CONCERNS have been raised over plans to build a temporary sports hall for Olympic athletes on Leyton Marshes.
It has emerged that the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) are to submit a planning application to construct a basketball training centre close to the Lee Valley ice rink by Lea Bridge Road.
The 11 metre tall building will operate between 9am and 9pm every day and be surrounded by a three metre perimeter fence with a heavy security presence.
The ODA wants to fence off part of the marsh for the project in March 2012.
The organisation claims it will return the land, which is managed by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, back to its original condition when the Paralympic Games finish in September 2012.
It is the latest in a series of Olympic buildings which Games organisers plan to build on public green spaces.
Concerns have previously been raised about closing Drapers Field in Leyton for a holding and storage area, Wanstead Flats for a temporary police base, and the WaterWorks Nature Reserve in Leyton for use as a campsite.
Katy Andrews, of campaign group the New Lammas Lands Defence Committee, said she feared it would "destroy" the land.
She added: "We are concerned in that ‘temporary’ planning permission means ‘for quite some time’ and can anyway be indefinitely extended periodically, so there is really no such thing as a temporary structure.
"We only have the ODA’s word for it that the buildings would be removed.
“We are particularly sad about the damage to the grassland that would be involved, as it is quite a special habitat for insects and the birds that feed on them due to the underlying wartime rubble tipping that took place on this part of Leyton Marshes.
“In fact, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have only just finished using the area as part of a London-wide study into the feeding habits of sparrows, and the long grass on the eastern side of the field is an important nesting place for skylarks.”
The ODA says it has already signed an agreement with the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority to use the land.
The planning application is expected to be submitted to Waltham Forest Council next week.
An Olympic Delivery Authority spokesman said: “A planning application will be submitted to Waltham Forest Council for the building of two temporary basketball courts on Leyton Marsh as part of wider investment with LOCOG to co-fund 15 Games-time Training Venues for athletes next summer.
“All efforts have been made to minimise the affected area so that public access remains largely unaffected and footpaths unaltered. The venue will be demounted and the site fully restored to its former state after the Games.”
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