Pudding Mill update

It's now 15 years since the Olympic neighbourhood of Pudding Mill got its name and 14 years since the Games skedaddled. And yet the number of homes in this new residential neighbourhood remains zero, indeed not a single foundation has yet been dug. Who says there's a housing shortage? What Pudding Mill does have is a world-class tourist attraction in the form of the Abba Arena, supposedly temporary but still doing great business which makes it hard to remove. The Voyage show was initially only given planning permission for three years until March 2025, but that's since been incrementally extended and the latest sunset date is 2031. A key issue here is that the arena was built on the site of Pudding Mill's proposed neighbourhood centre, the intended site for shops, employment space and a community hub. It wouldn't really work to build flats in the empty space all around but with nowhere to buy milk because Dancing Queen is still belting out seven times a week. The latest planning…