£1.5bn Westfield retail scheme approved for Olympic site

A massive £1.5bn retail scheme has been given the go ahead for a site bordering London’s Olympic Park.

Australian shopping centre group Westfield plan to build 175,000 sq m of retail and leisure space, housing about 300 stores including John Lewis, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer.

Most visitors to the games will have to pass through the shopping centre, in Stratford City, on their way to the venues.

According to the Financial Times, planners hope the scheme - to open in 2011 - will spur on more development in the area.

Olympic Delivery Authority chief executive David Higgins told the newspaper: “This massive private sector investment is further evidence of how the Olympics are acting as the catalyst for the regeneration of east London.”

Westfield’s group managing director Steven Lowy said without the Olympics the group would have taken many more years to bring the project to fruition.