Eastway and Olympics - what's happening and how YOU can help

[Elliot M]

Aodan H and I went along to the Eastway Users Group meeting the other week, negotiating the Mad Max style encampment complete with burning tyres at the entrance (I got a cab and the driver *really* didn't want to go in there)...

Anyway here's the latest communique from John and Eastway which summaries what's happeneing and how Eastway users can help by lobbying concerned parties:




[quote]Dear Eastway user

For the past three months the Eastway Users Group has been lobbying on
behalf of the current users of Eastway to ensure that our concerns are heard by the groups involved in the Olympic bid. We have had some success, but the time has now come for you, as individual users of Eastway, to make your
voices heard.

JPAT (the Joint Planning Authorities Team) will assess all parts of the
Olympic planning applications between the four authorities - Hackney,
Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. They assure us that all
correspondence will be responded to, and their points will be considered and referenced in the final documents submitted to the planning team sometime in July.

What to do

The best way, at present, to lobby our concerns about the Olympic and
post-Olympic developments, is to write to JPAT, PO Box 37058, London E15 2XF, to arrive no later that March 4th 2004. Please DON'T simply cut and paste the points below and add your signature - the letters that carry the most weight with the planners are written individually and in your own
words, though they don't have to be very long.

You can also email them at comments@olympicsjpat.org.uk, or online at
http://www.olympicsjpat.org.uk <http://www.olympicsjpat.org.uk> . You can look at this website for details of what's proposed - however, be warned that there's a lot to wade through. Virtually all of what relates to us is
contained in the 'OLY1' application and in the north of the Olympic site.
However, you can look at a basic version of the Legacy plans here
<http://www.londoncyclesport.com/news_2004_ctc/velopark13.html>.

Following the March 4th closing date, there are likely to be some amendments made to the plans in response to comments and concerns from the public. You will be informed of these, and there will be a second period of consultation opened in mid to late March.

What to say

The points we would like you to raise are set out below and fall into six
main areas. They are in no particular order of importance; you can raise any or all.

Don't forget to tell them how you use Eastway at present, how many times per year, road/offroad/both, and how valuable it is to you/your kids.

The Olympic Bid

We are broadly supportive of the idea that London would be a great venue for the 2012 Olympics, and welcome a new international-standard Velodrome and BMX track to be built as a part of this bid.

Off-road racing

1. We are concerned that a large piece of land in the east of the present
Lee Valley Cycle Circuit (Eastway) is to be lost to the Olympic village. If
there isn't enough land we can't hold viable off-road races at Eastway.

2. We need an equivalent area of land to the current site to use for
off-road racing in the future, so that we can build a variety of trails. We need three miles of trails to vary race courses.
3. If there is less land than the current acreage then the capacity of
competitors (currently 200 riders) has to be reduced for safety reasons and the popularity will dwindle.

4. There should also be plenty of varied terrain (i.e. hills, steep banks,
wide tracks, 'singletrack').

Road racing
This variety of terrain is also useful in the design of a road racing
circuit. This needs to be at least one mile in length. (The Eastway Users
Group have produced a tech spec for this. See the Book of Eastway
<http://www.londoncyclesport.com/eastway_book/index.html> ).

Public access

The circuit seems set to be opened up to extensive use by the general
public, with many public paths criss-crossing the proposed road circuit and
off-road area. This has serious safety implications, and would likely mean
that road and off-road racing would both become too dangerous to continue.
The current Cycle Circuit has only very limited public access. Dog walkers
and bikes being ridden at speed don't mix!

Post-Olympic (Legacy) facilities

We are VERY concerned about proposals to leave hockey and baseball
facilities within the cycle circuit as a legacy after the Olympics. This
would result in both conflicts of management between cycling and non-cycling activities and the loss of valuable land space. Aren't there better places to build them?

The Big Bridge

We note that the viability of the road and off-road circuits depends
entirely on the building of an ambitious land bridge across the A12. In the
event that this is not built - particularly should London not win the
Olympics - we require that the integrity of the current Lee Valley Cycle
Circuit remains unchanged, so that we can continue to race on the same - or improved - facilities that we are used to.

The Big Build

We require that the construction of Olympic facilities should disrupt our
cycling activities as little as possible. It has taken years to build up the
level of usage at Eastway particularly amongst clubs and schools, so while
construction continues, alternative venues should be made available so that road and off-road racing can continue without interruption. Following the Games, work must scheduled to allow us to resume as soon as possible afterwards. Kids don't wait around, they'll go and find other sports and leisure activities.

Common Land

Finally, we have most concerns that over one third of the current site,
currently Metropolitan Open Land, is to be lost to us, and consumed under
housing (See Off-Road racing above). We require solid assurances that if any land area from the current site should be taken away, that at least the same area of landscaped terrain should then be restored and made available for cycle racing. This area should then be re-designated Metropolitan Open Land, in order to protect our heritage, whether or not the Olympics are granted to London for 2012.

[AodanH]

The closing date for letters to the Planning Authority is March 4. Letters to JPAT, PO Box 37058, London E15 2XF

This is not just about the Olympics. The area was always earmarked for development to increase public access. This will go ahead regardless of the Olympic bid.

The User Group have put together a set of design guidelines for road and off-road courses which have been given to the developers. (These are available on londoncyclesport.com)

The more letters the planning authorites recieve will more than likely dictate how much attention will be given to these guidelines.

If the guidelines are ignored Eastway could end up with a flat "car-park" road circuit surrounded with manicured parkland.

If the Olympics go ahead there will be no Eastway for that year, that is accepted/welcomed. The user group are pushing to ensure the facilities will be restored to their current level after an Olympics even though the layout will be different. They are also lobbying to reduce the impact during pre-Olympic construction (which could take 3-4 years).