Work has now begun on moving powerlines above the Olympic Park in the Lower Lea Valley.

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, culture secretary Tessa Jowell, Lord Coe, chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and David Higgins, CEO of the Olympic Development Authority (ODA) attended an event at the site on 6 April.

Jowell said: “The tunnelling work we are setting in motion marks the first stage of the transformation of the Olympic Park to make it fit for the 2012 Games.”

The powerlines are to be placed in two underground tunnels and the 52 pylons along the 6km route from Hackney to West Ham will be demolished.

The work will help to manage the future electrical supply requirements of the 2012 Games and Paralympic Games.

This comes amid reports that David Higgins said that the budget for infrastructure of the 2012 Games will triple from £1bn to £3bn because the site is contaminated, although this was vehemently denied by LOCOG.