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REUTERS (London, UK) 12 November 07 Newts put spoke in Olympic hopefuls' wheels
London: The great crested newt, a black and orange amphibian partial to weedy ponds and small lakes, has become an unlikely factor in Britain's hopes for Olympic cycling glory in 2012.
Cycling was one of Britain's most successful sports at the 2004 Athens Olympics with the team picking up four medals, including two golds.
But hundreds of cyclists attending clubs at Eastway Cycle Circuit in east London face the prospect of being without their own facilities for at least a year after the newts held up the building of a new interim track.
The cyclists were forced to leave Eastway in November 2006 after their track was torn up to make way for the Olympic Velopark. After talks they settled on Hog Hill in Hainault, with an opening date of April 2007.
But the land was home to about 450 newts hiding under logs and rocks on the 17-acre site.
The largest and rarest of Britain's newts, the great crested is a protected species. Nothing could be done by the London Development Agency (LDA) until they were relocated -- at a cost of at least 70,000 pounds.
About 240 have been moved, but unless another 210 can be relocated by the end of November, work will not resume until after the winter when the ground is softer and the newts begin to re-emerge -- leaving the cyclists without their own racing track until next summer.
"I would like to know why the LDA did not start collecting the newts until August 2007," Eastway Users Group Chairman Michael Humphreys said.
"A lot of time has been wasted."
Cyclists are currently having to train at sites miles away, they say.
Numbers are down as a result. Only about a quarter of the 140 youngsters who competed at Eastway in the national youth circuit last year took part in this year's series, while the mountain bike cross-country series was down by about half.
Eastway boasts a number of national youth and junior champions who are dreaming of taking part in the Olympics.
They are the very youngsters the London 2012 organisers targeted when they made their successful bid to host the Games in Singapore, Humphreys said.
The LDA says it is doing all it can to get Hog Hill ready as soon as possible, but it is handicapped by the strict laws governing protected species.
A spokesman said: "There is nothing we can do to speed up the process of newt relocation because that is dependent on other conditions.
"If the newt situation had not happened, we would have been ready at the end of May this year."
Interim facilities and funding have been arranged after consultation with British Cycling, he added, and stop-gap circuits will be available shortly.
But the frustration is compounded by what happens after the Games.
Eastway said it had been told it would move into the Olympic Velopark after 2012 as part of the Games' legacy, with its velodrome, a BMX track, a racing circuit, a cross-country mountain-bike course and an outdoor cycle speedway circuit.
But the site was reduced to a third of its original size and talks are continuing about whether it will include a mountain-bike circuit, the cyclists said.
"The tragedy is, we have got the young people coming through, we have got the Olympics. But the pipeline has been shut off," Humphreys said.
He added: "If there were to be a full replacement of Eastway in legacy, doubtless the full potential of cycle sport in inner east London could again be realised."
But a spokesman for the Olympic Development Authority said nothing had been settled yet.
"It is an ongoing process," he added.
"We are focusing on the quality of facilities in legacy rather than just how much land is used."
He said legacy plans to provide more off-road cycling facilities and a larger Velopark site were still being developed, and will be submitted for planning approval next year.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL2948275920071112?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews
London: The great crested newt, a black and orange amphibian partial to weedy ponds and small lakes, has become an unlikely factor in Britain's hopes for Olympic cycling glory in 2012.
Cycling was one of Britain's most successful sports at the 2004 Athens Olympics with the team picking up four medals, including two golds.
But hundreds of cyclists attending clubs at Eastway Cycle Circuit in east London face the prospect of being without their own facilities for at least a year after the newts held up the building of a new interim track.
The cyclists were forced to leave Eastway in November 2006 after their track was torn up to make way for the Olympic Velopark. After talks they settled on Hog Hill in Hainault, with an opening date of April 2007.
But the land was home to about 450 newts hiding under logs and rocks on the 17-acre site.
The largest and rarest of Britain's newts, the great crested is a protected species. Nothing could be done by the London Development Agency (LDA) until they were relocated -- at a cost of at least 70,000 pounds.
About 240 have been moved, but unless another 210 can be relocated by the end of November, work will not resume until after the winter when the ground is softer and the newts begin to re-emerge -- leaving the cyclists without their own racing track until next summer.
"I would like to know why the LDA did not start collecting the newts until August 2007," Eastway Users Group Chairman Michael Humphreys said.
"A lot of time has been wasted."
Cyclists are currently having to train at sites miles away, they say.
Numbers are down as a result. Only about a quarter of the 140 youngsters who competed at Eastway in the national youth circuit last year took part in this year's series, while the mountain bike cross-country series was down by about half.
Eastway boasts a number of national youth and junior champions who are dreaming of taking part in the Olympics.
They are the very youngsters the London 2012 organisers targeted when they made their successful bid to host the Games in Singapore, Humphreys said.
The LDA says it is doing all it can to get Hog Hill ready as soon as possible, but it is handicapped by the strict laws governing protected species.
A spokesman said: "There is nothing we can do to speed up the process of newt relocation because that is dependent on other conditions.
"If the newt situation had not happened, we would have been ready at the end of May this year."
Interim facilities and funding have been arranged after consultation with British Cycling, he added, and stop-gap circuits will be available shortly.
But the frustration is compounded by what happens after the Games.
Eastway said it had been told it would move into the Olympic Velopark after 2012 as part of the Games' legacy, with its velodrome, a BMX track, a racing circuit, a cross-country mountain-bike course and an outdoor cycle speedway circuit.
But the site was reduced to a third of its original size and talks are continuing about whether it will include a mountain-bike circuit, the cyclists said.
"The tragedy is, we have got the young people coming through, we have got the Olympics. But the pipeline has been shut off," Humphreys said.
He added: "If there were to be a full replacement of Eastway in legacy, doubtless the full potential of cycle sport in inner east London could again be realised."
But a spokesman for the Olympic Development Authority said nothing had been settled yet.
"It is an ongoing process," he added.
"We are focusing on the quality of facilities in legacy rather than just how much land is used."
He said legacy plans to provide more off-road cycling facilities and a larger Velopark site were still being developed, and will be submitted for planning approval next year.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL2948275920071112?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews