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Environmental issues

Loss of Common Land, historic landscape

Information in this section is taken from a statement by Katy Andrews, Vice-chair of the New Lammas Lands Defence Committee, made in February 2005, unless stated.

The Hackney, Walthamstow and Leyton Marshes are former Lammas Lands. This means meadows upon which parishioners had the common right to graze cattle from Lammas Day (the Celtic Midsummer Day, August 1) following the hay harvest, until Lady Day (old New Year's Day, March 25). These rights date back to before the Norman Conquest, and possibly pre date the Roman era.


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A Lot to Lose

Bleak future prospectsBleak future prospects at Manor Gardens


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'Green' Olympics plan to bulldoze 100 year old Manor Garden Allotments

Manor Gardens AllotmentsManor Gardens AllotmentsManor Gardens, bequeathed to be allotments 'in perpetuity' by their original owner the 'Right Hon' Major Villiers, sit in the North central section of the Olympic Park. The LDA plan to remove them to make a footpath to the stadia, destroying in the process a century of devoted cultivation and a close-knit community rooted in this irreplaceable site.


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Wildlife casualties and habitat destruction

AllotmentsAllotments near Bully Point Nature Reserve Information in this section is sourced from a report by environmental consultant Annie Chipchase, and a statement by Anne Woollett, Chair of the Hackney Marsh User Group, made in Febrary 2005, unless stated.


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The Greenest Games?

One of the most galling aspects of the London bid campaign was the rush of support from establishment environmentalists and political ecologists, predicated on a statement underpinning Olympic development proposals of a low and renewable energy principle, intensive recycling of waste, low emissions, and 'sustainable' procurement. Jonathan Porritt, the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV), Groundwork, the London Wildlife Trust, and the BioRegional Development Group have all pinned their colours to the Olympic mast in the hope of grabbing chunks of Olympic funding.


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Grilled about McDonalds

Britain's Olympic bosses have been grilled over a major sponsorship deal with McDonald's. The London Green Party said the deal flouted a bid promise to use "local, seasonal and organic" food at the London 2012 Games.

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Hackney 'slammed'

London's district of Hackney has been slammed as the worst place to live in the UK, according to a poll.

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Rising Flood Risk Cover

BRITISH homeowners are facing a house-insurance crisis as global warming and a surge in house building and conversion raises the risk of flood damage.

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Sustainable Procurement Strategy still being planned

The Olympic organising committee has been “inundated” with enquiries from waste and recycling companies wanting to be involved with the 2012 games environmental project manager Phil Cummings said. But he added that a sustainable procurement strategy did not yet exist for the 2012 games as it was “in planning at the moment”.

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