[holding answer 16 March 2009]: The Royal Parks (TRP) advise that there are visitor parking facilities in five of London's eight Royal Parks: Hyde park, Regent’s park, Greenwich park, Richmond park and Bushey park.
TRP advise that there is no charge at present for parking in Richmond or Bushey parks, but parking charges have applied in Hyde park and Regent's park since 1994 and in Greenwich park since 2000. Revenue received by TRP from parking charges over the last five financial years is as follows:
£000 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Hyde park 256 265 282 339 320 Regent’s park 498 553 630 782 896 Greenwich park 106 148 157 196 252 Total 860 966 1,069 1,317 1,468
The figures shown above include income from excess charge notices (penalties for failing to display a valid parking ticket), which break down as follows:
£000 2003-041 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Hyde park 2.5 23 35 50 53 Regent's park 5 38 59 87 99 Greenwich park 4 29 39 45 47 Total 11.5 90 133 182 199 1 Records are not available for the period prior to December 2003
TRP does not receive any revenue from fixed penalty notices or other fines, but receives revenue from catering and other concessions, from fees for events, permits and licences, and from rents. Over the past five years these revenues, park by park, were as follows:
£000 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Hyde park 2,139 2,484 2,365 2,622 2,602 St. James’s park 608 1,015 1,114 1,274 1,796 Kensington Gardens 226 188 266 340 302 The Regent's park 699 678 1,268 1,086 1,282 Greenwich park 177 184 224 275 280 Richmond park 338 544 628 759 906 Bushy park 181 147 165 180 210 Total 4,368 5,240 6,030 6,536 7,378
These figures exclude grants for agency-wide projects, which are managed centrally.