Annex
Letter, dated 10 January 2003, from the
Chairman of the NLLDC to Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP
OLYMPIC GAMES PROPOSALS IN THE LEA VALLEY
1. We write to express our deep concern at the current
reports in the media about the possibility that the Government
might support a bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games in the UK,
and that a possible venue for this would be in the Lee Valley
area of East London.
2. The New Lammas Lands Defence Committee (NLLDC)
is a large pressure group which was set up in the autumn of 1993.
Our purpose is to protect the former Lammas Lands of Leyton, Hackney
and Walthamstow from inappropriate development and encroachment,
and to maintain the right of all members of the public to full
and free access in perpetuity to all of the former Lammas Lands.
Most of the lands with which we are concerned fall within the
Lee Valley Regional Park and some of this area—including
Hackney Marshes—is registered as Common Land.
3. The Lee Valley is East London's precious 'green
lung'. Much is past and present Common Land, and the Regional
Park contains several Nature Reserves and SSSIs. The Lee Valley
is a pleasant and tranquil place, once accurately described by
the late Dame Joan Littlewood as 'a playground for Londoners'.
We are very concerned that this welcome green haven in our overcrowded
city could be destroyed simply for the sake of three weeks of
organised sport and athletics activities. We therefore write to
request that your Department should please drop any thoughts you
may have of ruining our Valley for this, or any other, purpose
and instead consider more suitable (possibly brownfield or derelict)
sites elsewhere.
4. On 23 March 2000 two gentlemen called Steve Lawrence
and James Burland attended a meeting of the Stratford and Temple
Mills Partnership Board in Stratford, and presented a scheme to
build an Olympic Stadium and Village on the Bully Point Nature
Reserve, part of Hackney Marshes and the Westdown (Temple Mills)
area of Leyton. The then Chair of the New Lammas Lands Defence
Committee, Ms. Katy Andrews, was at that time a member of the
STMP Board as the representative of Voluntary Action Waltham Forest.
She reported the scheme to our group, and at that time we simply
thought it was rather bonkers (very close to April Fools' Day)
and frankly a bit of a joke.
5. After that, everything went very quiet, until
we recently heard in October 2002 that the UK Government was considering
whether to put in a bid for the UK to host the Olympic Games.
Arup had by then prepared their consultants ' feasibility report,
and Londoners were informed that if it was decided by the Government
that London would be allowed to bid, then it would almost certainly
be a bid based in East London. Even more frighteningly, we understand
that Mayor Ken Livingstone supports the scheme.
6. Please would you see sense and drop this idea.
Not only would the bid as presented to the STMP involve building
Olympic stadia and an Olympic Village on Hackney Marshes and the
Bully Point Nature Reserve on Stratford Marshes (which would be
destroyed), but it would ruin our valley—probably forever.
No amount of temporary jobs could compensate for the complete
destruction of this muchloved area and the detrimental effects
its loss would cause in terms of the quality of life of East Londoners.
7. Rather than supporting this unwanted bid, could
the money that would otherwise be used not be put to some better
use, such as improving Hackney's public transport links (there
is still no tube service!) or cleaning up and regenerating the
Hackney Wick area and its waterways?
8. We urge you and your Department to look elsewhere
for a venue and leave our valley alone. We are utterly opposed
to any Olympic bid involving Hackney Marshes and the surrounding
area and will oppose it as vigorously as possible. We feel certain
that should this proposal to build an Olympic Village in our area
be taken any further then the Government will have another Twyford
Down on its hands.
13 January 2003
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