Equestrian event will carve up Greenwich Park flower garden

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The admission came today in the London Olympic Committee's provisional blueprint for holding the 2012 Games' equestrian events in the park.
The plan shows that the four-mile cross-country course to be created as part of the competition will carve straight through the park's historic flower garden, requiring many plants and shrubs to be removed.

The course will cut 10 times through avenues of closely spaced historic trees, some of which are hundreds of years old. Organisers say that no tree will be cut down but admit that some will have to be "pruned" to allow riders to pass.
The cross-country course will also run right underneath the park's most precious trees, an avenue of sweet chestnuts planted in the reign of Charles II and believed to be the oldest living things in London.

The course will run up and down the entire length of both sides of the avenue, meaning that the 350-year-old trees will probably also have to be substantially pruned.

The course will also pass through the park's boating pond, which will be turned into a water jump. A temporary 23,000-seat arena will be built in the lower part of the park, next to the National Maritime Museum, as well as warm-up tracks, stables and possibly hundreds of ancillary buildings.

But in the consultation leaflet which came with the plans, Olympic organisers say: "We guarantee to repair any damage caused to the park during the Games," although they add: "Research shows that no long-term damage is made to a site after equestrian events."

The admission was seized on by campaigners who say the park is "too small" and too full of historic features to host the Games. Michael Goldman, spokesman for No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events, said: "This confirms what we've been saying all along. The park will be damaged."

Campaigners said that despite the promise to "repair" the damage it might not be possible to do so. "If a tree branch has been lopped off, you can't just regrow it," said one. "If a plant is uprooted, it may simply die."

Today's statement undermines previous claims by Colin Buttery, director of parks at the Royal Parks Agency, that there will be "minimal impact from the course". But a spokesman for London 2012 said: "It is not an admission that damage will be caused. It is a promise just in case."