LORD COE yesterday described the candidate file for London’s bid to stage the 2012 Games as the “most exciting blueprint in the history of the Olympics and Paralympics”. Coe’s statement is not quite as far-fetched as one may think. The proposal will transform a huge area north of Stratford to an even greater extent than was done in the areas of Munich in 1972, Barcelona in 1992, Sydney in 2000 or Athens this year.

It is difficult to appreciate the magnitude of the project, or its necessity, until you see its panorama from the top of an adjacent residential tower. It is largely wasteland. There is some light industry on the site as well as work being carried out to build the Stratford International Rail Terminal. If London is awarded the Olympics in 2012, the area would become the biggest urban open space to be established in Europe for at least 150 years.

Studded around the Lower Lee Valley Park would be many of the most lavish facilities, including the main stadium, the aquatic centre, the velodrome, the hockey facilities and also the Olympic village. London has the advantage over Paris — and it needs a few more if it is going to overhaul the French capital by July 6 next year, when the IOC casts its vote — that the main stadium and swimming centre will be within walking distance of the competitors’ housing.

This simplifies security and transport and gives the athletes the feeling that they are right in the centre of the world’s biggest sports event. Every competitor, including those in the football tournament and sailing events, which will take place in Weymouth, will have a bed in the Olympic village. They can therefore visit the capital after their events. As Jonathan Edwards, the triple jump world record-holder, said: “These are an athlete-friendly Olympic Games.”

At the official launch of the final bid document yesterday, Coe, the leader of the London bid, said that the Games would “fully reflect the IOC’s new thinking — excellence without extravagance”. Coe said that the bid had responded to comments made by the IOC in its report in May that considered London’s applicant files. One criticism was that the facilities were too spread out. Coe said that the bid had been “listening and learning”.

The three main changes have been to move the shooting from Bisley, Surrey, to the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich. Although Bisley is the national centre for the sport, it is the other side of London from the village and would need upgrading in any case for the Olympic Games.

The mountain biking has also been moved from Swinley Forest, Berkshire, to the Weald Country Park, Essex, while the fencing has gone from Alexandra Palace to a venue in Olympic Park. Coe said: “With these new venues, our Games will be even more compact. Eighty per cent of competitors will be within 20 minutes of their events and 50 per cent of them will live and compete in the Olympic Park itself.”

The London bid has given extensive consideration both to the future of the village, which will be converted into 3,600 apartments, and the venues. The facilities in Olympic Park would be turned into the London Olympic Institute, although exactly how this would fit in with the set-up of the present United Kingdom Sports Institute has yet to be finalised.

Under proposed plans, the main stadium would be reduced from a capacity of 80,000 to 25,000 so that events such as grand prix athletics could be staged there, although this would be too small for hosting the World or European Athletics Championships or even a future Commonwealth Games.

The aquatic centre, which will include two 50-metre pools and a diving pit, would be used for training and also for local, national and international competitions. Swimming pools for the water polo and the training pools will be taken apart and relocated to other parts of the UK.

The hockey centre will be reconfigured to provide competition and training facilities for the sport at all levels, with 5,000 seats retained around the main pitch for staging national and international events, while the velopark will become a training and competition venue.

There will be four other indoor venues in the park. Only one of them will remain. This will be retained as an indoor sports centre as well as a competition venue, with seating for up to 10,000 people.