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Invitation to an Open Meeting,
Wednesday 30 March, 7pm. Bethnal
Green venue.
RSVP
The first Velopark
design by the Olympic Delivery
Authority got planning approval in
August last year.
A second ‘Alternative
Velopark’ is planned by the Olympic
Park Legacy Company
- But which is best
for riders? Come to this open
meeting arranged by Eastway Users'
Group to make your comments and
decide what goes through to the
planning authorities.
The two schemes
outlined
Eastway users
support the first plan for a circuit
that crosses the River Lea. The
design took two years after an
earlier open meeting where ODA
agreed to work with the users.
Funding is secure in the
transformation budget and the
circuit can open by May 2013. The
off-road uses both sides of the
restored river valley thanks to wide
bridges offering separated trails.
Games-time infrastructure and
planned legacy uses were carefully
worked together to set the Velopark
into the landscaping, with the
velodrome plinth as the place to see
what’s going on. This scheme will be
explained at the meeting.
The
second 'Alternative Legacy Velopark
Scheme' is devised by the Olympic
Park Legacy Company to fit with its
needs. It shifts the circuit east
into a plot that was earmarked for
development, preferring to take land
in the west for built development.
Three closed meetings since December
have led the OPLC to conclude it
must 'agree to disagree' with
Eastway users about its scheme. The
Olympic loop road and a bridge are
removed, while a new hill feature
overlooked by the A12 is provided in
circuit centre on which the off-road
area is primarily located. A
planning application went in on 4
March, so this is now the time to
give formal comment. The OPLC
planners and real estate managers
will present their 'Alternative
scheme’ in the meeting and you can
ask them questions.
In either scheme
the road circuit passes along the
N-side of the velodrome, through a
dual-carriageway underpass that was
planned specifically for Games-time
and after. Beyond that, the circuit
layout, sightlines and profiles vary
a lot. Timings for delivery and
funding might do too.
The off-road
disciplines are offered radically
different schemes. Eastway’s
heritage of mountainbike and
Cyclocross racing makes this a major
decision.
Velodrome and BMX are unaffected.
This meeting is
an opportunity to get the fullest
possible picture of the options and
to assess whether the 'Alternative'
scheme is an improvement on the
consented plan. - Who better to
provide informed comment to the
planning people than the riders?
Eastway
Users; Group - representing riders
since 2003
It was
earlier EUG meetings, just like this
one which took the decisions to
choose Hog Hill as a relocation and
another which threw out the original
legacy plans. Eastway closed in
2006. EUG secured interim facilities
and it took till 2008 for EUG's
preferred relocation to open at Hog
Hill at a published cost of £4.5m.
EUG has represented riders in a
planning inquiry and at many
planning committee meetings, as well
as through the process of getting
things designed and delivered. This
is another very important meeting.
Please come and have
your say. The future of road race,
time trial, mountainbike and
cyclocross on the New Eastway is
being decided. Cycle sport can't
happen without the riders and the
facilities they need. Make sure you
get what you deserve from London ’s
Games.
Basic outline of the meeting;-
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Background and how we got here
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The ODA consented scheme
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The OPLC 'alternative'
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Recap and summary
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Questions and comments
MEETING DATE: WEDNESDAY 30 MARCH
2011
VENUE: Methodist Hall
in Approach Road , London E2 9JP
TIME: 7pm – 9pm
RSVP to
eastway7506@btinternet.com to
say if you can/can't come
Tube - Bethnal Green
Rail – Cambridge
Heath
Cycle – Just off
routes 1 and 16 by Victoria Park
Ample on-street
parking nearby
Please
pass this information to your cycle
sport friends. You have received
this email because you are on the
list of contacts for Eastway Users’
Group. Our group is open to anyone
who is interested to secure a worthy
legacy for cycle sport from London’s
Games and the redevelopment going on
around.
The
group recently wrote to the Minister
for Sport and the Olympics to
express its concerns about the OPLC
plans and lack of consultation.
Copies were sent to the
Parliamentary and London Assembly
committees with oversight of the
public finances for the legacy.
Following this open meeting, EUG
will be sending a report of the
views expressed and finalise a
formal submission to the planning
authority. The Group is the
recognised consultee for the cycle
sport community. It won the
relocation to Hog Hill and will
continue seeking the best possible
legacy to fulfil its mission for a
New Eastway as worthy successor to
the facility of London-wide
importance to cycle sport which
operated for 30 years from 1975 to
2006.
You
cycle sport friends can join EUG by
sending an email to
eastway7506@btinternet.com
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