HL Deb 08 July 1999 vol 603 cc117-8WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What arrangements the Royal Parks Agency has set up for monitoring (a) the noise levels, (b) the damage to the fabric of parks and (c) the effects on traffic and car-parking, both within parks and within neighbouring streets, of the commercial concerts and the related closing of roads that they have authorised in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens; and whether Ministers have approved these arrangements. [HL3341]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

Responsibility for the subject of this question 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 to Lord Kennet from the Head of Policy of the Royal Parks Agency, Ms Viviane Robertson, dated 8 July 1999.

In the absence of the Chief Executive, David Welch, I have been asked by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to reply to your parliamentary Question about the arrangements for monitoring noise, damage to fabric of the park and traffic resulting from concerts in Hyde Park and the closure of roads.

Noise levels at concerts are measured by the local authority's environmental health department before and during all performances to ensure that they do not exceed the statutory limit.

Approval to hold any event in the Royal Parks is subject to the organiser meeting strict conditions designed to protect the fabric of the park. All event organisers are required to deposit a sum as a bond against any damage that may be caused as a result of an event. The amount depends on the scale of the event, but is a substantial sum. A joint inspection is carried out of the condition of the park before the contractor comes in to build the event site and again once the contractor has dismantled it. A schedule is agreed with the event organiser of any damage, and the cost of reinstating it is retained from the deposit.

All the roads within Hyde Park are closed for safety reasons on the day of major concerts like the Prince's Trust concert because of the number of people in the park. The only longer term closure is of North Carriage Drive, which is closed between 22 June and 5 August. The effects of this closure on roads outside the park are monitored by the Royal Parks police, in liaison with the Metropolitan Police. To date, traffic has continued to move freely on Bayswater Road. We would of course re-open North Carriage Drive if the Metropolitan Police were to request us to because an emergency was seriously affecting traffic on Bayswater Road.

We decided to close the road from the date the contractor started on site following a risk assessment that the police carried out on North Carriage Drive last year. If we find, when we have seen the organisers' construction and servicing schedules for the sites, that we can open the road for some days between the late July series of concerts, we will of course do so.

I am afraid that we have no way of determining what effect these concerts might have on parking outside the park, but we always insist that event promoters encourage those attending events to come by public transport.

As these are operational matters for which the Royal Parks Agency are responsible, the Minister's specific approval is not required. At the end of the scheme we will be reviewing the impact of the concerts in the parks and submitting a report to Ministers.