Greenwich Council leader Anthony Okereke has said he is in talks with the Army about the Olympic legacy equestrian centre at Shooters Hill – three weeks after The Greenwich Wire reported that the military was interested in the site.
The centre, which was opened in a blaze of publicity by Princess Anne in 2013, closed a year after its operator, North Kent College, pulled out. Cabinet members then voted to sell the site to help plug a £33 million budget gap.
Anger at the decision – together with the sale of a bungalow in the grounds of a nearby community centre – led to a row which led to a local Labour councillor resigning and the Green Party winning its first ever seat in the resulting by-election.
Rumours about the issue were first mentioned by Greenwich’s Conservative opposition leader, Matt Hartley, at a council meeting last month.
The Greenwich Wire reported on July 2 that a Labour source had said the Army was keen to take over the site so it could be used by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, but had received no response from Okereke, who has previously suggested that the site, which is surrounded by farmland, could be developed into flats. The Army did not respond to a request for comment, but that Labour source has stood by their account.
Since then, a separate source, who is not connected to the council and has also asked not to be identified, has come forward to say they had been made aware of the military’s interest by Army officers.
In a written response to Hartley published at Wednesday’s council meeting, Okereke said that “discussions have been initiated with the Army, and I will update the chamber in due course”.
Pressed further by Hartley in a follow-up, Okereke said: “I haven’t changed my mind. I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of this. That’s why I’ve initiated conversations with the Army to find out where all this is coming from.”
Okereke’s statement came in marked contrast to comments he made to Hartley two weeks ago, when he told a scrutiny panel meeting that “it would be wrong for me as a politician to go and liaise with an army official to suggest and start engaging in conversations about [council] assets. That’s not how it works.”
He told the panel on July 10: “We don’t run the council based on gossip. And you should do better than to listen to gossip. A Greenwich Labour source could mean absolutely anything. In fact, it could even be the Tories, but who knows?”
The approach from the Army is said to be about obtaining more space for the King’s Troop, a ceremonial unit which moved to Woolwich in 2012. There is a large field at the back of the centre for horses to exercise in.
While the sight of the King’s Troop exercising its horses has become a familiar sight locally, there have been complaints about damage to cars.
In summer 2012, when Woolwich Common was used for the Olympics and Paralympics, the troop used Charlton Park for exercises. That arrangement lasted beyond the Games until 2017, when a soldier broke her neck trying to stop runaway horses and a gun carriage.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation, which manages military estates, said earlier this month that it had no record of any contacts, while the Army did not respond to a request for comment about any direct contacts.
In response to a freedom of information request asking for records of any contact with the Army, Greenwich Council said its property team had no record of any contacts, but did not respond for any other arm of the council, such as the leader’s office.
Hartley told The Greenwich Wire on Friday: ““I’m pleased that the leader of the council has seen sense and finally reached out to the Army on this – though it really should not have taken weeks of pressure to embarass him into doing this.
“The King’s Troop brings so much to our borough. I really hope we can find a solution that works for them, and keeps the Equestrian Centre site in some kind of community use. The council needs to be a lot more open about this more now on, and genuinely engage the community – offering a meeting where residents can share their thoughts and ideas would be a good start.”
Updated at 2.20pm with an additional quote from Matt Hartley.
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