OLYMPIC organisers have been granted legal powers to force businesses and residents off the 2012 Games' site.

Over the past year, the London Development Agency (LDA) has been frantically trying to grab 500 acres of land in time for its handover to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) in July.

The LDA has been negotiating with private landowners and occupiers and identifying new sites for businesses and residents to move to. It said that it has now acquired 93 per cent of the land needed for the games.

But 76 businesses and 198 residents have not yet agreed to move from the Stratford site and they can now be evicted under Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) confirmed last week.

LDA chief executive Manny Lewis said: "While we have been granted the CPO powers, we will continue to negotiate with landowners in an effort to reach agreements."

A new business park has been built on an old gas works site in Orient Way, Leyton, specifically for the relocation of businesses from the Olympic site.

But The LDA's need to acquire land for the Olympic project has led to a number of controversial campaigns.

Travellers at Clays Lane, Stratford, are unhappy about plans to move them to a residential area in Major Road, near Leyton.

The plans, which involve the demolition of a community centre and sports pitches, are also unpopular with residents who do not want what they see as vital facilities removed.

There is also opposition to plans to move travellers from Waterden Road on to Hackney Marshes.

And more than 80 allotments, in Waterden Road, will be demolished to make way for a concrete walkway. There are plans to relocate them to Marsh Lane, Leyton.

The Manor Gardening Society, with the help of UEL architecture lecturer Tak Hoshino, has been looking at ways the allotments can be retained in the Olympic park.

The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: "The LDA has done an excellent job in securing the land for the 2012 Games.

"This has been a massive undertaking, one of the largest and most complex of its kind, and they are well on track to delivering the remaining land by 2007.

"This land will be the cornerstone of our Olympic legacy, to transform some of the most deprived areas of London, leaving behind a legacy of much needed new homes, new jobs, rejuvenated park land and sporting facilites that will benefit generations to come."