An ancient woodland which was left resembling a “disaster area” after housing 4,000 Olympic security staff last summer, will be restored to its former glory over the next 10 weeks.

Michael Trump, of Anne Way, Hainault, who uses HFCP every day, said: “It will take an awful lot of work to put the park back to how it was, especially as hardcore roads were built for the heavy machinery. “Visitors have been unable to use the whole park since April last year; I think it’s disgusting.

“The park looks like a disaster area and there are big mounds of earth all over the site. It’s an absolute joke that it has taken this long to do anything.”

The council, who received £650,000 from Snoozebox to house security personnel there, expect the works will take between “eight and ten weeks”, dependant on weather conditions.

Mr Trump added: “Grass doesn’t grow back overnight, so some areas will have to remain fenced off for quite some time.”

Member of the Hainault Volunteer Steering Group, John Golds, said: “There’s no getting away from the fact - that particular area of the park looks unsightly.

“But the work has been delayed because of the bad weather, nothing could have been done differently.

“I can’t imagine the park will be back to normal until next year.”

A Redbridge Council spokesman said the site will need to be “top soiled, levelled, stone picked, seeded, fertilised and rolled” and some gates and bollards will need to be replaced.

She added: “The cost to reinstate the land is the responsibility of the contractor and will be entirely paid for by Snoozebox. The contractor will work closely with Vision [the council’s leisure arm] managers to reduce any inconvenience to park users.”