FAMILIES are furious after being given just nine days notice that an Olympic campsite with room for 100 tents is about to spring up on a school playing field which backs directly onto their houses.

Residents living in the cluster of streets surrounding Forest School in Snaresbrook had no idea the school was planning to put up tents until they received a letter on Thursday (July 19).

In the letter, the school informs neighbours they will be erecting tents to accommodate Olympic workers between July 28 and August 14.

Eleanor O’Hare, 54, of Cheyne Avenue said: “I am absolutely livid about this and everyone else I have spoken to around here feels exactly the same.

“If they had told us they were planning to do this earlier maybe I could have accepted it, but they have just landed it on us.”

The school says it will provide security at the site and that traffic will not be a problem as everyone staying there will be using public transport.

They also say they do not need planning permission although a spokesman for the school said a delegation from Redbridge council had inspected the site.

Fay Kaye, 81, of Coppice Way, said: “I have fears about noise and I have fears about security, because our houses back onto this field.

“But what can we do? This has been presented to us as a fait accompli.”

In the letter the school say they are opening the campsite because they feel it is important to support the Olympics.

But Mrs O’Hare said: “I would like to know how much money they are making out of this.

“Unfortunately nobody at the school has even had the decency to talk to me.

“We will try and get an E-petition together to oppose this and I will be writing to Redbridge and The City of London, but we don’t have much time.”

David Lawrence of Coppice Way said he is resigned to living next door to the site.

“I am now in my 92nd year and I live on a day to day basis,” he said.

“When I was younger I would have fought against this, but now I am just too old to find the energy so I suppose I shall just have to live with it.”

A spokesman for Forest School said: "The request to utilise The Park as a camp for Olympics key workers is a very recent one, so the details have only recently been finalised.

"Shortly after the request had been made to the school, the school felt it necessary to consult Redbridge Council on the proposals, despite their being no legal requirement to do so.

"The school was therefore recently visited by a team of 15 from Redbridge Council, including the Council’s senior anti-social behaviour officer, and representatives from the London Fire Brigade.

"After the meeting, Redbridge Council felt that the school was taking all appropriate measures and raised no opposition to the proposed site.

"A risk assessment has since been submitted to the Office for Community Safety for Redbridge, and has received their approval.

"The site will be manned by 24 hour security, and will be overseen by a camp manager 24 hours a day."

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