THE Labour government's decision to abandon plans to stage the 2005 World Athletics Championships at Picketts Lock will have a big effect on Waltham Forest, say councillors.

They fear the abandoned £87m project to develop a 43,000-seater stadium at the north London site, on the border of Edmonton and Chingford, will mean the borough misses out on much investment in the area.

Waltham Forest was set to benefit from improved transport links, new job opportunities, better sports facilities and getting international athletes to train at Walthamstow Pool and Track.

But the government pulled the plug on the scheme after deciding it had become too expensive.

At Thursday's full council meeting, councillors from all parties expressed their disappointment at the decision made on October 4. Members from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties referred to it as being rather like the Millennium Dome of Labour's second term in office.

They added that the outcome was a huge embarrassment for the government, which had promised to bring the championships to the UK in its election manifesto.

Conservative Cllr Peter Herrington moved a motion at the meeting to communicate the council's displeasure to the government at the first available opportunity.

He said: "The abandonment of the Picketts Lock project not only robs north east London of a major new facility for the future, but deprives the people of this borough of countless job opportunities that the construction and management would have created."

Liberal Democrat Cllr Bob Belam added: "This will have a knock-on effect on the borough and I wonder if Labour will carry out the work they had proposed at the Pool and Track in Walthamstow, which the athletes were going to use as training facilities."

Conservative leader Cllr Geoff Walker said: "The demise of Picketts Lock is a disaster for Waltham Forest.

"No investment has been made in the leisure centre area recently because it was expected to be demolished.

"The area will now also lose £300m of investment in sports facilities, transport links and jobs. The Labour government, with its council lackeys, have robbed Waltham Forest of this money, jobs and facilities."

Labour leader Cllr Tony Buckley said: "I share some of these sentiments and I am equally as disappointed at missing out."