Potters Fields Park to host £850k Olympics and Paralympics big screen

Last year we learned that the Mayor of London plans to rebrand Potters Fields Park as "London Park" for the duration of the games, to complement the London House branding at adjacent City Hall.

In December Neale Coleman, the Mayor's director of London 2012 coordination, agreed that the Greater London Authority should sign a contract with Jack Morton – the company responsible for London's New Year fireworks – to organise the £850,000 event in Potters Fields Park. The GLA hopes to raise £100,000 of the cost from external sponsorship.

A GLA report says that London Park will be "a free-to-access inspiring place for the public to pass-through and enjoy the atmosphere and share in the moments of the 2012 games".

The big screen and associated activities will be open to the public between 27 July and 9 September. Work to prepare the park for the event will begin on 20 July and all the temporary structures will be gone by 17 September.

Further details of the proposed events are contained in a planning application to Southwark Council.

An 8-metre wide screen will be installed in the park to show coverage of the game between 10am and 10pm each day. There will also be live entertainment, sports engagement activities for young people and up to 12 concession stands.

Extra public toilets and a first aid treatment centre will also be provided.

Unlike the other 'live sites' in London, no tickets will be required and the park will not be gated. The park can accommodate up to 4,500 people and large crowds are expected to gather to watch some of the main ceremonies in the Olympic Park.

A crowd management plan submitted with the planning application shows that security guards will be deployed on the Thames Path alongside the path to keep pedestrians moving and ensure "short dwelling times [sic] of 2-3 minutes to maintain a flow of access".

If the park fills up then stewards will prevent more people from entering and visitors will be encouraged to queue on Tooley Street.

A site search policy lists "restricted items" including large flags, banners and flags of non-competing nations. Oversized hats and large umbrellas are also on the watch list, as are hunting horns, vuvuzelas, klaxons and whistles.

Also on the restricted list are "any clothing or object bearing political statements or overly commercial, or that could be intended for ambush marketing [or] any article giving cause for concern re protest eg ropes, handcuffs, placards, spray paint".

The planning application also include the construction of a 24-hour media platform next to the fountains at More London Riverside to provide international broadcasters with four camera positions with views of Tower Bridge.

The GLA's planning agents sent 250 letters to local residents last autumn but only received four responses.