David Starkey slams 2012 plans for Greenwich Park
TV historian David Starkey claims that staging the 2012 equestrian events at Greenwich Park would be an act vandalism.
He said council planners had an "absolute duty" to reject plans from the Olympics organising committee, Locog, for a temporary £42 million facility in the park at a meeting tonight.
The presenter claimed the horse riding events would cause massive disruption, "scar the landscape" and damage the archaeology of the park, a former hunting ground used by Henry VIII which is designated a World Heritage Site.
Starkey, a patron of lobby group No To Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events, wrote in a letter to The Times: "Greenwich faces its gravest threat since the 19th century (when) it was proposed to drive a railway through the park.
"Now, and scarcely less vandalistically, (it is planned) to make it the site of the equestrian events."
A Locog spokeswoman said nearly 85 per cent of residents support the plans, adding: "We will work with The Royal Parks and all the statutory bodies to make sure we return this beautiful park back to the people of Greenwich in the condition in which we receive it."
