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London River Park to be delayed until after Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant

London SE1 website team

Construction of a controversial floating walkway along the north bank of the Thames has been postponed until after the Queen's Diamond Jubilee River Pageant.

London River Park to be delayed until after Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant

On Sunday we reported that the organisers of the 1,000-vessel flotilla on Sunday 3 June 2012 had expressed fears that the proposed walkway would put their event in jeopardy.

The presence of the new pontoons is expected to make the tide run faster, potentially making it too difficult for unpowered craft to take part in the flotilla.

Now the London SE1 website has learned that – if it eventually receives planning permission from the City of London Corporation – the London River Park will not be built until after the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. It is likely that any construction work would now take place after the Olympic Games.

The London River Park had been touted by its backers as the idea place to watch the Queen's pageant and a key attraction for London in the crucial Olympic year of 2012.

The floating walkway and hospitality pavilions would cover two sections of river from Blackfriars Bridge in the west to Custom House in the east.

"We are 100 per cent committed to delivering the project," a spokesman for the London River Park said on Monday.

He stressed that the scheme's backers did not want to do anything to put the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations at risk and had altered their project timetable to avoid a conflict with the river pageant.

Last week's news from the City of London Corporation that it would not be putting the application on the agenda for its planning and transportation committee meeting on 15 November effectively makes it impossible to build the structure to the previously advertised timescale.

"It was already a very complicated and tight programme," said the spokesman. He said that the project team is now carrying out further studies into the impact of the proposed scheme at the request of the City corporation and the Port of London Authority.

The spokesman emphasised that the London River Park scheme has received overwhelming public support at the consultation events held during the summer.

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