Royal Parks Agency: Finance

Justine Greening
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what revenues have been raised by the Royal Parks Agency in each Royal Park from (a) car park charges, (b) fixed penalty notices, (c) other fines and (d) other revenues in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Barbara Follett
[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:

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|£000          |
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|              |2003-04|2004-05|2005-06|2006-07|2007-08|
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|Hyde park     |256|265|282|339|320|
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|Regent’s park |498|553|630|782|896|
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|Greenwich park|106|148|157|196|252|
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|Total         |860|966|1,069|1,317|1,468|
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The figures shown above include income from excess charge notices (penalties for failing to display a valid parking ticket), which break down as follows:

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|£000                                                             |
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|                                                                 |2003-041|2004-05|2005-06|2006-07|2007-08|
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|Hyde park                                                        |2.5|23|35|50|53|
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|Regent's park                                                    |5|38|59|87|99|
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|Greenwich park                                                   |4|29|39|45|47|
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|Total                                                            |11.5|90|133|182|199|
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|1 Records are not available for the period prior to December 2003|
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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:

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|£000              |
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|                  |2003-04|2004-05|2005-06|2006-07|2007-08|
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|Hyde park         |2,139|2,484|2,365|2,622|2,602|
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|St. James’s park  |608|1,015|1,114|1,274|1,796|
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|Kensington Gardens|226|188|266|340|302|
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|The Regent's park |699|678|1,268|1,086|1,282|
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|Greenwich park    |177|184|224|275|280|
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|Richmond park     |338|544|628|759|906|
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|Bushy park        |181|147|165|180|210|
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|Total             |4,368|5,240|6,030|6,536|7,378|
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These figures exclude grants for agency-wide projects, which are managed centrally.