'New Kind Of Park' For Olympic Site

M@
By M@ Last edited 184 months ago
'New Kind Of Park' For Olympic Site
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Olympic organisers have revealed further details of a 252 acre park at the heart of the Olympic site. In case you don't know your acres from your quakers, that's somewhere betwixt Battersea (200 acres) and Victoria (290 acres) Parks. The wide open space will provide a 'colourful setting' for the Games and become a verdant legacy after 2012.

The long-winded press release covers a similar acreage, so check out the BBC for a succinct version, including this somewhat baffling statement from the Mayor:

"As a direct result of hosting the 2012 Games, London gets this fantastic green space in the heart of east London - Europe's first new public park for more than 150 years."

That has to be a mis-quote, right? Europe's first new public park for a century and a half? London alone has a muckle of post-war pleasances, most notably Mile End Park and Burgess Park.

Regardless, the new park sounds pretty damn fine. A 'mini-Kew Gardens' will 'trace the journey of the UK’s plant collectors around the world through over 250 species of plants, trees, meadows and herbs from four climatic zones'. Over 700 artificial habitats will provide a fauna-cation of animal housing. And three kilometres of river walks will be cleft, hewn, decontaminated and restored for your mock-pastoral pleasures.

Now, what to name the place? Please, dear God Boris, let's have something less yawn-inducing than 'Olympic Park' or 'Stratford Park'. If you've got any suggestions, leave them in the comments and we'll pass them on to the Gardeners-in-Chief.

Last Updated 07 November 2008