Greenwich Olympic 'Circus'

Chris Sumner writes:

Also encouraging is the Mayor's intention to review the 2012 Olympics proposals, the prospective costs of which are continually mounting. One of the first things that he and his advisers may like to review is the preposterous proposal to use Greenwich Park as the venue for the equestrian events.

Greenwich Park is small by Royal Parks standards, and acts much more than any of the other Royal Parks as a recreation ground for local people as well as being a draw for tourists and the setting for an unequalled assemblage of historic buildings.

It is clear that the only reason for the enthusiasm of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games for using Greenwich Park is that the palaces built by Inigo Jones, Wren, Hawksmoor, et al. would provide great photo opportunities. So, while the horses are trampling the archaeology and the crowds and the Portaloos and the international television crew vans are compacting the tree roots, the world can be treated to a few hours of Palladian and Baroque backdrop, no doubt accompanied by Vivaldi, or will it be Purcell for local colour? How pathetic! Where are the local children and families and dogs and joggers going to play and run and picnic for the fifteen months that much of the park will be out of commission? Has LOCOG seen how busy the park gets, especially at weekends?

The Queen's House and Greenwich Palace: 
the backdrop to the Olympic equestrian events 

Is it any consolation that the present government will no longer be the hosts by 2012? Not really, given the apparent alternative, but the likelihood of the current lot's being out on their ear sooner or later may encourage the agencies tasked with advising the government to take a longer-term view, and to express their reservations rather less equivocally than to date.

Le Notre failed to grasp the nature of Greenwich Park, but he had the excuse of never having visited it and seen its steep asymmetry. He knew nothing about its unstable geology, and would not have cared about the archaeology or the concerns of the local people. LOCOG has no such excuses, and must be shown that Greenwich Park is much too important to be sacrificed for the Olympic five-ring circus.