The group introduced themselves and told everyone their ideal place to live

Samantha is community engagement manager for the Olympic Park Legacy Committee (OPLC)

The OPLC are responsible for the Olympic park after the games. They have a responsibility towards making the park beneficial for local people who live in the area.

The Olympic Park covers 4 boroughs, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest and Hackney. Public transport will be improved for the Olympics, making it easier to travel to the park and to the neighbouring boroughs.

The OPLC is working with all of the local boroughs, trying to improve communication to ensure that they work well together. The OPLC will retain control over the park area, not the boroughs.

There is a vision for the area which involves it becoming community space, new houses, schools and business opportunities. It will also retain many of the venues from the Olympics and will be used for communities as well as international sporting and cultural events.

The main aims of the legacy committee are:

1. Development of the site after the Olympics

2. Stewardship of the site, e.g. maintenance and litter

3. Marketing, using the site for sport and cultural events

4. Socio Economic, creating opportunities for the local community.

Samantha gave the example of the broadcast centre which is being built in Hackney; the legacy committee are looking for businesses to have the space after the Olympics.

-Question: will the site be used for music as well as sports?

-Answer: yes, any cultural events that want to use the site can

-Question: There are concerns that the site which used to be common land is now privatised. What commitment can you give to local residents that they will be able to use this space?

-Answer: The Legacy committee is a private company which is funded by central government. The mayors of the joining boroughs sit on the board and represent the needs of their boroughs

-Question: Are there any local people on the board who can represent the views of others? We are not confident that they majors of Hackney and Newham would necessarily represent the views of the local people.

-Answer: The board is already established; there are a range of people on the board but no local people. We regularly have consultations with local people about our plans. We have a strong commitment to the local community and our legacy aims are designed to benefit local people. We are aware that places like Canary Wharf have excluded some local people from areas that were accessible to them and we aim to ensure that does not occur.

The land will be made accessible and available to local people and user groups.

-Question: Your map has shared pavements and cycle tracks, as a group we are strongly concerned about having a shared area where people and cyclists mix.

-Answer: I think that the paths are separate but may not be clearly reflected on the map, I will confirm with the team.

Action

Some forum members were keen on having a tour of the site; Samantha said she will try to arrange this.

Action

Samantha will inform Disability Backup about all future consultations so that members can get involved.

Action

Members asked Samantha to take back to her team that all the material they produce should be accessible and if a map, show the access.

Dimitrios is Hackney museum’s ‘Mapping the Change’ Project Coordinator

Mapping the change is a project that will record the changes that are happening in our area because of the Olympics and record people’s views about the changing borough.

The main aims of the project are to record the change, exhibit the views and have offer activities for local residents to get involved. We are really keen to get disabled people involved.

The project is funded by the heritage Lottery Fund.

Hackney is the lead borough on culture for the Olympics.

There will be 5 main ways to get involved with the project:

1. Oral historians - people are gathering oral histories from local people

2. Creative Journalism - offering writing courses

3. Photo competition - local people to enter photos’ of ‘this time in Hackney’

4. Artists residencies in the museum and Gainsborough school to create big installations

5. talk and events

Question- Can we record the negative feelings about the Olympics as well as the positive?

Answer- yes, we want to record both good and bad things about the changes in the borough, we will take an objective view.

Action

Dimitrios will circulate the information about how to get involved in all of these projects via the disability backup newsletter.

Meeting ends