Small businesses have warned that the taxpayer is unwittingly funding the destruction of the High Street after it emerged that the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre benefited from public money.
Of £350m spent around the mall – which saw a performance from Nicole Scherzinger, pictured, when doors opened this week – Westfield contributed £150m, with the remainder coming out of the public purse.
Bridges and roads funded by the taxpayer will be used to ferry visitors into Stratford for next year’s Olympics.
But a spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses said the shopping centre also stood to benefit at the expense of local shopkeepers.
‘You can only get to the Olympic Park by going through Westfield,’ she said.
‘People are being channelled through it rather than Stratford market, which relies heavily on passing trade.
‘Why is there funding for this massive consumer offering when there isn’t funding to develop the local offering that Stratford has?’
A spokesm
an for the Olympic Delivery Authority said the local community would benefit from infrastructure and new jobs associated with the £1.45bn shopping centre.
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