§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Royal Parks Agency is expecting to receive £1 million from Messrs. Cardington in respect of the concerts in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens in 1999 and other commercial activities related to the Royal Parks; and [HL628]
What consultations with neighbouring amenity societies were conducted before plans for concerts in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and other commercial activities in the Royal Parks were developed; and [HL629]
Whether the Royal Parks Agency has conducted environmental impact assessments of the proposed events in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens in relation to (a) the grass, shrubs, trees and wildlife; (b) noise levels; (c) the effect around the park of the arrival and departure of, in each case, some tens of thousands of people; and (d) the timescale of subsequent clear-up, both in the park and in the areas around it, for which participants will be arriving before 4 p.m. and departing after 10 p.m. [HL630]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyResponsibility for the subject of these questions has been delegated to the Royal Parks Agency under its Chief Executive, Mr. David Welch. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from the Head of Policy of the Royal Parks Agency, Viviane Robertson, dated 28 January 1999:
In the absence of the Chief Executive, I have been asked by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about events proposed for 1999 in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.
The Agency expects to receive income in the region of £1 million from all events not only those in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. But this figure assumes all proposals come to fruition and also includes some events, which are not managed by our Marketing Partner.
172WAThe Agency does not consult neighbouring amenity societies about proposed events in the Parks but it has informed the Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens about the proposed concerns and its marketing proposals.
The Agency is not required to carry out environmental impact assessments on proposed events. These assessments are only required before undertaking industrial or other permanent construction developments. However, when considering proposals for events, the Agency takes into account their impact on the Park, access and dispersal arrangements, noise levels and litter clearance.
§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether all the arrangements between the Royal Parks Agency and Messrs Cardington (an Ofex-quoted company), particularly concerning the latter's commercial activities in the Royal Parks to include nine sound-amplified ticketed pop concerts in Hyde Park and three in Kensington Gardens in 1999, have been approved by Ministers and are fully consistent with the Government's commitments, in line with the recommendations of Dame Jennifer Jenkins' report on the Royal Parks, not to allow their commercialisation. [HL627]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe agency has entered into these arrangements in response to Ministers' request that they promote more events than hitherto in order to help attract a wider range of visitors to the parks and to generate additional income. This income is to be retained by the agency and used to help meet the costs of maintenance of the parks' infrastructure. The Government are content that these arrangements are consistent with their own commitment to the recommendations of the Royal Parks Review Group's report which were originally accepted, in principle, by the previous government.