LDA’s Misleading Press Release
February 17th, 2007 by admin
On 7th February, Waltham Forest Planning Committee refused the application for the proposed temporary allotment site on Marsh Lane Fields, an area of public open land which we were to be offered in exchange for the destruction of our established and secure location.
The London Development Agency have issued a Press Release on 13th February announcing their appeal against the planning decision which contains a number of misleading justifications for the planned destruction of our allotments:
- “Manor Gardens Allotments is located at the centre of the Olympic Park”
Look at a map. The center of the park is the area around the Main Stadium. We are actually in the outer regions to the north of the site, 150m from the A12. The only features around us are concourses leading to minor attractions like the BMX circuit. Access can be maintained without any significant interference with building work.
- “The area will be part of the main Olympic concourse is vital to the design concept underpinning the Park to guaranteeing the safe movement of spectators (sic)”
According to the Design & Access Statement included in the ODA Planning Application the 3 overarching design principles of the Olympic Park are “To be fit for purpose”, “To be value for money”, and “Identity and character”. The allotments are all of these. The removal of them at huge expense to provide a pointless and little used pedestrian area meets none of them.
- “During the next seven years of construction a significant part of the site will need to be lowered by up to 6m in order to provide a flood prevention area to protect the Olympic Park.”
This statement does not fit the facts. In the plans, the maximum height of the allotment area is being levelled down from around 15m to 10m, to match the level of the surrounding area with the BMX and Fencing Venues. This is way above any flood water level and is pure landscaping. There is no mention of a flood prevention area on the allotments side of the River Lea in the planning application – it is only referred to in relation to the creation of the wetland area and island on the opposite side of the river.
Finally the Flood Risk Assessment document (large PDF file) states that the flood risk in the Park itself is exacerbated by the various landscaping works – it is definitely not being ‘protected’. (‘There is a small increase in flood levels in localised parts of the OLF Development Area as a result of changes in topography’ 8.1.6 p99). It concludes that the increased risk of flooding in the Park is offset by lowered risk in other areas.