Olympic site firms 'face closure'

Businesses in the Stratford area, east London, have only a month to relocate to make way for the development.

About 92% of some 200 firms have already found new sites, the London Development Agency (LDA) said.

But the agency said a small number of companies may have to shut down altogether because they cannot afford the cost of relocation.

Financial compensation

"There is a possibility that there may be a small number of businesses that ultimately go out of operation," said Gareth Blacker of the LDA.

"They will receive financial compensation but we think the number in relative terms is going to be tiny."

The LDA is in charge of relocating businesses, affected by compulsory purchase orders, from the Olympic site.

Julian Rosen, who runs a firm supplying hospitals and schools with frozen food, said he has spent a year looking for a new site.

"The time involved in finding these things, in negotiating them and securing them... it's very difficult," he said.

"And then you've got processes of negotiation with the LDA, with the landlords, with funding... it's all too much to bear really."

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