On Tuesday night, after a marathon session of the Planning Board, consent was given – with conditions attached – for London 2012 to use Greenwich Park as a venue for the Equestrian events and Modern Pentathlon.
Cllr Chris Roberts, Leader of Greenwich Council, said:
“This decision means we can concentrate on working with LOCOG, Royal Parks and other key stakeholders to deliver a spectacular event in 2012.
“The planning application was subject to extensive consultation and generated a large number of responses. All this feedback has been carefully considered, and a number of planning conditions have been applied to address the issues that were raised.
“We will work closely with LOCOG to ensure these conditions are met and that we safeguard the Park and surrounding area to preserve its unique and special character.”
Councillor Nigel Fletcher, Greenwich Conservatives’ Spokesman for Culture and Olympics, commented:
“Whatever your view of the plans, it was right that the views of residents were properly heard by Lord Coe and his team, and by the Council. I want to see that public engagement continuing now that the application has been approved, including as many residents as possible. After last night there can be no doubt how much people love the Park. We will continue doing everything we can to ensure there is no damage to it as a result of LOCOG’s plans, and to ensure the Games are good for Greenwich.”
Green Party council candidate for the Peninsula Ward, Darryl Chamberlain, welcomed the formation of an advisory group to oversee the implementation and restoration but added:
“It also needs to meet in public and involve local people as much as possible.
“One suggestion was that amenity groups such as the Greenwich Society should have a role – that’s fine, but other locals should be involved too. People should not have to pay membership fees to have a say in what goes on in their neighbourhoods.”
NOGOE (No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events), who had fought a long and high profile campaign against the proposal, said in a statement on their website:
NOGOE is disappointed because Greenwich Park itself is the loser. This is a bad day for the protection of the nation’s heritage, which will inevitably be damaged despite mitigating measures. We’ve heard what LOCOG have SAID, now let’s see what they DO. There are 42 planning conditions which must be satisfied before these events can take place, and NOGOE will be monitoring their every move.
Could I say well done to locog for securing the almost certain trashing of the oldest Royal Park . A man from The British Equestian Federation said that they could not use Windsor because the grass was not right . Seb Coe said that having the horses in the park would bring this sport to the inner city poor , we could ask how many of this group have been inspired to take up riding after observing horse riding in Hyde Park .
Seb Coe has also said that LOCOG will return the park in October 2013 undamaged , Locog have also said that they are a private company with no public money . The question must be how will they guarantee they will have the resourses to do the work to reinstate . To spend £43 million before how much after and who will control these funds before they are spent .
I am really baffled now – aren’t Thames Water supposed to have made comment on the Planning Application?Were the Council acting legally by omitting them before granting consent? One hears they are very concerned that they cannot provide sufficient water for the event on top of normal demands and are concerned about how to take away so much raw sewage from the site. Now that will be very nice for everyone won’t it? Also the Bat Survey which was not completed – isn’t it illegal to go ahead with any building plans without a proper Bat Survey? Also there were 2,300 objection letters and only 36 supporters – whatever conditions are opposed if I had that ratio of objections if I wanted to put a dormer window in my roof I am certain the Council would support the objectors rather than towing the Party Line?? Also LOCOG and The Council should tell us more about The Test Events in 2011 when much of the Park will be closed for construction and the event itself and then dismantling and making safe before staring the bigger build in 2012.
Greenwich Council should be deeply ashamed of themselves for not only lending our heritage to a Private Company that only shares information when it suits their intents but to deprive all the people without back yards from the free and safe use of this Park for two summers – and don’t forget – the work starts this spring – and no one will be allowed to walk on the 6km track which will weave around the whole Park thus making many areas out of bounds with immediate effect. LOCOG keep promoting this idea that the Park will only be closed for 4 weeks in 2012 – that is not being completely honest. Also has anyone who was not at Tuesday night’s meeting seen the latest artist’s impression of the stadium when viewed from The Observatory? The one that LOCOG should have used in their consultations but continued to mislead the public.
Well I know its not a popular decision on this board but I’m really pleased. Call me stupid but I believe the promises that the park will be returned as it was found.
The simple truth is that now the choice has been made, we all love Greenwich and choose to live here so lets all now join together in making this event something that we can all be proud of and something that we, our children and grandchildren can remember for our whole lives.
Seems like a situation that will bring a whole lot less stress than tilting at windmills for the next two years.
I am beginning to understand how dictators get into power. Believe the promises made by LOCOG!
Yes, who is it sensible to trust: someone who has always kept their word, or the ODA/LOCOG. Yes, makes perfect sense to believe someone who has repeatedly failed to keep their promises. Not. Eg
(a) promised that the Olympics could be done for £2.9bn (now £9.3bn and counting, and they are not going to repay the £2bn loan from the Lottery);
(b) in the Olympic bid used a map of the Park drawn to the wrong scale so that it appeared to be nearly twice as large as it is’
(c) promised that, if London won the bid, they would “immediately” undertake “extensive surveys” and if these found that too much damage would be done to Greenwich Park they would renegotiate the venue with the IOC (but never did any of these things);
(d) promised and are still promising that “urban children” will be able to see these events up close, whereas a matter of fact because of EU law Greenwich people have no greater chance of attending the equestrian events than, say, someone in Nice or Ulm or Algeciras.
Yes, by all means, believe the promises of those who have suppressed the Thames Water submission on the LOCOG planning application. Then don’t complain when (a) there is no water in your taps and (b) the stench of equine and human waste blights the lives and health of everyone living downwind of the Park. Then people will blame the Government big time for letting this happen – even if it is a Conservative Government by then who would have to pick up the mess left by the current administration – and so that will make them evens-Stevens on great PR-disasters (Labour/Millennium and Conservative/Olympics).
Maybe after the general election we will have a government that would prefer to spend £50 million on a school or hospital than on damaging a World Heritage Site for the sake of equestrian pride and LOCOG inertia.
There will have to be a radical review of expenditure on the Olympics; and the best place to start will be by cancelling the plans to use Greenwich Park.
This planning meeting was just a rubber-stamping exercise. Even GT the day after the meeting referred to the Park as the venue where equestrian “will” take place, not “would,subject to planning”
The councillors who voted in favour looked uninterested; they didn’t ask any challenging questions; they had clearly made up their minds beforehand. It was insulting to those who worked so hard to analyse the case. Neither LOCOG nor the councillors listened to intelligent reasoning. LOCOG and BEF made inane speeches about compact Games and inspiring young people. One councillor, Sajid Jawaid, didn’t ask a single question and, when asked for his decision, agreed with other supporters and stressed that the events were for the benefit of young people. What’s that got to do with planning law? The whole Olympics is inspirational; having Greenwich as a host borough is inspirational; but it is not dependent on this one event taking place in the Park. The thought that local kids are going to be inspired to take up riding as a sport in response to a £200,000 riding project is unrealistic.
There was other misleading information about benefits to the local economy. For example there were figures about how much money the spectators and press would spend in the local economy. Yet according to transport plans in the London 2012 website, the modelling has been done on people arriving by train between 8.30 and 9.30, then leaving between 5.30 and 6pm. The visitors will be a captive audience inside the venue for the McDonalds of this world, so when will they spend money in the local restaurants and museums? Another myth about the Olympics.
There has been so much manipulation of information, it is staggering that the organisers have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of so many in authority. As for scrutiny by Royal Parks and English Heritage, as government agencies their hands are tied.
This has been a state-sponsored stitch-up from day 1, and now it is a council-backed one.
It seems that, back in October 2004, the Royal Parks formally agreed with London 2012 that – in the event that London won the bid to host the Olympics – Greenwich Park could be used as a venue for the equestrian events without conducting any assessment whatsoever on whether this could be done without causing sewage flooding and such an enormous drop in mains water pressure that no one would have water.
Amazing, really. That’s what you get, though, when you employ placemen instead of people who know what they are doing.
As the owner of a local riding school I don`t think you need worry over re-instatement. There are two annual olympic type events held annually at Badminton and Burghley and any damage to the respective parks and surfaces is hardly noticeable year on year.
My concern would be the main access point across the road in front of the Queen`s House, I had assumed a temporary pedestrian bridge but apparently not, just temporary traffic lights! could be fun.
On cross-country day there will be access from Blackheath which makes more sense.
John Window: Badminton and Burghley do not have ancient underground conduits, protected species, 400-year-old trees planted by Charles II. And I am sure that the reason you don’t see any damage at those sites is that the “footing” there was prepared yonks ago and is now merely maintained; what is proposed in Greenwich Park is a total conversion from a biodiverse, unique landscape into a golf course. Badminton and Burghley do not serve as a “back garden” for thousands who have none of their own.
I am getting a bit tired of people who have only ever read LOCOG and Council announcements, and who not having bothered to read the planning applications nevertheless think that, from this position of almost total ignorance, they can credibly opine on LOCOG’s proposals. I met someone last week who had only ever read LOCOG propaganda and so STILL believed that the only opposition was from dog-walkers who, she added, could jolly well walk their dogs on the Heath for two weeks.
Anyway, the water and sewage infrastructure won’t be able to cope, and that should be an end to it.
John Window (Director, Mount Mascal Stables) should have declared his interest – Mount Mascal (Bexley) is one of the pre-Olympic training camp venues.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/london_2012/7275046.stm
So John Window would not want the 2012 equestrian events moved to Windsor.
Indeed we were selected as a pre-games traing camp, however the chances of that happening are virtually nil. I think that correspondents fail to realise that these games are about iconism, LOGOC cannot compete with Beijing in technical terms but has the backdrop of London`s wonderful historic buildings, so basically `if you`ve got it, flaunt it`. I would however point out that both Badminton and Burghley estates predate Greenwich Park by some centuries, both being of Tudor origins. The inconvenience that will surely arise will be temporary and the increased revenues to all local businesses will be substantial and by 2014 the Park will be as beautiful as it is now.
Mr Window, the “clean venue policy” of the IOC will ensure that local businesses will not enjoy increased revenues. PLEASE stop just repeating what LOCOG have told you – most of it is complete balderdash!
As for iconic backdrop, the 23,000-seat temporary stadium will ensure that the iconic backdrop is invisible. The media continue to use an early artist’s impression which put the arena in the Queens House tiltyard, looking all folksy and Tudory LOCOG won’t let them use the official illustration of what the stadium will really look like: it blots out all light from the south to the Queens House.
Really, I ask you to make yourself a bit better informed. Read NOGOE’s submission on the planning applications – the ecology, archaelogy, socioeconomic aspects: http://www.nogoe2012.com/planning-app.html
To any other equestrians looking in: if you love and value your horses, please start asking awkward questions – eg about the water supply. Thames Water has said that the existing water infrastructure will not be able to cope; horses need 25 gallons water per day when active, just to drink, not to mention the gallons of water and ice required to cool them down, and the water needed by vets and grooms and riders. Never mind anyone else on site.
John Window – you obviously haven’t the first clue about maths nor structural engineering – nor seen the Planning Application! The” Iconic Views” are all obstructed by the 23,000 seat arena, ticket booths, security fencing, ramps and walkways etc. etc. etc. ……. They will start digging the Cross Country course very shortly so good-bye Park all you kids who have been rolling your eggs – and yourselves – down One Tree Hill this weekend. Good bye to that lovely flat area for playing football all you boys and girls this Easter weekend – the next 3 Aprils it will all be fenced off and full of heavy machinery … and you maybe haven’t even thought about how they are going to power this huge event in A PARK which has none – nit to mention how they are going to bring in enough water for over 80,000 people and 220 horse and take all the raw sewage away for both………
Good to see there’s been no let up in the NOGOE charm offensive.
Did the Labour councillors knowingly sign off a planning application that was not compliant with the London Plan? The Mayor has been written to, to draw several breaches to his attention. This could be a bigger stink than the MPs’ expenses.