Rendering of the MSG Sphere, planned for Stratford
(Picture: The Madison Square Garden Company)An east London MP has called on Olympic legacy planners to block a huge “Las Vegas-style” entertainment venue that she claims will blight the lives of thousands of local residents.
A meeting tonight of the planning committee of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) is seen as almost the last opportunity to prevent MSG Sphere, which would have a 21,500-seater arena and 1,500-capacity nightclub, being built in a former Olympic coach park in Stratford.
The scheme was approved last March, conditional on an agreement for a five-year review of the external advertising displays made up of more than one million LED lights that opponents say will bring massive and unacceptable light pollution to the surrounding area.
Lyn Brown, Labour MP for West Ham, told the Standard: “The concept of erecting a gigantic glowing ball covered with advertising right in the middle of Stratford, and in direct sight of many people’s homes, is appalling. Perhaps such a project isn’t out of place in Las Vegas, where the first MSG Sphere concept is being ‘rolled out’. In Newham, however, this proposal is utterly out of place.
“The intention is for bright lights to pollute the local area, on certain days straight through from 6am to 11pm. For some residents...it’s as if the proposal would relocate their homes next to the sun. Shamefully, the developers have the gall to offer these residents blackout blinds for their homes, depriving them of healthy daylight if they choose not to subject themselves to a tormenting, incessantly glowing spectacle.”
The arrangements for the five-year review have been recommended for approval in a report that concluded that “a suite of mitigation measures” meant that any harm from the illuminated displays would be “minor”.
