Load Of Old Bull - Or Great Day Out?
An interesting one today, folks - upon which I'd value your opinions...
A couple of weekends ago, we saw the second visit of the Red Bull Air Race. I confess I was quite surprised to see it a second year running - but hey - I ran with it. After all, I'd gone the first year and quite enjoyed it. This year I didn't manage to get free tickets and I hadn't loved it enough the first time round to fork out another twenty-odd quid to stand all afternoon.
Dazza did go though - he managed to get some freebies - and he's sent me some fab pics which illustrate this post.
But given that I wasn't actually at the event this year, I began to understand just how bloomin' noisy it is - not just the race days, but during the week leading up to the event.
The Thames Path was closed to - well everyone who hadn't paid, actually, leading to us being effectively locked out of our own facilities - especially, I understand, the wildlife centre at the Ecology Park.
That weekend I was doing some reasonably complicated exterior work with my neighbours and there were times when we couldn't hear each other shouting instructions to each other as planes roared over our heads.
Personally, I let it go. It's one weekend a year and I did enjoy it well enough last year. But Catherine has voiced some concerns - and it's not the first time I've heard them. She says
"I found it a noisy invasive pain in the proverbial, on one of the sunniest weeks, when I could finally sit out in my excuse for a garden."
She asks the rhetorical question "Were any Greenwich residents consulted on whether they agreed to this every year?"
And she does have a point. I had assumed it was a one-off last year and I embraced it - but do we want a whole weekend of aerial petrolheads every year?
Catherine brings up another point - "Did anyone else found event to be more like a throwback to pre-carbon awareness 20th Century events, than something Greenwich Council of Sustainable Tourism should actually be promoting - if it really knew what sustainable tourism meant..."
I just don't know, myself. I'd like to think that Greenwich Council was making lots of money out of this - and if it's not, then it needs to start making a noise. I'd like to think that we would be asked if we wanted our path closed every single year - I sincerely doubt anyone was asked.
On the other hand, despite my guilt about all that carbon, I did enjoy it last year. And Dazza's pics are great.
Let's have a poll. What do you think - has the Red Bull Air Race outstayed its welcome or should we embrace its fumey fun with open arms?
Vote here, guys...
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:36
17 Comments:
I've never been to the Air Race - although I was down on the Peninsula on Saturday and saw the planes shooting around. I thought I'd drive a bit closer to get a better look - but found my way blocked by cones and a van! It does look quite stunning - but I did find the noise extreme (and I live all the way up in Charlton!). If there is going to be so much disruption to local people I feel we should get more out of it!
I suppose it's a foregone conclusion as to which side I'm going to be on....but I would like to point out that as a Major World City and with the majority of the countries Banking and Finance centres now in Canary Wharf, it would be very short sighted of 'Greenwich' as a whole to cut itself off from the prestige and, of course, financial benefits of putting on such a show. Did anyone complain about the mess they made of the ORNC for that recent 'Charidee' Concert to which NONE of us were invited?
Yes, the planes make a noise, but as it was only 2 hours a day for 4 days I thought this to be not excessive.
I remember the furore that ensued when we had a similar event in town. Road closures and traffic chaos for a few 'Petrol heads' to get their fix. I am of course referring to the day the Formula 1 crowd had the audacity to use Regent Street to show off and 'burn huge amounts of carbon' not to mention rubber.....
But, as I recall, London benefited hugely from the publicity it generated at a time when our visitor numbers were down.
So, come on Greenwich/Charlton et al.....lets have some fun and show the world we know how to welcome visitors....and their cash!!!!
Rant over....LOL
Whilst not as long winded, I am literally blocked into my house one day a year thanks to the London Marathon.
I also have the "joy" of the BBC helicopters hovering right overhead for an hour or two.
I guess it is the price we pay for living where we do.
For all your complaints, imagine living next to a main road or railway line - they get tons of noise every single day.
I don't think the air race is that bad - and it is only for 3 days.
I love aviation, and I love it that people get to see what a cool part of London we live in. That said, I'm not sure the air race will last forever. It's so incredibly risky that a pilot is almost inevitably going to be killed, and Red Bull will probably pull the plug when that happens.
I expect most of us dislike the disruption of the ordinary- especially when we are not expecting it- and, lets face it, most people will probably not be consulted about events happening in their locality.
That's life though and unusual occurances and events challenge us and keep the blood flowing- even if this only happens when we tut and shake our sticks in the air.
Lets welcome the world, provided they take their litter home with them.
I must say I like the event, and I like the noise the planes make , it takes me back to being a kid playing RAF and Luftwaffe.
I would just like the council to be more transparent in their accounts so we can see how much they get (if any) and to which budgets it gets allocated.
These sorts of thing are the very events that make Greenwich special for me.
"For all your complaints, imagine living next to a main road or railway line - they get tons of noise every single day."
yes railway line are noisy but I would never choose to live next to one. I choose my house because it is peaceful (relatively).
My biggest complaint is the fact that we are never consulted on these events. Greenwich just make the decision as far as I can see. Do they have the right to close the Greenwich Path - another questionable point. And what happens to the money they make....assuming they do make money...does it benefit us in the long run? I'm not sure.
Regards, Michael.
I do find it exciting - particularly just the warm-ups on Friday, as it's the time when the show is just for us residents, and not the visitors who turn up for the weekend.
The features of Greenwich that make it so enjoyable for us residents do need money to maintain and improve, and that comes from visitors - would the Cutty Sark have received so much in grants and funding if it was sited in a less popular area?
And compare our situation to those in Central London - which is shut virtually every other weekend for marathons, road runs, bike rides, protests - and anyone in the Heathrow footprint.
All in all, we are getting rather good returns as residents for a reasonably small outlay in inconvenience.
My 2 3/4 old loves it, and you can't argue with that.
The whole carbon thing is a red herring - it was a combined air time of something like 10 hours over 3 days - the average cross atlantic flight surely burns more. I imagine more carbon was burned over the weekend by people driving to Sainsbury's on the peninsular and back (I'll happily vote to ban that, if you'll run the poll).
In fact, bearing in mind that most people will have travelled there by public transport, when they might otherwise have gone out by car, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was relatively carbon neutral.
Hi Michael
Why on earth do you think the council should consult on issues like these? By being voted into council they have been given a mandate to look after exactly this type of issue. You cannot seriously expect them to 'consult' on every issue no matter what your political leanings.
Also, you may have noticed that 'consultation' doesn't mean listening. Take the old Greenwich hospital for example. There were all sorts of papers, meetings and models but to be honest, none of our suggestions are seriously taken into account.
As I said, the government insists on consultation but there is no ruling about how much notice they take of what we say.
Anyway, back to the air race. It isn't that bad. If you think that is disruptive then just wait 4 years until the olympics arrive!!!! Nobody asked us about that either!
Ianvisits - dont forget we also have the London Half Marathon coming up in October which starts and finishes at the O2. I believe the roads will be shut for 3.15 hours!
Hopefully the air race will continue, surely its not that huge a disruption and nuisance.
I'm not that bothered whether or not the air race takes place. What I am bothered about is the closure of the Thames Path for "safety" reasons (according to Mary Ney, Greenwich Council CEO). The reason the path was closed is so that Red Bull can sell tickets for people to stand on the public right of way. What was even worse this year is that they closed much more of the path to reduce the opportunity for people to see the race for free from other vantage points.
Steve says it very well. The riverpath is an important public right way of way and I can just about accept its occasional closure for construction work etc., but this wasn't the case here.
A valued public space was restricted for a wholly commercial venture and as a spectacle, now that we've had it two years in a row, it hardly needs repeating.
I can appreciate where Dazza is coming from when he riles against the prevalent 'nimbyism' on these pages but at heart Greenwich is a residential area and still those planes were creating a row from Crossharbour to Woolwich for four days.
As for that Charidee event at the ORNC he touches on a very salient point. That site is autonymously governed by the Greenwich Foundation with hefty assistance from English Heritage and the DCMS. In other words its a quango and although our taxes fund it directly we have no say or influence in its management or what might happen there. Does the Foundation have a residents or users' consultative panel? I'm sure it doesn't.
It's the same in Greenwich Park. Leaving the Olympics farago aside I see that this week the park was host to yet another event involving a half acre of marquees and the coming and going of yet more HGVs.
Just another example of how our public spaces are offered up willy nilly for the commercial benefit of unaccountable bodies.
Yes, you could argue that the money contributes to the running of the park, but we are losing sight of the fact that these are public spaces established for the benefit of the city populace and that status is compromised when they are exploited as commercial and corporate venues.
Access is denied and, at the risk of sounding pompous, the sanctity of the space is sinuously undermined.
The Olympics is the perfect example. Whether one thinks it is a good idea or a bad idea, the disruption to the park is set to be massive and what will rankle seriously over the next four years is that no one at any point gave the remotest indication of what would be involved.
All we saw was that pretty video animation showing a clippity clop pony doing jumps before the maritime museum. No one said anything about turning Greenwich Park into Badminton SE13, did they?
So, forgive me Dazza if I don't hyperventilate and get giddy at the prospect of being part of a major international event. The marathon does that for us every year and without ripping up our trees and denying Londoners their place in the sun for months.
It once was our city but now I'm really not so sure.
Just for the record, Latelygay, I am also against anything that affects the layout or fabric of Greenwich.
I think the idea of having the Equestrian Events in The Park is a very bad one as it not only closes the Park off to the hundreds if not thousands (depending on the weather...LOL) of people who don't have access to their own green spaces. If the reports we have all seen are to be believed, it could be anywhere between a couple of months and years that OUR park is cut off from us. In comparison, losing the use of parts of the Thames path for a couple of days a year seems trivial.
Having read back on some of the posts regarding this sort of subject, I am also painfully aware of the negative feelings generated. Are we really a nation of second guessers who always look on the worst outcomes? We're already being subject to the headlines asking if we can match Beijing's opening ceremony. Shouldn't we be expressing our desire and capabilities of exceeding them? Maybe we should all start to think about how we can show the world what a wonderful country we have and how good we can be at organising and hosting world class events.
I, for one, am proud to be English and living in a Borough that has so much history and International Prestige.
Rant 2 over...........
I don't always agree with what yo say on here Dazza, but this time I think you are 100% spot on! I'm sure we are all proud of what we have here in Greenwich so why not show it off to the rest of the world!
Wasn't it Dr Johnson who said 'when a man is tired of loud aeroplanes doing loop-the-loops over the Thames, he's tired of life'?
Just to throw my thoughts in the mix- I was totally hacked off about the disruption to City Airport during the practise days. On the Thursday inbound flights (mine included...) were cancelled. As the event had been planned so far ahead, there seems to be no logical explanation for these eleventh hour cancellations.
I'm not against the air race as such, but this sort of last-minute disruption is exactly what makes me dread the Olympics coming to SE10. The planning around the air race shows that we cannot trust what we are told and any reassurances given now will be swept aside as we limp ever nearer to 2012.
So there!
PS: did anyone see the local council free sheet last week?? Pro-Olympics propaganda, naturally; the kiddies will miss out if we don't stop fussing about our 500 year old park, apparently. What rot.
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