The Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) have launched an independent investigation into its "internal stadium procedures" following the suspension of its director of corporate services, Dionne Knight, who has been suspended after it was reported by The Sunday Times that she had carried out consultancy work, in a potential conflict of interest, on behalf of West Ham United - the club that won the bid to take over the Olympic Stadium after London 2012.

Tottenham Hotspur, whose joint bid with entertainment giant AEG was beaten by West Ham, had already launched the process for a judicial review into the decision before the latest revelations.

Their original application was rejected but they are now appealing with a hearing expected early next month.

The uncertainty is now seriously threatening to jeopardise yet another bid from London for the World Championships, one of the biggest events on the sports calendar.

"We can't bid for a World Athletics Championships until the Stadium is secure," Robertson told insidethegames here during the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session, which he is attending with London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe.

"There are two different things here.

"There is the judicial review and the events of last weekend.

"As far as the events of last weekend are concerned they [the OPLC] have initiated an independent investigation and actually we are told that nothing that may have happened there has any impact on the Stadium decision at all.

"But that will be flushed out by the independent investigation.

"As far as the Stadium concerned itself I would rather this judicial review was not happening.

"Clearly the initial hearing went in our favour but now Tottenham Hotspur have appealed that.

"We will wait to see what happens with that, but until that decision is through the Stadium legacy is not secure."

London's previous campaigns for the World Championships all turned into embarrassments.

A bid for the 2001 World Championships had to be abandoned after inital plans for an athletics track to be included in the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium were scrapped.

London was then awarded the 2005 Championships by the International Associaton of Athletics Federations (IAAF) after then Prime Minister Tony Blair had promised that Britain would build a new stadium at Picketts Lock (pictured) in North London to host them.


But they were taken away from Britain after the Government went back on its promise and were given to Helsinki instead.

Then a bid for the 2015 World Championships had to be dropped at the last moment last year because the future of the Olympic Stadium had not been decided.

The IAAF is due to choose the host city for the 2017 Championships at a meeting in Monte Carlo, where it is will face opposition from Budapest, Doha and an unnamed Spanish city, probably Barcelona.

But Robertson made it clear that London will only proceed if it can be certain of having a venue to host them in.

"The fact is that everyone involved in athletics will understand why we cannot bid for World Championships again until we have an absolute lock-down secure venue," said Robertson.

"But it remains my intention and my ambition to bid for a World Athletics Championships."

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