ODA to spend £420m on Olympic village

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is set to plug a £420m gap to fund construction of the London 2012 Olympic village.

The group is expected to finance the structure of the village rather than just its design and infrastructure as first intended.

The news comes off the back of persistent rumours that the preferred village developer Bovis Lend Lease was struggling to raise cash as banks restricted lending.

The Evening Standard reported secret documents showed a shortfall in the funding of the £800m village.

The newspaper reported Olympic officials and Lend Lease are now in talks with five banks about spreading the risk.

Estimates six months ago put the ODA’s contribution of the village and media centre at £492m and predicted the outlay would be returned through property sales after the Games.