2012 Velopark

I'm one of the people who's been campaigning since 2003 to secure relocation and legacy for the 'derelict site' that was Eastway. I called Seb Coe to the Planning Inquiry for cross-examination and I've been to many many meetings with the planners and politicos to get planning conditions, space, funding and the will to get our provision sorted through the Games build and beyond. - It's been a long time. Maybe some of the issues have become a bit obscure, but you can be sure there is a firm place in the legacy parklands only because of the Eastway Users' Group.

Considering where we're at now;-
One of the superficial issues is the amount of work that needs doing to remove the temporary structures, and it can't all be done at the same time. They haven't started on the Hockey or BMX tribunes as far as I can see. However the scene in Greenwich Park is very different, as they obviously have an early deadline to meet for the equestrian arena's removal.
Temporary structures are not the real issue, as the Velopark comes with the complication of developers needing to work on the closely adjacent sites. We objected to how tightly the developments approached the Velopark boundary, and how some actually moved it aside, but we have an agreed plan that gained consent earlier this year. This ;encroachment' is a drag and might entail a delay in opening-up the area, but it does mean the developers all want the park to be completed before they sell the units, and that will be as soon as possible too.

It gets more complicated: There have been several plans. 2007 gave us nothing of any worth outside the velodrome. The plan agreed in 2009 was carefully worked out with the same architect as the velodrome, but that was never going to be built by the Legacy Company that worked-up its own plan in 2011 to satisfy developer partners first.
As a result of combined objection to the 2011 plans, made by EUG, Sport England and British Cycling we re-opened discussions with the Legacy Company (now an Urban Development Corporation) to get the plans changed and things moved round. This means the 2012 Velopark layout entails removing a section of the Olympic Lifeline road, which must be re-routed to give access to Westfield's car parks and the new residential quarters. Utilities under the road have to remain in place.

Were things to drag out, the Lee Valley Park, which owns the land has every reason to get it completed. They are definitely wanting to get the legacy funding spent in the right way and to the agreed timescale.
In 2004 and 2009 we secured planning conditions which insist the legacy must be completed by the end of 2014. That is the final backstop, but if the work has to be done, it may as well be done to the agreed timescales which say end of 2013.

• Which does not seem so bad, when you reckon how much there is to get done. The landscaping and planting is bound to take a while to stabillise, and that's last on a list of some quite significant groundworks.
  Every meeting about the legacy opening has always heard the same thing from Lee Valley Park - After their experience with the Broxbourne White Water centre they will never again be forced into opening before they are ready. They have been consistently saying they would not do a partial opening, especially because the velodrome sits in the middle of the park, and so will be in the midst of a construction site at first, with developments going on all around and requiring use of the access roads.. Then they want 'around six months' to prove their systems, train staff and generally get ready for the public opening, which was the big problem they hit with the Broxbourne centre which was jammed solid with people from day 1.
  They are not being definite on any opening date, preferring to say 'around the end of 2013'.
  
• When you consider the amount of work, and the separate capital projects involved, the landscaping and the commissioning of operations and equipment at the Velopark, this isn't a long time to wait.
  Be patient. We've been working for you on this since 2003, when Eastway was described as 'derelict' and a deal had been done for us to get nothing apart from a biscuit tin velodrome that was to be built by 2005 to count towards London's Olympic bid. We got a right to relocation and to legacy, and so far it's worked out OK after only a few occasions on which we have had to raise hell and mount publicity campaigns.
  If the programme starts to slip beyond 2013 we will be there again, but this isn't the time to start action on opening any earlier.
  
  

Bring it on! I'll be there on my bike.