MORE green space will be out of bounds to residents during the Olympics after a controversial plan for a temporary training centre on protected land was approved.
More than 80 people protested before a decisive meeting on Tuesday (February 7) against the proposal for a basketball court, a car park and a holding area on Leyton Marshes.
Opponents, including 1250 who signed a petition, claim many people would be deprived of an important green space for eight months with no material benefit to the borough.
They also fear the development will cause long-term damage to wildlife.
But Labour members of the committee pushed the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) plan through, saying the Olympics created “exceptional circumstances”...
The Lee Valley Park Authority, which owns the marshes, will receive £65,000 for the use of the land. The public will be deprived access to a number of green spaces in the borough during the games.
Drapers Field in Leyton will be used as a storage area, while a campsite is planned for the Waterworks Nature Reserve and Golf Centre in Leyton and Low Hall playing fields in Walthamstow.
A company has claimed to have sealed a deal to create campsites at Ive Farm playing fields in Leyton and on land at George Monoux College in Chingford Road, Walthamstow.
The council said any money earned from the use of green space will be used for community events. Part of Wanstead Flats will also be used as a temporary police base.
So one of the most deprived parts of London, which has relatively poor leisure facilities, will lose much of its green space for an expensive white elephant.
In the comments, Barry BRB says that "A public meeting is being arranged to give Waltham Forest and Hackney residents the chance to discuss how to progress the campaign against the courts"
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