Furious East End councillors yesterday accused Olympic organisers of being "ashamed of the very communities who helped London win the Games" after it was confirmed that the marathon would start and finish in the Mall.
East End councils and MPs last week complained vociferously about plans to move the marathon to a new route through central London, claiming that organisers were reneging on their promise. But the Locog chairman, Lord Coe, said yesterday that while it was "one of the hardest decisions we have had to take", it had no option but to move the marathon route. Organisers have argued that sticking to the original plan, which involved closing Tower Bridge, would have risked causing gridlock on one of the busiest days of the Games fortnight.
The final miles of the marathon would have had to be run against a backdrop of no spectators because the route into the stadium have to pass through a "locked down" zone of back of house areas.
"Our prime objective as the organising committee has to be to deliver venues and events that work for the athletes, spectators, and for the host city – venues that provide the best possible way of keeping the city moving, minimising disruption for everyone and, critically, getting the athletes and spectators to the venues on time," Coe said. The new route will start in the Mall, passing television-friendly backdrop landmarks including Buckingham Palace, Admiralty Arch, Birdcage Walk, St Paul's Cathedral, Leadenhall, Tower Hill and the Houses of Parliament before finishing in the Mall.
"We want to play our full part in the Games and we feel that the East End is the right and proper venue for the Olympic marathon," the Tower Hamlets council chief executive, Kevan Collins, said.
"It's our residents that will have to put up with the disruption, and we feel that the removal of the Olympic marathon is the final straw."
A spokesman for Tower Hamlets said it would be investigating its legal options. The council has written a furious letter to Locog.
"There is no better way to celebrate and showcase London's ethnic diversity than to have the world's best athletes run past the mosques, churches, temples and cultural centres that make up the fabric of East End life," it said.
"We believe this is a great backdrop to a great event. Indeed, the Olympic authorities also once thought this was the case. We do not believe it is credible for Locog to now send a message that it is ashamed of the very communities who helped London win the Games."
The government's lead regeneration agency for east London, the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, has criticised the decision. "It's deeply regrettable that instead of displaying the emerging new London in the east to an international audience of inward investors, Locog have retreated to the picture postcard view of the old London," the spokesman Patrick Edwards said.
"London's future growth and its continued international pre-eminence relies on exploiting the well connected and highly accessible land in east London. We estimate that realising east London's potential could produce an additional 300,000 jobs for the capital."
Last week three local council leaders – Helal Abbas, leader of Tower Hamlets, Sir Robin Wales, mayor of Newham, and Jules Pipe, mayor of Hackney – and five east London MPs signed a letter of protest.