"I have come to the conclusion that, while I have no doubt the new stadium can be completed by late 2004, a series of practical issues prevent the new Wembley from hosting the 2005 world championships," Walker said in a statement.
Walker said the championships would be staged at the planned Lea Valley Stadium in north London.
"Wembley is not in a position to assume the commercial risks of giving a guarantee and the success of the 2005 championships is too important to British sport for any risks to be taken with the staging of the event," Walker said.
"I have moved quickly to remove uncertainties for both the world athletics championships and Wembley."
Walker said while it would not be practical to stage the 2005 championships at Wembley the new stadium could still feature in a possible Olympic bid.
"The new Wembley stadium has a design life of 50 years and in all likelihood will be the national stadium for longer than that," he said.
"If it is to be a true national stadium I believe it has to have the ability to host major athletics events, in particular the track and field events of any potential London Olympic Games during that time."
NEW STADIUM
A 20,000-seat capacity athletics stadium, 12 kilometres across London from Wembley's famous old Twin Towers, will be the venue for the 2005 championships, the world's third largest sporting event after the Olympics and the soccer World Cup.
Since being appointed in December as chairman of Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WMSL), the Football Association (FA) subsidiary running the project, Walker has been in a series of meetings to discuss the financing and planning of the project, with the principle aim of reducing the 6.60 million pound ($9.72 million) costs.
Including athletics in the scheme would have brought in extra finance for Wembley, eliminated the need for the FA to refund 20 million pounds in Lottery funding, and seen the new stadium launched with a major international sporting event.
But following delays in the planning process, and with the project no nearer raising the money needed from investors, the completion date for the stadium has now been put back beyond late 2004.
The British Olympic Association has spent two years compiling a feasibility study into a possible London Olympic bid with the new stadium at Wembley as the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies and athletics.
Britain last staged the Olympics in 1948, when Wembley was the main venue. No decision on the timing of a London Olympic bid will be made before the venue for the 2008 Games is decided in July.
Reuters
