LONDON 2012 organisers are putting their plans for transport at Games time on show next week.
The drop in sessions will be held at Devonport House Hotel and give local residents the chance to discuss proposed road closures, parking restrictions, spectator access to Greenwich Park, cycle parking, blue badge and park and ride facilities and how these plans will affect Greenwich town centre.
The sessions take place in the Holbrook Room at the Devonport House Hotel on
• Thursday 20th October: 4pm-7pm
• Friday 21 October: 9am-6pm
• Saturday 22nd October: 9am-5pm
Greenwich Park reinstatement
Last week the final temporary barriers were moved from the field south of the Queen’s House where the main field of play had been for this summer’s test event. The photographs below show how the park looks now compared to shortly after the test event:
October 5th
August 3rd (more photos)
London 2012 organisers and Royal Parks briefed the local media on the reinstatement. Derrick Spurr from Royal Parks was pleased the progress made:
“As soon as we were able, we got on to the ground, started to decompact to get oxygen and air back into the soil.. sowed the seeds and then there was a lot of irrigation, natural irrigation as well. You can see now that the areas of main activity are the greener areas.”
The use of chemicals in the treatment of the grass has been controversial with London 2012’s critics. For the first time in the Royal Parks, a surfactant called Revolution is being used as well as a herbicide called Rescue. Spurr explains what they are being used for:
“Revolution is a wetting agent… it breaks down the surface tension and particles and allows the water to get into the soil. We went to a a number of organisations and the comment I always remember is that this is ‘safer than washing-up liquid’, and the dilution rate is about a drop in a thousand gallons.”
“Rescue is being used in very small areas to get rid of the coarser grasses that are in the acid grassland. Rescue is one of the only chemicals which can kill off a coarse grass within fine grasses.”
Acid grass in Greenwich Park
Following the Olympics and Paralympics next year, some of the reinstatement on the main field of play will not begin until the Spring of 2013. Venue manager, Jeremy Edwards explains:
“The last of the structures to be coming out will be in November and a lot of the work will start in 2013. There’s no point doing work that’s not going to take because it’s not in the growing season.
“We want to make sure that the spend is of value and the work we do gives us the best result. There’s no point in doing something just for ticking the box.”
London 2012 organisers are expected to present planning documents to Greenwich Council before the end of October which will contain their detailed plans for next summer in Greenwich Park.
Remember, it was Derrick Spurr who said that joggers’ trainers churn up the grass more than spiked horses hooves. Astonishing garbage.
So I really don’t believe his claim about Revolution. He might be quoting an Aquatrols statement. Everyone should research Aquatrols, and bee Colony Collapse Disorder in the US, and the conflicting interests of one of its founders.
”a drop in a thousand gallons”
Unbelievable you might think, and scientifically insupportable. I think you might be right if that’s what you thought. I know I did.