I was at the demo against siting the 2012 Olympics in Stratford (Sat 19th Feb). It won't go down in the history books but none the less it had a respectable turnout. At the end we ended up on the playing fields that are, according to current plans, going to be tarmaced over for a coach park.
The loss these playing fields is just part of problem with the bid which is that even tho some very flash Olympic sports facilities are going to be built, a whole swathe of sports facilities that local people actually use are going to be lost. After the demo, several locals offered to show me and a friend round some of the other things that will be lost. First stop was a sports center. It was looking a little worse for wear. I gather it has been short of money for a long time. There is a suspicion that it has been under a kind of international-bid blight for some time. Why do it up if it is going to be flattened to make way for the bigger and flasher stuff that international events need? Whatever. Even if that suspicion is unfounded it still begs the question. If there isn't the money to maintain properly the facilities that exist, where is the money coming from to maintain the new facilities when the Olympics, but not the resulting debt, have been and gone?
As part of the sports center is a war memorial to those members of the club/center killed in the second world war. This will be moved, not destroyed, tho it is hard to see how it will still have its meaning if detached from the center. (I only went and cut off the tips of Winston's fingers when taking the foto, didn't I!)
Our next stop was the cycle track. As if to order, a horde of cyclists came bombing down the track as soon as we appeared. This will be lost tho cyclists will be getting a Velodrome as a replacement. Whether that's an improvement or not depends on your taste.
Certainly the current track is prettier. This is us walking thru the area enclosed by the track. You could almost imagine that you were in the middle of the countryside. True the terrain isn't quite the sort of thing that nature produces without human hands having got in the act somewhere but nature is well on the way to reclaiming this area fully to herself. Unless the bid wipes out her efforts. Bear in mind these pictures are taken mid winter and it will only really come to life in the spring.
There is also a nature reserve (which wil also be lost) just next door which I didn't get to see. It will have been managed but I don't imagine that it looks that much different from the pictures here.
It could be that some of what is planned to be lost under concrete may saved if the plans are changed. And certainly I'm no expert so do check out the No to the London Olympics Site which will have the most reliable information. On the other hand things could turn out to be worse than the current plans indicate. Jean Lambert at the earlier public meeting told us of how many of the promises of the organizers of the Athens games went out the window as deadlines got tighter along with fears that the facilities wouldn't be finished in time for the games.
Finally the full sized version of the images on this page are in this directory.
David Barnsdale
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