Greenwich and Woolwich Conservatives have been writing to residents to let them know about the consultation on the Olympic Route Network.  Propspective Parliamentary Candidate Spencer Drury sent the following letter to residents across Greenwich, Blackheath, Charlton and Woolwich:-
 
"I write to inform you that the Department for Transport has published proposals to develop an Olympic Route Network (ORN) for use during the London Olympic Games in 2012.  These government proposals include your road or those in the surrounding area and I thought you would want to be informed of this development.
 
The consultation seeks views on proposals for the roads to be included in the Olympic Route Network (ORN), which will be a network of roads to be used by athletes and Games officials during the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.  You can access a copy of the consultation document at http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/olympicroutenetwork/ or by calling DfT Publications (0300 123 1102) and asking for the document entitled “Designation of the Olympic Route Network: A Consultation Paper”.  In my opinion, the answers to the first two questions may be made fairly easily without wading through the whole mountain of paperwork (or indeed annexes A to H) and I would encourage all residents to respond to ensure that the voices of those affected in Greenwich are heard and given some consideration.  It is also vital residents respond as it is not clear how much access people will be allowed to ORN ‘core’ roads during the Games and I feel they should not be completely closed for the duration.
 
Responses to the consultation should be clearly marked ‘ORN Consultation’ and must reach the Department for Transport by 19 March 2009 and may be submitted in writing to DfT Olympic Route Network Consultation, Research Services House, Elmsgrove Road, Harrow HA1 2QG or emailed to ornconsultation@dft.gsi.gov.uk.
 
I feel I must stress that Greenwich Conservatives have never been asked about the use of Greenwich Park as an Olympic venue.  I know some residents are opposed to the Olympic Games being held in London in 2012 and many more are opposed to Greenwich Park being used as a venue for the equestrian events however, as Leader of the Conservative Opposition on the Council and your prospective parliamentary candidate I feel it unlikely either of these decisions are going to be reversed and so I feel it is important that I ensure Greenwich and Woolwich residents get the best deal possible as a result of the Games being held in our area. Currently Conservatives in Greenwich and Woolwich are doing this by:-

• Questioning the plans for the use of Greenwich Park in Council and elsewhere and in October we obtained a clear statement that there was no need to remove trees to put in place the cross-country course.  Similarly in answer to a question by Blackheath Westcombe Councillor Geoff Brighty about how long the park would be used for, a statement was given by the Olympic organising committee “Park users would be able to retain use of the vast majority of the park ….until the middle of July” (from the Council minutes).
• Responding to the ORN consultation stressing how important it was to make greater use of the river (especially for the shooting in Woolwich) as a form of transport; that residents must not be barred from driving down their own roads and the Blackwall Tunnel and other major routes must not be closed to normal traffic for the duration of the Games. 

We do hope that our policy of making positive suggestions and offering alternatives for how the Olympics can work in Greenwich contrasts well with the Labour Council’s blank cheque approach, which appears to be to unquestioningly accept whatever is required of them by the Games committees.  Similarly we also feel that Greenwich needs a much clearer set of long-term gains from the Games (like better sport facilities) and will be pushing to obtain this.
 
I do hope you will find the time to respond to the consultation and would be very grateful if you have time to either send a copy to me or send your thoughts and comments directly to the local Conservatives for inclusion in our response.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Cllr Spencer Drury
Leader of Greenwich Conservatives
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Greenwich and Woolwich