One of the gates to the Flower Garden in Greenwich Park has been reopened after being fenced over yesterday.
While the Flower Garden itself and the entrances at Vanburgh Hill Gate and Blackheath remained open, park users were surprised yesterday to find that the gate at the corner of Bower Avenue and Great Cross Avenue had been blocked by metal fencing.
Public information brochures and maps had not given advance notice of the gate being closed yesterday.
Greenwich.co.uk raised this issue with London 2012 organisers and was today told by a LOCOG spokesperson:
"We are pleased to say that we have been able to remove the two fencing panels in front of the gate in question today and the gate is now open.
"However, this gate will be closed again and fenced off from 1st July when Great Cross Avenue and the routes to and from Maze Hill and Vanbrugh Gates will be closed off for part of the test event period. This gate and the paths will re-open from 5th July."
Organisers also say they will update access notices which they put up yesterday.
Preparations for the Greenwich Park Eventing International are now well underway - see yesterday's post on the jumps that are being installed for the cross country event.
I did visit the park at lunchtime today and all gates and paths that were advertised as open were open. (This was just me popping in to the park, not a formal visit with Royal Parks or LOCOG). So while I regret any temporary closure of gates that should be have been open earlier this week, I do think that LOCOG have been acting in good faith.
Yet again local councillor Alex Grant is quick to take LOCOG’s part over that of the constituents by whom he was elected and for whom he is paid to work.
The public are doing LOCOG’s “health & safety” work for them. The Flower Garden issue was rectified by a Westcombe resident, as were a whole series of trip hazards and incompetent fencing in the wrong place over the past week. LOCOG’s community relations guys seem to think that putting up a few complicated signs is all it takes to pacify people whose green space for rest and exercise has been confiscated – with the support of local Labour councillors.
This is the biggest single thing to hit Greenwich but without bringing benefits to local people – and this “temporary” closure is going to go on for the best part of the summer. We can then expect a very short respite before we are hit with the even bigger impact of next year’s events.
There are still many hazards in The Park but perhaps we will just wait for LOCOG to identify them before there is a serious accident. The residents are sick of flagging up hazards and getting fobbed off with vacuous LOCOG PR spin – pretending they were on the case.
It is pretty apparent to everyone who uses The Park (and it sounds as if Councillor Grant is not much of a regular Park user) that runners, walkers, the elderly, dogs, cyclists, skateboarders, children, tourists etc do not mix with guys in trucks who think this is a private sports field and are intent on delivering what they have to do with total disregard for the public. Councillor Grant should go into The Park a bit more and listen to the complaints and how betrayed people feel by “the authorities” for allowing this to happen. People are frustrated at being treated like caged animals and outsiders – and are very angry that this is all about attracting corporate hospitality and an elite sport to abuse a World Heritage Site, shut out a whole community for two summers, disappoint and give a very poor impression to tourists about how we fail to value this precious heritage.
A heatwave is forecast for Sunday. On days like this people need space and this is being denied them. Why doesn’t Councillor Grant venture into Park then and make his views (that LOCOG are “acting in good faith”) and his presence known in The Park then …