Believe it or not I’m still rather fond of the Olympic Park. I head up there every week or so, just for a trundle. I especially like how the River Lea meanders through the park. Yesterday though, I noticed something that I was not so happy about, and in fact rather pissed me off. When the park was first created, there was a large flat grassy area next to what had been the media centre during the Olympics. With a path running alongside it, it was just like any other area of grass in any other park, giving it a feeling of openness.

I had presumed that those spaces were part of the park. A couple of years ago, however, half of the space was hoarded off and builtover, and is now two rows of upmarket blocks of flats. I remember being quite dismayed about it at the time, but I accepted it. Yesterday, however, I noticed that the rest of that grassy space had been hoarded off, ready to be built on. I must admit I felt quite angry when I saw that. It’s as if the whole park, once so open and peaceful, is being eaten up one part at a time. It isn’t that I don’t know that the country has a housing crisis, and that new homes need to be built wherever possible; yet we seem to have reached the point where absolutely no value is placed on how pleasant a spot is. Any and all open areas are now just being concreted over and built upon, making the city feel more and more enclosed and claustrophobic. The city may well need housing, but what about our need for open, grassy areas?