London continues to move East. East Bank, a brand-new destination for London with world-class culture and education at its heart, can be seen as further evidence of this.

It was inspiring to be at the launch of East Bank, attended by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and to see the vision of the Olympic legacy continue to develop. Whilst London 2012 was arguably the greatest Olympic Games of the modern era, it should also be judged by what it will continue to deliver for Londoners.

I remember the area well from the early 1980s, living just off the edge of what is now the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park when it was a grid of old rundown industrial sites. A lot has changed.

The Olympic legacy has so far seen 400 creative, digital and tech employers providing a range of invaluable employment opportunities and mentoring services to residents. The former Olympic Press and Broadcast Centres have been converted into Here East: a media, culture and technology hub that is projected to create 5,000 jobs.

Furthermore, there are plans to bring 24,000 homes to the area by 2050 and to create 40,000 new jobs by 2025. The challenge, of course, is to ensure that it is predominantly local people that see the benefits of these new opportunities.

East London has started to disown its old stereotypes with world-renowned cultural and educational institutions such as Sadler’s Wells and the Smithsonian Institute, along with the BBC, planning to locate to the park.

During a recent visit, I spoke to local campaigners rallying against ludicrous proposals for concrete and cement plants to be built next to the stadium. Thankfully, we have so far been successful in getting the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) to turn down the plans which are fundamentally incompatible with the environmental principles espoused by the London 2012 Olympics.

Finally, I was very grateful for the warm welcome from mosques across the community who invited me to attend Ramadan and Eid events, in particular my local mosque, the Bilal Mosque in East Ham. Breaking the fast with local people of all religions and none, proved a great way of promoting community cohesion and demonstrating the strength of our diversity.