A special meeting of Greenwich Council’s Planning Board will hear the application to erect temporary structures, including a 23,000 seat arena, and decide whether to accept the application, or not.

Use of the Park has been at the centre of a row between London 2012 and local residents including NOGOE (No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events), a residents’ pressure group.

The Park, the smallest and oldest of the royal parks, was chosen because of its proximity to the Olympic Park at Stratford and London’s commitment to stage Games that were "compact" and easily accessible to athletes and spectators.

While other venues, such as Windsor, Badminton, Burghley and Hickstead could provide some aspects of the equestrian events, none could host the running, shooting and riding elements of modern pentathlon while still being close enough to the Olympic Park for competitors to contest the other two disciplines - swimming and fencing - in a single day.

The Park, with its stunning backdrops and location within the Greenwich World Heritage Site, was also chosen because of the experience it would provide, both for spectators and the billions watching around the world.

With treasures such as the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory and the Queen’s House, it is thought Greenwich Park will provide one of the most spectacular, and memorable, of any of the 36 competition venues in use in 2012.

It is the Park’s very standing as part of the Greenwich World Heritage Site, which has alarmed locals, including NOGOE, who argue the Park is not suitable for use at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the events will cause irreparable damage to a site of immense historical and archaeological significance.

The 183-acre Park, which was once used by Henry VIII to hunt deer, is also home to thousands of trees and Roman remains, believed to be a temple, all of which are factors in NOGOE’s campaign to move the Olympic and Paralympic events elsewhere.

London 2012 says it will return the Park in the condition received from owners, The Royal Parks, and has already made significant concessions following a long, local consultative process.

The route of the six kilometres cross-country course has been altered as a result of local concerns to avoid sensitive areas and the Park’s closure in 2012 has been reduced to four weeks.

The arena has also been moved to avoid archaeologically sensitive areas of the Park.

Interest in tomorrow’s meeting has been high with Greenwich Council receiving more than 2,000 objections to the application of which 45 per cent lived or worked in Greenwich.

If the application is rejected the ramifications will be considerable. 

Not only will London 2012 need to look for a new venue but local businesses stand to lose millions of pounds in revenue as it is estimated the Greenwich Park events will bring £9.4 million in extra local visitor expenditure as well as new jobs.


Related stories
February 2010: London 2012 deny NOGOE claims Greenwich heritage sites will be damaged
January 2010: London 2012 will break Victorian law if they use Greenwich Park claim critics
December 2009: MP accuses NOGOE of scaremongering over Greenwich Park
December 2009: London 2012 planning application for Greenwich is illegal claim opponents
November 2009: British equestrian team throw support behind Greenwich Park