The author of a new book about Greenwich Park has criticised plans to hold the Olympic equestrian events in there at the 2012 games. Professor Anthony Quiney, who has lived locally for over 40 years, said of the plans:
If the government can be believed, and all things being equal, the Park should be ideal. But they are not equal. We now have NOGOE’s Report and Economic Assessment, which make it clear that the Olympics are trying to fit a quart into a pint pot. How are the Park’s Roman and medieval archaeology, its precious flora and fauna, its noble seventeenth-century trees, its amazing variety to be preserved, and the general disturbance made acceptable? LOCOG must either prove that this report is a dodgy dossier, or think again and take the events elsewhere. We cannot afford another dismal, half-baked fiasco like the Millennium Dome. Greenwich Park is far too precious for that
Quiney was formely Professor of Architectural History at the University of Greenwich, as well as President of the Royal Archaelogical Institute. His new book, A Year In The Life of Greenwich Park, is out now.