Locog get green light to stage equestrian events in Greenwich Park

By Holly Hamilton, Sportsbeat

LORD Sebastian Coe's tried and tested rhetoric has proved enough to convince Greenwich Council's Planning Board that the London 2012 equestrian events should be held in Greenwich Park.

GO AHEAD: Greenwich Council's Planning Board votes ten to two in favour of hosting the London 2012 equestrian events in Greenwich Park

In a special meeting at Woolwich town hall, which lasted more than four hours, the planning board eventually voted ten to two in favour of the equestrian and modern pentathlon events being held in the smallest and oldest of London's Royal Parks.

The board accepted the proposal to erect temporary structures, including a 23,000 seat arena despite vociferous opposition from the local community including NOGOE (No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events), a residents pressure group.

The planning board did however stipulate more than 40 conditions including that a panel and advisory board is established to oversee the transport issues that will arise with regards to haulage required to construct the temporary arena, and that the park, having been closed for four weeks, will be returned to its previous state.

Vice-chair of the planning board Ray Walker said: "We are happy with what we have heard tonight from Locog that the park will be returned to its existing state.

"Locog and Lord Coe have allayed our fears with regards to the park and the legacy implications of hosting the events within the park."

The green light given to Locog brings an end to months of wranglings between London 2012 organisers - insistent that hosting the equestrian events in Greenwich Park is crucial to their vision of a compact and inspiring Games - and a well-organised pressure group, some of whom have labelled the proposal as potential vandalism.

Already Locog have been forced to change a number of their plans. Initially the park was to be closed for eight weeks while the route of the six kilometres cross-country course has been altered as a result of local concerns to avoid sensitive areas.

Such has been the organisational skills, the widespread support and the notoriety of some of their influential members, including well-known historian David Starkey, that this has proved to be among the most controversial of London 2012 venues.