The area around the stadium in the south of the park with the Aquatic Centre and Orbit Tower will not be opened fully to the public until spring 2014 but the north of the park, with the Handball Arena, waterways and parklands, will be made available to residents permanently this summer.

BBC: Olympic stadium 'to host rock concerts by July'

The council has been housed in the Grade I listed hall, set within 42 acres of gardens and parklands, since 1974 but said it now needed less space and maintenance costs on the building were rising.

BBC: Kelham Hall

Once completed it will reopen as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, complete with housing, businesses, parklands and venues to stage sporting, entertainment and community events.

BBC: London Olympic Park opens for visitor tours

But all the fanfare associated with the value of biodiversity, the excitement of discovering new species, expanding or at least maintaining parklands, greenbelts, and critical biological corridors has in a matter of a few days once again been tainted by doubts and no small terror.

FORBES: The Best and Worst of Times: Killer Vegetables, Plunging Markets, Infinite Nature