Working closely with our partners, we're developing an integrated, inclusive new area of east London, promoting everything local people and families need to flourish and prosper. This means support for employment and training, nurseries, schools, healthcare facilities and community centres, shops and markets, green spaces and play areas.

And of course the Park will bring five outstanding sports facilities to the area. One of our priorities is to ensure these are accessible and useful to local people. We are already looking at how local residents might benefit from discount or membership schemes for the venues.

Overall, our intention is that the whole Park area will be an accessible place. We want to encourage everyday use of the Park's open space, routes and facilities.  The Park can be a place that people will use and enjoy for all types of activity, recreation, games and play, from walking and cycling to skateboarding and canoeing. Neighbourhood-style open spaces will provide everything from quiet seating areas and café terraces to toddler play areas and wildlife habitats.

The layout of the Park will be pedestrian and cycle-friendly. People will be able to journey across the Park using new pathways, cycle routes, public transport routes and bridges to make the most of the area's services and facilities.

Developments around the Park and across the Lower Lee Valley will bring many opportunities and advantages:

• New affordable housing

An inclusive housing community supported by services and amenities, with a mix of new homes that will include family housing with a range of affordability

• Five Olympic and Paralympic venues

The five legacy sports venues will provide a focus for community, national and international sports events, cultural performances and festivals that will continue to draw visitors long after 2012

• Open space

The vast area of the Park is situated at the heart of Lee Valley Regional Park which stretches 26 miles from the outskirts of London to the River Thames. The Park will provide spaces for many activities, accessible via a network of pathways, cycle routes and waterways

• Exceptional transport links

Rail and tube connections planned over the next few years mean the Park will be less than three hours to Paris, less than two hours to Brussels, less than 35 minutes to all of London's major railway terminals (Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Charing Cross, Waterloo, Paddington, Marylebone, Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross), just an hour to Heathrow airport and 20 minutes to London City Airport

• The largest urban shopping centre in Europe

Neighbouring the Park, the Westfield retail and commercial development will create one of the largest retail centres in the capital, encompassing 1.9 million square feet and featuring over 300 world class brands

Throughout the Park, we plan to develop these new amenities and facilities with sensitivity to the communities that already exist.