Apart from the acronyms, LOCOG (The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) and NOGOE (No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events) haven’t found much common ground over the past year. On this site both Sev D’Souza of NOGOE and Andrew Gilligan have highlighted many residents’ continued opposition to the Equestrian events at Greenwich Park. Their protest was borne out of concerns about potential damage to the park, and the considerable inconvenience to the residents caused by the closure of the park, with no demonstrable benefits. In light of this I went to the LOCOG meet and greet session at the park on Saturday and spoke to Equestrian manager Tim Hadaway and press officer Fran Edwards to ask their side of the story, and to find out what their perception is of local views about the Olympics at Greenwich.
As part of the advisory group that recommended Greenwich, Tim was directly involved in the decision: “Greenwich won out on its good transport links, proximity to Stratford and scope to host elements of the Modern Pentathlon.” Asked why these were such key enticements, Tim says “the bid was won on the strength of these being the London Games – we need to keep as many of the events as we can within the city”. Sites outside London would have been “far more challenging, both financially and logistically speaking”. He is also philosophical about Zara Phillips’ pro-Windsor comments, calling them “one person’s opinion” and saying that representatives of Zara’s have since written to NOGOE asking not to be connected with their campaign.
On the locals’ concerns regarding potential damage, Tim believes LOCOG have made good headway: “When we first started speaking to people, they would say ‘you’re cutting down all the trees aren’t you?’ They had visions of a Grand National-style motorway of horses carving up the whole site.” Now, however, Tim feels that initial misconceptions regarding damage have been largely corrected: “We can’t [damage anything] – English Heritage and The Royal Parks wouldn’t let us even if we’d wanted to.” So the trees will stay in their entirety then? “There will need to be some slight pruning on the lower branches of some trees for the cross-country, but nothing that won’t grow back. We won’t be cutting down any trees.”
Regarding the cross-country course, it will only last 1 day and Tim says the hoof damage from the 75 horses will be “minimal”, with the preparation focused on improving the grass’s irrigation leaving the ground “in a better state than before”…
However, the enduring bugbear – the park’s entire closure for the cross-country – is unavoidable. Fran says the lockdown is necessary “for the venue to be swept to ensure it is secure and to ensure that all facilities and buildings are in place. We take security very seriously”. The entire closure will last a maximum of 6 weeks, with the area that will house the main arena staying closed for at least 3-4 months. LOCOG are hoping for a phased re-opening of the park as early as a few days after the end of the cross-country.
The road closure plans are not yet concrete, so all I could get was the perennial promise of “minimal disruption” and although Romney Road will now fall outside the perimeter of the course, it is likely to be closed for at least the fortnight of the events to facilitate spectators.
Some would argue that these inconveniences are a small price to pay for the general excitement and prestige of having this event on our doorstep. LOCOG also believe that the much-debated legacy of the games will result from this prestige: “This event will become part of Greenwich’s history, people will remember the images they see of Greenwich during the Games and want to come and hunt it out after the Olympics.” They again speak of bringing equestrian sport to a new audience by having it in an urban setting, however they are vague when asked about ticket provision for locals. Apparently Greenwich Council are keen to allocate some tickets to local schoolchildren, but LOCOG are far from committed to this arrangement, and competition for tickets is likely to be high in the equestrian world. In other words don’t expect a ticket to be dropping through your door.
Overall LOCOG do admit that Greenwich has been one of their most notable PR headaches. Neil Walker, Community Relations Manager, attributed this to people being “frustrated” in the beginning because the nature of the Olympics means that they work back from an end date rather than having an upfront plan, so they “couldn’t always give all the answers people wanted.” It may sound a little ‘back foot’ to some, but Tim feels confident that they’ve been “open” as plans change. Fran and Tim even talk of being “pleasantly surprised about the positive reaction from locals”, boasting support from the Greenwich, Blackheath and Westcombe Societies, as well as Friends of Greenwich Park.
Despite the institutional support for the equestrian events here, both Fran and Tim admit that many residents will remain unmoved. “You will always get those people whose minds you can’t change and this may be the case with NOGOE”. With the planning application to be submitted near the end of this year, the way will soon be open for the mandatory public consultation that is now looking likely to be the final standoff. Watch this space.
What do you think? Are you convinced by LOCOG’s assurances? Do you believe their timescales for closures?
This seems like a great opportunity for someone from NOGOE to take apart LOCOG’s claims.
It’s a pity that the local Labour Party didn’t attend the LOCOG meet and greet as they were outside Maze Hill station giving out Euro election info this morning & telling us that the Park would only be closed for 3 days (said one) and somewhere between 3 days and 6 weeks (said another when challenged)
As Neil Walker said on Saturday, they would rather talk to us before they have detailed plans than not talk to us at all but it is not right that they really aren’t up to speed on the most controversial of the Olympic Venues without a Plan B – for instance how to get the arena construction lorries to the site without damaging the tree canopy, or whether there will be a temporary change to the gradient on One Tree Hill (Tim Hadway) or not (Fran Edwards). They did say that the arena and stabling area would need to be closed until seeding and successful regrowth of grass around arena and stabling areas – so that’s a large bit of The Park out of bounds for 2013 then…… Neil also said that the equestrian events HAD taken place in a park before and he had attended – St Louis he said but as that was 1906 I think he meant Atlanta – I googled the Georgia International Horse Park and it doesn’t really have much in common with Greenwich Royal Park, Neil……… I walked the latest version of the course and came across trees in places which which Neil Walker told me I was wrong about…. and ….. what happened to earlier promises about not running through the play park? … and a BIG AND… security fencing? Inside the walls and damaging the trees? or outside the walls and blocking the pavement?? No, they haven’t quite got around to that yet………I heard a lot of people leaving the tent, grumbling that it wasn’t a consultation and wanting to set their dogs on them…………
They did state clearly that there will be no damage to the trees in the park. Perhaps some sort of wildlife/tree audit needs to be carried out immediately to count the number of trees in the vicinity for future reference.
LOCOG themselves have stated that total closure of Greenwich Park will last 6-8 weeks and experience suggests that 8 weeks is more likely. There will be partial closure from March to October, which is at least 7 months.
LOCOG have also admitted that there will be some damage to the fabric of the Park – how much damage nobody can say but should the Olympic authorities be taking any risk at all with a Royal Park which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
LOCOG’s belated PR effort is very professional and they are making the best of a bad case. But all the detailed discussion is like the turkeys discussing the method of their execution for Chritsmas: what matters to the turkeys (in this case the residents of South East London and the hudreds of thousands of visitors to the Park) is the end and not the means.
The decision to use Greenwich Park rather than a venue used to hosting equestrian events was always fundamentally flawed and was taken without any public consultation. The current PR efforts are information exercises not meaningful consultations.
It’s worth taking a look at LOCOG’s latest edition of its leaflet ‘Greenwich Park Venue update’, given out last weekend.
What’s in it for Greenwich?
Worldwide awareness
‘The spotlight will be on Greenwich and its many world-class attractions and unique heritage.’
I humbly suggest we’re already extremely well known; as one small example, this afternoon there were 20 coaches parked outside the park, many from all over Europe. With over 4000 visitors a day, we hardly need any more publicity.
Transport
‘The ODA has invested £80m in the DLR, including an extension to Woolwich Arsenal, co-funding 22 of 55 new ..cars and various station improvements.’
I seriously doubt any of this has to do with the Equestrian Games in the Park.
Facilities
‘The Council is actively promoting a range of programmes using the games to inspire local children and residents. These include a riding project.., and new sports facilities. ..a new Adidas sports zone in Charlton Park, and Blackheath Rugby Club is providing all-weather floodlit training facilities in Well Hall….for the local community.’
Because of the Equestrian Games in the Park? Oh really?
And so on: ‘Community – opportunities for local residents and young people to get involved in our plans for the Park (pity they weren’t asked to get involved in the plans rather earlier!) – local businesses…contracts, 70,000 volunteers etc..
Sport and Fitness – cycle routes being expanded, working with Charlton Athletic to provide free football coaching on local estates (sic)’
Again, because of the Equestrian Games in the Park? Oh really?
They’re trying to blow smoke in your eyes, folks –and I’ve rarely seen such thin and pathetic smoke.
I ought to share another “snippet” regarding the proposed change of status for Greenwich Park – Tim Hadway has said that one of the “Legacies” will be improved drainage (denied by one of the LOCOG reps last weekend – the young woman wearing the horse riding boots) and an electricity sub station. A group of us saw Nick Raynsford MP at his surgery the previous week and he confirmed that yes, The Park would be used in the future for major sporting events and large scale concerts but that he would, “Strongly oppose” motor racing…… phew that’s a relief!!
As I’ve said elsewhere, I find the tone of NOGOE rather depressing. It’s only a few months disruption in three years time. Greenwich Park is already used for sporting events and that’s probably a good thing. The Olympics has a special effect on public bodies because it’s a special event. Many of their other claims sound like an over-reach, of the sort they decry of their opponents.