Agency (LDA) this month to demand new homes nearby.

But Britain’s oldest salmon smokery, H Forman & Sons, claimed that the LDA’s failure to acquire property before the impending games set prices soaring would probably make it impossible to find affordable alternatives in the vicinity.

Forman’s md Lance Forman claimed the LDA had “reneged” on an agreement last year to relocate his company to a site in Hackney and that an alternative site in Tower Hamlets had since been scheduled for housing. Another in Leyton was “totally unsuitable”

The LDA said: “We have not reneged on any agreement. There is land of a comparable price available nearby.” He said companies would be offered “market value” for their land, but Forman said: “It’s a parachute on a crashing plane. What good is it if the LDA offers you market value for your parachute when the plane’s about to crash – giving us market value for our industrial land is no good when you are taking all the industrial land in the area and there is nowhere to go.”

Forman, which employs 52 staff, moved to its 1.9 hectare site and installed new smoking facilities in November 2002 at a cost of £3.5m, part-funded by a LDA grant. “Within a year of moving in, the LDA told us we needed to move out,” said Forman.

The company has until July 2007 to relocate.

The LDA rejected claims that it was being unfair to businesses. It was protecting taxpayers from “speculative exploitation”, it said. “We have made every effort to engage with all 284 businesses within the zone and have to date reached agreement with 24.”