London's oldest Royal Park, which dates back to 1433, will host the Olympic equestrian and modern pentathlon events in July and August 2012 as well as the Paralympic dressage competitions the following September.

A temporary main arena for 23,000 spectators will be built within the grounds of the National Maritime Museum but Hadaway insists that such structures, which are vital for the success of the competition, will cause no long term damage.

"Greenwich Council, the local planning authority, has established an advisory group comprising The Royal Parks, Natural England, English Heritage and Sport England," Hadaway told insidethegames.

"We take our responsibilities very seriously and our planning application shows the detailed work we have carried out on all aspects of our plans for Greenwich Park.

"We will make sure that we return the Park in the condition in which we receive it, and we have fully involved The Royal Parks and English Heritage in the development of all studies and plans.

"The potential impacts of our plans have been thoroughly assessed as part of our environmental impact assessment within our planning application.

"This assessment has concluded that it would be possible to do this without creating long term damage to the park.

"The Royal Parks is responsible for management of the park and maintaining the biodiversity.

"They will continue to monitor and manage our activity in the park to ensure there is no long term damage."

Hadaway said Greenwich Park will be closed to the public for as little time as possible following concern from residents.

"We have listened to people's concerns and have reduced the time of full closure for the park from six to four weeks, from approximately July 6 to August 3, 2012," he said.

"Our intention is to re-open sections of the park as soon as possible following completion of the eventing competition.

"Certain areas will remain closed between August 29 and September 9 for the Paralympic Games but a lot of the park will still be accessible to the public.

"Between now and the Games, small sections will be cordoned off to allow ground improvement works to take place but this is similar to the activity that routinely takes place already as part of The Royal Parks' ground maintenance programme, such as mowing and aerating.

"It will have little impact on visitors who will still be able to access all areas freely, except for a narrow strip of ground in certain places.

"All of the structures we are putting in for the Games are temporary and will be removed afterwards.

"We are clear in our planning application that all ground works related to the Games will be completed by November 2012.

"Alongside this reinstatement programme we are working with The Royal Parks to make improvements to the condition of the Park.

"Following the Games, The Royal Parks will implement a substantial three-year acid grassland restoration programme to improve the extent of high quality grassland within the park to leave a lasting legacy which we fill fund."


Hadaway claimed test events, which are taking place at Greenwich Park later this year, will cause minimum disruption to residents.

The first is an invitational event for equestrian from July 4-6, while the second is the modern pentathlon World Cup final from July 9-10 which offers London 2012 qualification spots, said Hadaway.

"During the test events the western side of the Park and the Royal Observatory will remain open throughout the event period.

"The peak-time traffic routes will only be closed when there are horses on the venue, for the safety of drivers and animals.

"Construction vehicles will access the park via St Mary's gate using the established construction routes while large construction vehicles will not enter the park during peak travel hours.

"Access to the rest of the Park will be maximised with parkland only being restricted to protect park users during construction and paths being left open for as long as possible.

"As always we will keep these restrictions to a minimum and re-open them as soon as it is safe for us to do so."

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