Details of how Greenwich Park will be transformed by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) into a top-class equestrian venue have been unveiled after the council submitted its planning application for the Grade 1-listed site, this week.

A decision will be expected on the plans by March, 2011, and if given the go ahead as plans stand, parts of the 180-acre park will be shut to the public for more than five years.

LOCOG submitted its planning application for the use of the park to Greenwich Council, this week, but it could see the doors of the park close in a few months time – and not be returned to their current state until 2015.

The timespan for the works is far longer than expected because much of the grass in the park is to be dug up, treated or replaced and then regrown after the event.

Among the key elements detailed in the application are requests to build a 23,000-seat temporary arena, 6km cross-country course, stabling and spectator facilities.

The documented plans also concede that the Games could have a “slightly adverse” permanent impact on some of the park’s heritage features.

Lorries will be driven onto the park 6,420 times – an average of 43 to 58 per day – during the set-up and removal of the main showjumping arena. This phase will close large parts of the park for a total of eight months in 2012.

In total vehicles driven by competitors, officials and media will arrive at the facilities 35,960 times, an average of 625 a day.

A set of ornate gates into the park will also be removed to allow vehicle access, although it is promised that they will be replaced afterwards, and the park will be surrounded by a 9-foot-high metal security fence, with spotlights every 80 feet and CCTV cameras on 16-foot poles every 250 feet.

Seventy-two trees will be pruned to allow a 11-foot clearance for horses to pass underneath, including a “small number” which will suffer “removal of branches to the main stem.” No trees will be cut down.

However, local pressure group No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events (NOGOE) has also issued a further challenge to the plans.

It claims LOCOG’s use of nearby Blackheath (for additional stabling) contravenes the Metropolitan Commons Act 1866, which rules that Blackheath must be open to the public at all times.

If permission is granted, work will begin on the temporary structures in Greenwich during April 2012.