[andyjohnson0]

"I conjecture that the Olympics were used as a mechanism to force through a substantial number of planning permissions that would not have been granted otherwise"

There was also fairly widespread use of compulsory purchase orders [1] to obtain land for the olympic park [2]. A significant number of people lost their homes, and businesses were forced to move, so that private-sector developers could take-over the land.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_purchase_order

[2] http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/1092