The Royal Parks of London are lands that were originally used for the recreation, mostly
hunting
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...
, of the royal family. They are part of the hereditary possessions of
The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
, now managed by The Royal Parks Limited, a charity which manages eight royal parks and certain other areas of parkland in London. The Royal Parks charity was created as a company limited by guarantee in March 2017 and officially launched in July 2017. Its chief executive is Andrew Scattergood.
The charity took over the main responsibilities of management from the Royal Parks Agency – a former executive agency of the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
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– and from the
Royal Parks Foundation
The Royal Parks Foundation is a registered charity established in 2003 (registered charity number 1097545). It is the charity that helps support London's eight London's Royal Parks for everyone to enjoy, now and in the future. The charity's patro ...
, which is a separate charity.
Parks
With increasing
urbanisation
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...
of London, some of these were preserved as freely accessible
open space and became public
parks with the introduction of the Crown Lands Act 1851. There are today eight parks formally described by this name and they cover almost of land in
Greater London.
*
Bushy Park
Bushy Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton ...
,
*
Green Park
Green Park, officially The Green Park, is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the southern part – the core part – of the City of Westminster, Central London, but before that zone was extended to the north, to take in Marylebo ...
,
*
Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park is a former hunting park in Greenwich and one of the largest single green spaces in south-east London. One of the Royal Parks of London, and the first to be enclosed (in 1433), it covers , and is part of the Greenwich World Heritag ...
,
*
Hyde Park,
*
Kensington Gardens,
*
Regent's Park
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...
,
*
Richmond Park
Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer park ...
, 955 hectares ()
*
St. James's Park,
Of these, Regent's Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens (which are adjacent), Green Park and St James's Park (also close to each other) are the largest green spaces in
central London. Bushy Park, Greenwich Park and Richmond Park are in the outer boroughs.
The Royal Parks agency also manages other open spaces: the
Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...
,
Grosvenor Square Gardens,
Victoria Tower Gardens
Victoria Tower Gardens is a public park along the north bank of the River Thames in London, adjacent to the Victoria Tower, at the south-western corner of the Palace of Westminster. The park, extends southwards from the Palace to Lambeth Brid ...
and the gardens of
10,
11 and
12 Downing Street.
Hampton Court Park
Hampton Court Park, also known as Home Park, is a walled royal park managed by the Historic Royal Palaces. is also a royal park within
Greater London, it is administered by the
Historic Royal Palaces
Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity that manages some of the United Kingdom's unoccupied royal palaces.
These are:
* Tower of London
* Hampton Court Palace
* Kensington Palace (State Apartments and Orangery)
* The Banqueting Hous ...
, unlike the eight Royal Parks.
Management
The parks were managed by the Royal Parks Agency (an
executive agency
An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or N ...
of the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
, type = Department
, logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture = Gove ...
) until the agency joined with charity the
Royal Parks Foundation
The Royal Parks Foundation is a registered charity established in 2003 (registered charity number 1097545). It is the charity that helps support London's eight London's Royal Parks for everyone to enjoy, now and in the future. The charity's patro ...
to form a new charity – ''The Royal Parks'' – launched in July 2017. The parks are policed by the
Royal Parks Operational Command Unit
The Royal Parks Operational Command Unit is a unit of the Metropolitan Police which has responsibility for policing the Royal Parks found in central London.
Core police teams provide 24-hour coverage to the 17 Royal Parks, Gardens and other open ...
of the
Metropolitan Police (the English section of the previous force policing the parks, the
Royal Parks Constabulary, has been abolished). Some funding for the Royal Parks comes from a central government grant. This contrasts with most of London's other parks, which are funded by local borough councils. The Royal Parks charity generates the majority of its income from commercial activities such as catering and staging public events such as
concerts
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...
.
Role
The charity's primary focus is to support and manage 5,000 acres of Crown-owned parkland across London. These are:
Hyde Park,
Kensington Gardens,
Richmond Park
Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer park ...
,
Bushy Park
Bushy Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton ...
,
St James's Park
St James's Park is a park in the City of Westminster, central London. It is at the southernmost tip of the St James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less. It is the most easterly of a near-continuous ch ...
,
The
Green Park
Green Park, officially The Green Park, is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the southern part – the core part – of the City of Westminster, Central London, but before that zone was extended to the north, to take in Marylebo ...
,
The
Regent's Park
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...
and
Primrose Hill
Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842.Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) It was named after the natural hill in the centre of ...
, and
Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park is a former hunting park in Greenwich and one of the largest single green spaces in south-east London. One of the Royal Parks of London, and the first to be enclosed (in 1433), it covers , and is part of the Greenwich World Heritag ...
.
The charity runs programmes of activities and events to encourage outdoor recreation and public access to these areas. It also allows third parties to run such activities within the grounds to further these objectives, but commercial activity is tightly controlled.
The Royal Parks charity also regulates filming, audio recording and the taking of photographs in these areas for anything other than personal use through the issuing of licences. It also issues news permits to the media for the specific purpose of covering
breaking news
Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...
items relating to the parks. Holders of the licences and permits are required to comply with the following pieces of legislation:
* The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997
* Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces (Amendment) Regulations 2004
As well as the eight royal parks in its care, the charity also manages
Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...
,
Victoria Tower Gardens
Victoria Tower Gardens is a public park along the north bank of the River Thames in London, adjacent to the Victoria Tower, at the south-western corner of the Palace of Westminster. The park, extends southwards from the Palace to Lambeth Brid ...
, Poets' Corner and Canning Green. It also tends to the gardens of
10,
11 and
12 Downing Street.
The parks are owned by the Crown with their responsibility resting with the Secretary of State for the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
, type = Department
, logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal =
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. The Royal Parks charity manages the parks on behalf of the government.
Charitable objectives
The Royal Parks' charitable objects set out the main purpose of the charity and what it aims to achieve. They are:
*To protect, conserve, maintain and care for the royal parks, including their natural and designed landscapes and built environment, to a high standard consistent with their historic, horticultural, environmental and architectural importance;
*To promote the use and enjoyment of the royal parks for public recreation, health and well-being including through the provision of sporting and cultural activities and events which effectively advance the objects;
*To maintain and develop the biodiversity of the royal parks, including the protection of their wildlife and natural environment, together with promoting sustainability in the management and use of the royal parks;
*To support the advancement of education by promoting public understanding of the history, culture, heritage and natural environment of the royal parks and (by way of comparison) elsewhere; and
*To promote national heritage including by hosting and facilitating ceremonies of state or of national importance within and in the vicinity of the royal parks.
The Royal Parks board
The Royal Parks charity is led by a board of trustees, which decides how the charity is run, how it spends its money and ensures what it does is for the benefit of the parks and their visitors. The trustees are led by a chairman, and are appointed for their skills and experience. Alongside some ex-officio roles, others are appointed by the Secretary of State for the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
, type = Department
, logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
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(DCMS) and the
Greater London Authority (GLA). They are non-executive and unpaid.
The members of The Royal Parks charity's board are:
Loyd Grossman
Loyd Daniel Gilman Grossman (born 16 September 1950) is an American-British author, broadcaster and cultural campaigner who has mainly worked in the United Kingdom. He is well known for presenting the BBC programme ''MasterChef'' from 1990 to 20 ...
CBE (Chairman), Councillor Nickie Aiken,
Ruth Anderson, Heather Blackman, Lt Col Michael Vernon,
Bronwyn Hill
Bronwyn Hill CBE (born 1960) is a former British civil servant, who served as the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Hill was born in Bradford in 1960 and educated at St Anthony's School and St Jos ...
CBE, Wesley Kerr OBE, Jeff Jacobs, Councillor Georgia Gould, Richard Hamilton and Councillor Danny Thorpe.
The Royal Parks senior management team
The senior management team oversees the day-to-day running of the Royal Parks charity. Led by a chief executive, the team recommend the charity's policy and strategy to the board of trustees, as well as managing an expert and committed workforce of staff and volunteers dedicated to offering free open space in London. Its members (as of November 2020) were:
*Andrew Scattergood – Chief Executive
*Liz Mullins – Director of Commercial
*Ali Jeremy – Director of Communications and Engagement
*Darren Woodward – Director of Estates and Projects
*Tom Jarvis – Director of Parks
Legal position
The public does not have any legal right to use the parks, as public access depends on the
grace and favour
''Grace & Favour'' (American title: ''Are You Being Served? Again!'') is a British sitcom and a spin-off of '' Are You Being Served?'' that aired on BBC1 for two series from 1992 to 1993. It was written by ''Are You Being Served?'' creators and ...
of the Crown, although there are public
rights of way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
across the land. Until 2017, the
Royal Parks Agency managed the Royal Parks under powers derived from section 22 of the
Crown Lands Act 1851
The Crown Lands Act 1851 is an Act of the UK Parliament.
It established the Commissioners of Works as the body responsible for management of royal parks and gardens, specifically;
* Saint James's Park
* Hyde Park
* Green Park
* Kensington G ...
. As part of its statutory management function the agency permitted the public to use the parks for recreational purposes, subject to regulations issued under the Parks Regulation Acts 1872–1926 which were considered necessary to secure proper management, preserve order and prevent abuse within the parks. The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997 then came into effect until a separate charity took over the parks from the Royal Parks Agency.
Mayoral control
In 2010, then
Mayor of London
The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom.
The current m ...
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
proposed that control over the Royal Parks should be devolved to the
Greater London Authority and the government put forward proposals for that to happen later on that year. The plan was welcomed by Royal Parks but not implemented.
Discrimination/pay dispute over outsourced park attendants
Since 2014, Vinci Facilities has been contracted to maintain the Royal Parks, employing as cleaners/attendants mainly African migrants. Vinci had originally tendered separate bids costed for minimum wage staff and Living Wage staff – and its minimum wage bid was accepted, meaning that the approximately 50 cleaners/attendants were earning £8.21 an hour by 2019. Then, with several joining
UVW union in pursuit of the London Living Wage (£10.75) and going on strike in October 2019 with further strikes planned, the Royal Parks board agreed to fulfil their wage demands in December 2019, backdated to November 1st.
However, during the tendering process, Vinci and Royal Parks had also determined purely statutory entitlements in respect of overtime, on-call allowance, sick pay, annual leave, pensions, redundancy pay and maternity pay – and these inequalities with Royal Parks employees persisted. The two employers had allegedly repeatedly reviewed the general terms of Vinci's staff between 2014 and 2019, and Royal Parks had never opted to improve any part of their contracts.
It was announced in April 2020 that the barrister Changez Khan and 15 claimants would bring a racial discrimination "landmark test case" against the Royal Parks charity. Khan claims that "the difference in pay until December last year and ongoing difference in other conditions have a 'disparate impact' on black and ethnic minority workers, as they are more likely to be outsourced agency workers."
See also
*
Parks and open spaces in London
There are many parks and open spaces in Greater London, England.
Green space in central London consists of five of the capital's eight Royal Parks, supplemented by a number of small garden squares scattered throughout the city centre. Open space ...
*
Walking in London
Walking is a popular recreational activity in London, despite traffic congestion. There are many streets that provide interesting walks, especially within historic central London, In addition there are attractive commons, parks, canals, an ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Parks
2017 establishments in England
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Government-owned companies of the United Kingdom
Gardening in England
*
Charities based in London