Save Greenwich Park from Olympic Equestrian events in 2012

Greenwich Park: the Equestrian Perspective

17 March 2010 - The Fédèration Equestre Internationale (FEI) applies the thumb-screws to Greenwich Council - in the FEI submission in support of LOCOG's planning application is this extraordinary statement: "We find important to state that no change of venue can be accepted at this late stage. For logistical reasons we could not now reorganise at any alternative location." NOGOE comment: LOCOG has had five years to submit their planning applications, so if time is running out that is LOCOG's fault, and democracy should not be sacrificed to LOCOG's inability to get its act together. There are alternative venues which could be prepared, if LOCOG start now. But there is only ONE ancient and precious Greenwich Park which can only be trashed once.

14 March 2010 - "The Compromised Games" - history rewritten, FEI rules bent, safety compromised - will 2012 equestrians be real Olympians? LOCOG has made a misleading statement in their submission to Greenwich Council for planning permission. It is not true that the comparative venues assessed (4 up to 100 miles away) were as stated in the application. According to the British Equestrian Federation (BEF) in 2005, five different venues were considered (all in London).

Facilities for stabling and training are fewer than that set out in the Fédèration Equestre Internationale (FEI) specification.

From the NOGOE Technical Appendix (45kb, .pdf):

"The training areas do not fulful the FEI specification, and the FEI has waived this requirement on the understanding that only one discipline would be on site at a time and so there would never be more than 50-80 horses vying to use the limited facilities every day. But now timetabling has shown that dressage and show jumping are to take place concurrently. This means 130 horses would be trying to share limited facilities that were already too few for 50-80 ...

FEI rules state that "sufficient hacking" space must be provided. LOCOG's planning application makes no mention of hacking. In view of the small size of the Park, there is no obvious part that could be used, except in the area of the cross country course. However, it is unlikely that the eventers would be allowed to take their horses near to the course before the competition. If it were thought that other competitors could use the cross-country area after the Three Day Event it would impact LOCOG's commitment to reopen parts of the Park to the public immediately afterwards. A further problem would be the risk of additional damage to the Park's ecology and archaeology, if riders were allowed free rein across the Park, as well as a safety issue concerning uncharted and unmaintained underground tunnels to horses and riders ...

From the Planning Application it is apparent that the layout for training arenas do not meet FEI specs. There is no information as to whether the surface of the training areas would be the same as the field of play. The location of two training arenas away from the main stables area, and supply of overspill stabling on Circus Field on Blackheath means that security and surveillance costs would increase to meet the FEI's recently strengthened clean sport rules.

Public safety and that of competitors and their valuable horses would be compromised by the presence of uncharted underground conduits, which could collapse under the additional strain of construction work, spectator movements and the race itself. Read the full press release (146kb, .pdf) and Technical Appendix from NOGOE (45kb, .pdf) here.

13 March 2010 - Horse International - Respected equestrian journalist, Pippa Cuckson, has written that the ramification of hijacking a UNESCO World Heritage Site is an unprecedented sporting compromise to deliver the vision.. "Three-star CICs are successfully staged in Europe on smaller sites than Greenwich, but considerably more space is needed for a multi-discipline venue that will overwhelmed by anti-terrorist measures, not to mention the enhanced requirements of FEI clean sport ... an inexcusable lack of homework about the ramifications of hijacking a UNESCO World Heritage Site has resulted in unprecedented sporting compromise to deliver the vision....organisers have openly discarded the FEI specification for Olympic training and exercise arenas....LOCOG left the planning application spectacularly late, with the test event just 18 months away and no hint of alternative venues if Greenwich Council follows the law". Read the rest of Pippa Cuckson's article, "Greenwich: the reality of compromise", here.

21 February 2010 - Racing Post - "The Fly on the Wall" (19.02.10) - Put your money on Goodwood: " The Fly on the Wall reckons that racecourse officials in the south of England will be brushing up their knowledge of show-jumping, dressage and eventing terminology over the next couple of weeks, with an eye on pitching for the right to stage the 2012 London Olympic equestrian events." Read the rest of this Fly On The Wall piece here.

15 January 2010 - Protestors hope to derail Greenwich Olympic plan using Victorian law: Campaigners opposed to the use of Greenwich Park during the 2012 Olympics claim to have found a law that renders the recent planning application for the park unlawful. Read the rest of the article in Horse and Hound