Newham Council has added its name to the list of potential bidders for the 2012 Olympic aquatics centre — despite fears the building will require a subsidy from taxpayers.

Bosses are also looking to take over the multi-use handball arena and have submitted formal expressions of interest to the Olympic Park Legacy Company. The deadline was last week and the council confirmed to the Recorder it is among 35 bidders vying to take over various venues at the Games site.

Mayor Sir Robin Wales said there were concerns about the design of the costly and controversial aquatics centre and that the authority would need government help to pay for maintenance. But the council were looking at a possible synergy with the Olympic stadium.

He told Reuters: “This is going to be something which is going to cost money, not make money.

“Where the stadium will over time not be a drain on public funds, and in fact will make us money, the aquatics is a very different beast.

“But we can see there might be a synergy with the stadium and we are just going to look at that.”