Olympic threat to Wanstead Flats?
The Metropolitan Police are intending to use part of Wanstead Flats as a temporary briefing and deployment centre for officers working on the Olympics policing operations. This is intended to be for a period of 90 days, which includes construction of the site, use of the site during the Olympic and Paralympic games, and the time taken to dismantle the site.
Later this month (August) the police are planning to start a period of public and planning consultation about the proposal, and we are told that "Any move would first be subject to a public consultation to gather feedback from people living in the area, and address any concerns about the restrictions it would put on public use of the area during the games."
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has set up a website (available here) to explain more about the proposals, explaining why Wanstead Flats has been chosen, how it would be used and what is being done to try to mitigate public concerns.
Prior to the start of the public exhibitions relating to the proposals, a meeting was held at the Cherry Tree cafe in Wanstead on August 16th, called by the police together with the Superintendent of Epping Forest and attended by (mostly) invited members of the local community, apparently chosen because of blogs and websites which have expressed concerns. Representatives from other groups present included those from the Wren Conservation and Wildlife Group, Friends of Wanstead Park, East London Nature and the Wanstead Parklands Community Project. A report on that meeting is presented below.
Site map of proposed police briefing centre on Wanstead Flats
On Monday 16 August about 30 local residents and representatives of many local organisations gathered at the Cherry Tree Café in Wanstead for a meeting arranged by the Metropolitan Police and the Conservators of Epping Forest. The purpose of the meeting was to brief us about the proposal to enclose 8 acres of Wanstead Flats to develop a temporary Police Muster Station during the summer of 2012. The organizers were keen to gauge the depth of local concerns about the proposals and to address these issues.
As part of the introductory comments it was stated that policing the Olympics will be the biggest peace time operation undertaken in this country and will require very careful planning! A considerable number of officers will be drafted into the London area to cover the three zones where the various aspects of the Olympic Games are due to be held. A Muster Station in the east end is required as the main track events are based in the Olympic Park at Stratford along with other sports in nearby centers. The duty Officers required regular updates for their effective deployment. We were told that there had been an extensive search for a suitable location and eventually the site on Wanstead flats had been identified which met the long list of the necessary criteria. These included size, an open site with no trees, firm ground conditions, some distance from any residential development, closeness to the Stratford area and affordability. Several suitable prime sites had apparently been quickly snapped up for some of the cultural activities planned to complement the Games. The fact that information about this proposal had not been available until recently was due the General Election and the resulting changes in Government. It was now possible to have open discussions about the implications of this proposal with the local community and their concerns would be taken on board.
An informative website www.wanstead-mbdc.co.uk and the hotline number 0800 9778791 has been established for messages and comments. This will be improved as a result of comments made at the meeting on 16 August. Do please look at this website for further information and for updates.
Many of the local residents are concerned that there is apparently no fallback site ishould it prove impossible to use the site on Wanstead Flats. Perhaps there is somewhere hidden away, but for reasons known only unto the Police, this was not revealed.
However, the proposed use of this site on Wanstead Flats has run into a legal problem. The Epping Forest Act of 1878 prohibits the enclosure of Epping Forest Land other than for conservation measures. Discussions have been held with the Home Office for some months to find a way to overcome this problem. A possible way round this is to proceed with a Legislative Reform Order, which would be a temporary amendment to the 1878 Act. This would be very specific and time bounded – i.e. for only 90 days and for the 8 acres of land required for this particular purpose. It would run from July to September 2012. This matter is currently being considered by the Home Secretary, but public consultation on this is required. This is likely to take place early in September and then the matter will be discussed further in Parliament. For further details about Legislative Reform Orders click here.
There is a deep concern within the Forest Community that this process will set a precedent or that this will be seen as an opportunity to take land from the Forest in the future. All of us will need reassurance that any 'enclosure' will be of a temporary nature and that the land will be returned to the Forest at the end of the 90 days i.e. in September 2012. Whilst we were informed that this should be so and that over the years the Conservators have strongly opposed any loss of land from the Forest, we fear that this might open the way for a potential future loss of land from the Forest. The Police stressed that they had no wish to loose the goodwill of the local community over this matter.
Should the Legislative Reform Order come into effect then it would be possible to go ahead legally with this proposal. But there are still further hurdles to be overcome as this proposal still has to be approved by the Epping Forest and Commons Committee and then the proposal has to go before the Redbridge Planning Committee. This will be in few months time and will require various detailed impact assessments. These will give much more information about the proposals and inevitably will be examined very closely by the concerned local groups.
The Conservators have negotiated a fee of £170,000 should this proposal go ahead. This money is to be spent on some improvement project for the Flats.
If the proposal gets the go-ahead then we were reassured that the 90 days proposed would be sufficient to construct, operate and dismantle the site. The Metropolitan Police use specialist contractors with experience in erecting fencing and bringing in the required infrastructure and protective ground covers as similar briefing stations are prepared on a regular basis to ensure public safety at events such as the Notting Hill Carnival.
The proposed 8 acre Muster Station would require a tall perimeter wire fence enclosing a number of portacabins, extensive marquees as well as sufficient for stabling for 40 horses along with any necessary offices and catering facilities. The marquees will provide cover for the large numbers of officers for their meals and briefing sessions. Details of the site are shown on the map. A significant part of the area will be a vehicle park. The fence will be secured with spikes driven into ground and every care taken to minimize damage to the existing land surface when lowering the various units into place.
The proposed location will be south of the SSSI site and will largely cover the hard standing of the existing Fairground site, with the main access route in and out onto Centre Road. Access to the horse rides and footpaths round the site will be maintained, although obviously there will be no public access through the site itself.
Such a compound will require lighting, but special lights will be used to minimize light pollution and state of the art generators will be used to supply the required power: these are claimed to be very quiet. More details will be in the planning application which has to set out mitigation proposals regarding loss of tranquillity and any visual intrusion.
There is water on site and sewerage will be dealt with by linking to the main sewers in nearby roads.
It is not anticipated that helicopters would use the site other than for medical emergencies.
The Police and their advisors have been working on potential traffic problems, but this information has not yet been made public. A full traffic impact assessment will have to be part of the planning application and obviously will be subject to close local scrutiny! It is proposed that up to 30 coaches and 80 minibuses will leave the site on the Flats, turning left into Centre Drive and then onto the Green Man Roundabout. They would not necessarily be all travelling at the same time. Coming back to the site, the coaches and minibuses will have to turn across the traffic, unless of course they return via Lake House Road! A number of local people voiced concerns about the overall increase in traffic movements and the specific congestion points as all too often vehicles grind to a standstill on many of these sections of road.
The police horses will be ridden along local roads to the Olympic site as this provides them with their necessary exercise!
An Environmental Impact Assessment has been undertaken, but this has not yet made public, so we are unaware of its scope, its content or the recommended mitigation proposals. It was agreed that the input of local naturalists would be invaluable in helping to set up monitoring before, during and after the establishment of the site, should it go ahead.
Parts of Wanstead Flats very close to the site are noted for skylarks and meadow pipits, and the site itself could be a flight-line for bats. Skylarks and bats are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and require special protection measures to avoid harm. The site itself adds to the diversity of habitats on Wanstead Flats, and is an unusual one; it may well harbour some unusual plants and invertebrates.
To help disseminate information about the proposals several public exhibitions have been arranged and a further one should be arranged. Do go along to make your comments.
The fixed dates are:
Wednesday 25 August 4.00pm – 8.00pm at the Cherry Tree Café, Woodbine Place, E11 2RH
Saturday 4 September 10.00am – 4.00pm at the Cherry Tree Café, Woodbine Place, E11 2RH
Saturday 11 September 10.00am – 4.00pm at the Methodist Church, Cann Hall Road, E11 3NN
Thursday 16 September 4.00pm – 8 .00pm at the Cann Hall Methodist Church, Cann Hall Rd. E11 3NN.
The Fairground site has been chosen for a planned protest picnic on Sunday 5 September at 1.00pm. This event clashes with the Forest Festival on Chingford Plain.
At the meeting on 16th August, both the Met police and the City of London Corporation were hand-delivered an invitation to an open public meeting organised by residents themselves. The proposed date for this public meeting is 6th October at 7pm at Durning Hall Community Centre, Earlham Grove, Forest Gate.
See www.savewansteadflats for more details.
For perhaps a balanced and reasonable view on this issue, see here
An ecology survey is available at: http://www.met.police.uk/co/wanstead_flats.htm#q11
A habitat survey is available at : http://www.met.police.uk/co/docs/WMBDC_Phase_1_Habitat_Report.pdf
For a historic view of threats to the Forest as percieved by the people that love it, see here
Paul Ferris, 18 August 2010