Have Olympic legacy chiefs done a massive U-turn - or maybe a screeching handbrake turn - on their goals under new boss Daniel Moylan?

Every time I have spoken to the London Legacy Development Corporation (previously known as the Olympic Park Legacy Company) in the last two years, I've been told that they are hoping to build a wonderful, environment for families to live in after the Games.

The talk has been of "terraced housing, mews housing and duplex apartments within tree-lined avenues, intimate streets and open squares."

There are plans for the Park to have an entertainment district near the Olympic Stadium, which will stage concerts as well as sport, and the Orbit Tower is likely to be a big tourist attraction.

But legacy officials have told me before that they want the entertainment part of the Park to have the relaxing atmosphere of London's South Bank with its theatres and cultural activities.

So, I'm very confused today as I read in a national newspaper about leaked plans for Formula One motor racing in the Park.

One of the bids for the stadium is said to involve a company keen to run a world championship race through the Park.

Chief executive Andrew Altman didn't mention this to me when I took a boat with him the other day through the Park. The talk was of a calm, green environment for east Londoners.

And, of course, I asked him about the stadium plans and Formula One wasn't mentioned.

So, I can only assume it's all part of the new regime under Boris Johnson-appointed Moylan, who has taken over from Baroness Ford as LLDC chair in the last few weeks.

Altman has also just announced he is leaving in August so it's all change at the Corporation, which is run by the Mayor.

On the surface it sounds like an ambitious, exciting project and a good idea to grab newspaper headlines.

But how practical is it to run an annual F1 race through an area where they want to build more apartments and houses after the Games?

It works in Monaco, the motor racing fans will say. But of course, Monte Carlo is a different kind of place.

The last time I was in Monaco when the world athletics championships were awarded to London, a British tax exile told me that anybody who wanted to live there had to prove that they could pay all of their bills WITHOUT working.

So, if they don't like the Formula One week, most of them can jump on a flight to their second, third or fourth, residence near a beach somewhere.

The last time I looked, very few people in Stratford could afford to do that.

Anybody wanting to buy a flat or house on the Park may also think twice when they find out that every year, their peace is going to be upset by noisy motor racing cars.

And there's plenty to homes to sell yet.

Now, this could all be just headline-making. Under new leadership, the Corporation is maybe keen to show it is cracking on with the legacy as we get close to the Games.

But that would also be a change of policy.

Baroness Ford's tactic was always to keep commercial confidentiality while she was negotiating deals and not to make a lot of public noise about bidders until contracts were signed.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company was always very careful not to talk about bidders.

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Daniel Moylan is the new head of the London Legacy Development Corporation.

Baroness Ford, the chair of the Legacy company which has already been successful in securing a future for most of the Olympic Park, is widely respected across all parties for the calm, but tough way, she has negotiated deals with private and public companies.

Ford, a Labour peer who was appointed in 2009 by the previous Labour Government, was expected to stay in control until after the Olympics and Paralympics.

But, fresh from his Mayoral election victory last week, Johnson has appointed Conservative councillor Daniel Moylan as head of the London Legacy Development Corporation.

I understand Ford is very disappointed by the decision which was made public before she or her chief executive Andrew Altman had a chance to inform staff.

She told me: "I would loved to have finished the job I started and closed out the deals on the Broadcast Centre and the Stadium. That will be the job of the new chairman. There's a huge construction job to be done on the Park after the Games."

I understand Ford is now keen to leave straight away, once a handover period has taken place with Moylan.

The 56-year-old has been deputy chairman of Transport for London (TfL) for the last four years.

He is also expected to advise the Conservative Mayor on aviation and stay on as a councillor and TfL board member.

Insiders have told me they are very surprised that Johnson hasn't gone for somebody from the construction industry, since there is a huge amount of building planned on the Park after the Games, from new homes to leisure facilities.

The Park is not expected to be opened to the public until a year after the Games finish.

I understand any deal for West Ham to become a tenant in the main stadium is expected to be concluded by October when the planning application for rebuilding the stadium must be submitted.

The football deal has dominated media coverage but the deals done by Ford and Altman on other aspects of the Park are far more significant in terms of jobs and legacy.

Baroness Ford has been widely respected for the way she has negotiated deals for the Olympic Park

The deal which allows the swimming centre to be subsidised by concerts and sports event in the Handball Arena is one of the most creative decision in the 2012 story.

It will mean local people will be able to swim in the pool for a reasonable price.

The Broadcasting Centre, often the hardest building to redevelop after the Games, has attracted interest from three major commercial organisations.

If a deal is done on that soon, as expected, it will be far more important for local jobs than whether West Ham decide to rent the stadium or not.

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From "a hotchpotch of abandoned factories and muddy soil to a carefully landscaped park of modern, sporting venues". Getty Images.

I've been going to the Olympic Park in east London every week for the BBC for close to five years now.

I've seen it grow from a hotchpotch of abandoned factories and muddy soil to a carefully landscaped park of modern, sporting venues.

The other day something quite striking happened down there.

Instead of having to put on a hard hat and bright clothing for a building site, I was allowed to walk in normal clothes across the Park.

I took a 15-minute stroll from the main spectators' entrance by the Westfield shopping centre, past the Aquatic Centre and main stadium and over to the Handball arena.

Suddenly, the Park had the feel of the six Summer Olympics I have covered before.

I could imagine this site in Stratford as the focus of the world, like I'd experienced in Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing.

In that moment, I had the vision of thousands of spectators walking to the venues with excitement in their steps and journalists racing ahead of them with deadlines and stress in their bellies.

For the first time I could imagine the Olympics in my own back yard. More and more Londoners and Britons are going to feel the same way in the next few months. The juggernaut is just around the corner.

Now, it's my job to question all the decisions taken around the Games and to make sure they are all in the interests of taxpayers and Londoners.

That's going to get more important, especially with more public money going into the "private company" called LOCOG which is organising the Games.

I'm going to continue doing this during the months leading up to the Games. I'm not going to conduct the cheerleading. I'm actually quite proud of the fact that my nickname in the LOCOG offices is "Citizen Warner"!

But, I am also not going to forget what a wonderful few weeks we have ahead of us in the summer.

The world will come to London and I am convinced Londoners will put on a great show and give people a warm welcome.

I know some Londoners will complain about the Olympic lanes, the inevitable transport problems and parking restrictions. We've got months of controversy ahead, I'm sure.

But when the event starts, the atmosphere will be magnificent and we will remember it for the rest of our lives.

Why am I so confident? Because I remember the warmth of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 when the Olympic bid was not even a sparkle in the eyes of Lord Coe.

The packed Manchester crowds were brilliant. They knew their sport and they cheered everybody on, whatever their nationality. I expect London to be even better than that.

I also think the way tickets have been snapped up by the public, that the 2012 atmosphere will be better than Sydney in 2000 and Barcelona in 1992. The Games I remember with the most excitement.

I don't think 2012 have done everything right. I still believe they could have got more tickets to more people in London and the UK. I'm not impressed by their merchandising and I think there are serious errors in some of the transport plans.

But I really believe, whatever the arguments about money and plans, that the British public will deliver some magnificent memories in July and August.

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Transport has always been the biggest challenge of the London Olympics. Getty Images.

I think Olympic organisers have made a big mistake with their transport planning for 2012.

It is announced today that the Olympic Route Network (ORN), with its exclusive lanes for athletes, officials and VIPS, will not be introduced until just two days before the opening ceremony on 27 July.

Beijing had its lanes in place 19 days before the opening ceremony in 2008. Athens gave its residents 11 days to get used to them before the 2004 Games started and last year's Vancouver Winter Games introduced restrictions a week before the Games.

Although the announcement will please Londoners who have been worried about how the lanes will affect their businesses, there is a real danger that, without them, the week before the Games will be dominated by transport stories.

Don't forget that a week before the Games, many of the athletes will already be in town travelling to venues for training. The world's media will also be getting used to their daily commute to the Olympic sites.

Without Olympic lanes in place, there is a danger they are going to be late for their appointments.

Transport has always been the biggest challenge of the London Olympics. Being late matters if you are an athlete with a designated training time and it will also become an issue if international reporters end up in traffic jams.

The 12 Olympic Games I have covered have all had the same theme. The week before the Games is like "silly season" for the media. Often there aren't many stories about so everybody is looking for something to focus on before the Games get under way.

In the past I have seen quite small issues suddenly become big news on TV, radio and newspapers across the world.

Even if there are just small transport problems, there is a good chance they are going to get plenty of coverage.

So, the danger for 2012 is that the build-up to the Games is dominated by transport hiccups before the ORN is even in place.

That won't be good for the image of London and the Games, even if the ORN subsequently solves many of the problems in the 48 hours before the opening ceremony.

The damage to the capital's reputation will have been done.

I understand that the organising committee (LOCOG) wanted the lanes in place between one week and two weeks before the opening ceremony - that would have given London drivers time to get used to them and enabled the world to arrive with all restrictions in place.

Clearly, Olympic officials are keen to keep Londoners happy. Of course, many will understand that because taxpayers have dug deep into their pockets for the Games and 2012 want a happy London to welcome the world.

But leaving the introduction of the ORN so late is a gamble which 2012 may regret.

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Well, I've learned that a Newham Council meeting on Monday night will discuss how the council wants to fund the future stadium plans. Guess what? They're asking councillors to approve £40m of money from Newham.

The original deal with West Ham collapsed in October because of a legal complaint to the European Commission about the loan which could be regarded as state aid to West Ham.

But it was also controversial because Newham is London's poorest borough and some people questioned whether it should be giving money to a football club at a time of spending cuts.

That second argument still stands as the council discusses whether to give its chief executive, Kim Bromley-Derry, the power to offer the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) money to help rebuild the stadium after the Games.

Newham officials say they want to have a say in how the stadium is run after the Games and need, therefore, to have a legal stake in it. It will be owned by a public body set up by the OPLC.

A spokesman told me that the council would pay back any costs by sharing in the revenue generated by the stadium. It expects to raise the cash either through a loan or by using public funds to buy equity in the public body running the stadium.

But the council will also share the risk if the stadium becomes a white elephant.

West Ham may ask to rent the stadium, instead of sharing in a lease like last time, and it is hoped that the venue could become a successful concert arena.

But after £9.3 billion has been spent on building Olympic facilities, is it right that the poorest part of London should be spending more cash on its future?

It certainly would be a surprise if councillors turned down the proposal.

But, as BBC London reported at the time, there was controversy over the original loan.

This is the link to the council documents.

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Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, takes lunch with children as he visits a US fast food chain restaurant in the Olympic Green in Beijing in 2008. Getty Images.

The world's media is in London this week to probe 2012's plans for the Games.

So, 2012 officials are spending the week schmoozing with the movers and shakers of the global press and persuading them that all their needs will be catered for next summer.

I've been along to listen in to the world press briefing and there's no doubt that London 2012 have done their homework. They realise what the media will need every day, from basic internet access to transportation to the venues.

This matters because it will be the world's media which will decide whether London has put on a good show next year or not.

Key figures in the International Olympic Committee have told me that detail is one of London 2012's strengths. It has helped that the same chief executive and chairman, Paul Deighton and Lord Coe, have been in place since London won the Games.

That hasn't always been the case at previous Games because of high-profile dismissals and it is certainly a major advantage for London.

But, I had to chuckle at the detail 2012 have already published about the food which will be on offer to journalists during the Games.

I know it's never a good idea to hold a press conference with a bunch of hacks who haven't eaten, but 2012 have even brought out a special guide to Olympic nosh this week.

I am not sure how much of it really will have been understood by my foreign colleagues.

I can reveal that the media and broadcasting centre will serve a full English breakfast with "Freedom Food pork sausages, Sussex-cured back bacon and Bury black pudding".

Main courses will include "Herefordshire Red Tractor beef cottage pie, braised Gloucester old spot Freedom Food pork belly with apple puree, and fresh pea and Oxford Isis cheese tart".

Do you think the Japanese and the Koreans, or even the Australians, will get all these references? I don't, for a start. Is Bury black pudding better than anywhere else?

But there's more.

In addition to international dishes on offer such as curries (that's British too, I suppose), stir fries, and pasta, the guide tells us that the cafes in the press centre will have an extensive range of hot paninis, fruit salads and yoghurt granola pots.

A trolley service will also circulate around all workroom areas every morning and afternoon and you can even get deliveries of alcohol and special occasion foods ("for example, doughnuts and cupcakes").

A full wine list for hospitality will be available for designated meeting rooms.

We are told a main course will be between £4.95 and £5.75 and a cup of tea will cost £1.30.

While I want all of my colleagues to be fed properly because they work extremely long hours at the Games, I do hope the public get the same treatment in the Olympic Park.

So often at previous Games, the food on offer to the public has been terrible.

So 2012, let's hear soon in detail what's on offer to the public apart from the ubiquitous hamburger and fizzy drink. And let's be told how much meals will cost the public too.

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This was the biggest promise of London's bidding campaign. And let's face it, it's not happening.

We are not seeing a massive boom in participation. The 2012 campaign slogan is falling flat on its face.

This week, I have been in Newham, the poorest borough in London where the Olympic Park has been built.

Obesity is so bad in this part of London that doctors call in their patients as soon as they hit 40 for checks on their fat levels.

Despite having more young people living in the borough than most areas in the country, the level of sports partipation in Newham has been very low in Government surveys in recent years.

So the closure of a swimming centre at the heart of the area is causing real anger.

Locals say it's an astonishing decision when the Olympics are supposed to be encouraging people to take up sport.

So, when 2012 ramp up their celebrations on 31 December with fireworks in central London, the Atherton Leisure Centre at the heart of the Olympic borough will be shut down.

Newham Council says the pool has to be closed because of ceiling problems which will cost too much to repair.

The Mayor, Sir Robin Wales, has promised to replace it with a new centre.

But Michelle Turner, who is running the campaign to save the pool, is not convinced the borough has the money to deliver a new pool.

Although the Olympic Aquatic Centre has been built in Newham, residents says it is a 40-minute walk away and won't be open for some time.

I've also been talking to Trevor Blackman, who runs sports training programmes in Newham.

He says Government public spending cuts have meant he is only running one programme in the borough now.

All this in the place where the Games really need to make an impact.

So, who is taking responsibility for this lack of progress in participation?

Lord Coe, the 2012 chairman, takes some of the hits because he is the man who made the promise in his emotional speech to the International Olympic Committee in Singapore.

But it is also the Government, London Mayor Boris Johnson as well as local authorities and the national governing bodies of sport who need to step up to the mark here.

We've had the catalyst of the Olympics for six years now but Britain's sporting landscape isn't changing like we were promised it would.

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It was a great idea during the bid, promising babies born on the 20/12/2004 a "major role" at the Olympics. Good soundbite, good headline.

It fitted in perfectly with the bid's pledge to make the 2012 Olympics the Games for the next generation.

But as we get closer to the opening ceremony, that promise appears to be being watered down.

When the 2004 babies celebrated their first birthday, London 2012 said they would play a role in the "opening ceremonies, closing ceremonies, team welcome ceremonies or a wide range of events that will light up London's parks, squares and cultural venues across the capital."

That's what the press release said anyway.

Former Olympic champion and 2012 ambassador Denise Lewis appeared at a cute photocall with the babies.

The former heptathlete talked about how it would be great to use hundreds of them at the opening ceremony because you needed loads of kids and it was a great way to pick them.

Now, I'm a great fan of Denise, especially after I travelled with her to India 18 months ago where she was a brilliant ambassador for 2012's campaign to get more children into sport.

It must be embarrassing for her now that 2012 have told the mothers of the babies in April that they won't be involved in the ceremonies at all.

Olympic officials say they will now appear at events around the country linked to the torch relay.

The mothers say they are disappointed and have now started up a petition to get the children, now six and a half, into the opening ceremony.

We arranged a picnic for some of the them on the edge of the Olympic Park last week.

Many of the mums are angry that their children have been treated like this. As one said: "If you make a promise to a child, you have to keep it."

2012 officials say they were never promised the ceremonies for definite and deny that they have gone back on what they called the "Children's Promise."

I'm not so sure they can get away with that argument. It's true that they wrote a clause clearly in the paperwork.

The promise certificate to each child said: "to play a role in the ceremonies or events scheduled to take place as part of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012."

But, when you are talking to children, you have to be extra careful what you promise.

I've had to in recent weeks over Olympic tickets.

I never promised my children the 100 metres final because I knew I couldn't necessarily deliver it. And, of course, I couldn't.

Maybe 2012 should learn that lesson.

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London 2012

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A lot of people - especially politicians and London's bid team - have talked regularly about 2012's great sporting legacy but former Olympic javelin champion Tessa Sanderson knows better than any of them whether it's being delivered.

Why? Because for the last few years she has run a successful academy looking for young sporting talent in Newham, the London borough where the Olympic Park has been built. She's really at grassroots level - not just talking about it.

So when Sanderson says she has huge fears about whether the Games will leave an athletics legacy, 2012 chairman Lord Coe and the International Olympic Committee should listen very carefully - especially when the IOC's top brass are in London this week for a key meeting.

Sanderson, who has lost the funding for her academy from Newham Council just a year before the Games, makes her outspoken comments in an interview with BBC London's Kurt Barling today (see the extended interview in the video above).

She has two key points:

1. She fears the sporting legacy isn't being delivered. She questions why Newham Council is prepared to loan £40 million to West Ham Football Club to help them move into the Olympic Stadium after the Games and why officials are not prepared to give her tens of thousands to back her academy.
2. She also fears the stadium won't work after the Games with football and athletics. She is worried that track and field will be thrown out in a few years.

I've heard this second point being discussed a lot in the last few weeks.

Some people feel West Ham may get so frustrated with the huge distance between the seats and the pitch that they will try to convert the stadium into a football-only ground. West Ham have promised to provide a multi-sport legacy.

But Sanderson's fear is that the club won't like the idea of javelins and hammers being thrown onto the pitch during the close season when they are trying to prepare a perfect surface.

Sanderson has now given up her role on the Olympic Park Legacy Company board. She wasn't allowed to vote on the bids from West Ham and Tottenham because she was said to have a conflict of interest because of her previous funding from Newham Council, supporters of the West Ham bid.

But it's clear she is frustrated she didn't get the chance to ask more questions about the athletics legacy.

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Sponsors, corporate hospitality and VIPs have often snapped up many of the tickets for high-profile events at previous Games.

On the day 2012 tickets went on sale, Coe said: "We're still working through it but I can tell you that it is probably more likely to be 50% for something like the 100m final or the opening ceremony. But that's the way this whole process works."

I was talking to some young adults visiting the Olympic Park the other day and they believed the percentages should be much higher because so much public money has gone into the project.

Sponsors would argue, of course, that they play a key role in funding the Games and they are not allowed any advertising in the stadium. Offering tickets to clients and staff is therefore important to them.

The tickets for corporate hospitality will be the most expensive ever - around £270,000 for a package of tickets for the opening ceremony.

But we've spoken to 20 top companies which usually entertain clients at sports events and there's a feeling in the market that the prices of the packages are too high and that they are not flexible enough.

So 2012 may have a battle on their hands selling them. That matters because the free tickets being offered to schoolchildren in London and across the country are being funded by corporate hospitality sales.

I've been asking 2012 officials for a long time about how many tickets the public will have a chance to buy for the big nights. I'm glad we have finally got some clarity.

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A couple of years ago I stood in the middle of a big, muddy hole in the ground at the Olympic Park for a live broadcast and attempted to persuade viewers that it was exciting.

It wasn't really. The rain poured down and I'm not sure people watching appreciated that I was standing in the middle of the site where British cyclists will bid for medals in the 2012 Velodrome.

There's no need for imagination now. The Velodrome opened officially today and I think it is going to be the Olympic venue which the world remembers the most when the Games are over.

That's because of its curved roof outside and its fantastic design inside where spectators will be close to the action.

It's funny how the "Pringle" nickname for the building has stuck. People will start rewriting history and claiming they came up with it but this is how it really started.

It was the Press Association reporter Helen William who first said the roof was like a Pringle when the design was first unveiled at a news conference.

Sitting next to her - and ever keen to borrow a decent line for a story - I immediately stole it and mentioned it in a live broadcast an hour or so later. Helen also mentioned it in her report that day.

And now everybody talks about "The Pringle" and I gather the architects have even accepted it - reluctantly. But it all began with Helen's comments.

This is going to be a venue where Britain is hoping to win plenty of medals and I would advise you to get in the ballot for tickets for the action.

The seats go all around the track, which is unusual for cycing venues. And they are going to sell tickets so the fans (and not the media or VIPS) are really close to the action and able to cheer on the riders.

The atmosphere in the Beijing Velodrome wasn't great and London 2012 want to make their venue much better.

And what about the Aquatic Centre? Wasn't it supposed to be the iconic venue?

2012 Aquatics Centre

Well, with respect to the architect Zaha Hadid, I don't think the swimming venue looks as spectacular as the Velodrome because of the added seating stands on both sides.

It is supposed to look like a super-smooth stingray with its curved roof but, to me, it looks like a fish with blow-up armbands at the moment.

It may not be until after the Games, when the stands are removed, that we see the beauty of the Aquatics Centre.

My feeling is the Velodrome will grab all the glory in 2012.

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Call me old fashioned but White Hart Lane and Tottenham, like England and Twickenham or Steve McClaren and umbrellas, is one of those combinations in sport that seem to belong together.

Even when Arsenal moved to the Emirates, they were really still at Highbury in most people's minds because the nearby Tube station carries the name.

So Tottenham playing anywhere apart from "the Lane" is a big step for anybody of my generation. But our interview with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy suggests it's very likely to happen.

It's quite clear that the bid for the Olympic stadium is now Plan A - a massive moving of the goalposts since I broke the story about Tottenham's interest in heading east last July and the club vehemently denied it.

Tottenham said then that they were committed to building a new stadium near White Hart Lane and pushed ahead for planning permission. Now they are saying those plans are not financially viable.

Now this might be a bargaining tool to get more deals for White Hart Lane but I'm not so sure.

They have certainly been campaigning hard to beat West Ham to the Olympic Stadium. If they win, they will dismantle it and build a football stadium in its place which shares a lot of the same design that was originally planned at White Hart Lane.

West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady says it would be "a corporate crime to bring the bulldozers in."

Levy counters:

"We are proposing one of the most advanced, state-of-the-art
stadiums in Europe that will deliver an exceptional spectator experience.

"Accusations that we would 'demolish' £500million of stadium are hugely
inaccurate and highly irresponsible and I want to be very clear on this issue. Our proposal will retain around £420million worth of the Olympic Stadium, and
we will re-use or recycle the £80million that will be dismantled with zero landfill."

I've always said in previous blogs that I think West Ham will win this battle but I've also said Tottenham are very serious about their campaign to get the 2012 stadium. Nothing has happened which has changed my mind on this.

But I didn't expect it all to end with Tottenham leaving White Hart Lane.

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