‘Royal Parks must give us pitches’

Published: 18 June 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

ACRES of Hyde Park should be turned into pitches to give youngsters more opportunities to play sport in central London ahead of the 2012 Olympics, London Assembly member Murad Qureshi says.

The former amateur athlete has long campaigned on the lack of decent playing fields in the capital. He is urging London mayor Boris |Johnson to consider changing the character of the park if control of the Royal Parks devolves to him as expected.

Mr Qureshi bemoaned the “corporatisation” of London’s seven Royal Parks, many of which charge high fees for pitch hire.

He said: “The parks are most likely going to come under the mayor’s control and this is a big opportunity to change things around from the corporate character of the parks as they are at the moment. It’s a complete lie that they give affordable pitches to the public. Even my cricket team got priced out, it became so expensive.”

A recent Freedom of Information request by the West End Extra revealed a growing number of private events held in the Royal Parks. Events like the Taste of London festival and the Frieze Art Fair in Regent’s Park raise millions of pounds in revenue.

In 2006 Mr Qureshi oversaw a report for the London Assembly into sports pitches which concluded that all 1,500 sites should be protected. He said Hyde Park had the most space to give over.

He said: “I’ve been looking at this for a while now, and even had a meeting with the Royal Parks about putting some pitches on the Knightsbridge side of the park. All they have to do is put some lines out. It would help schools out big time and given the obesity problem we have in Westminster at the moment is needed as a matter of urgency.” 

Mr Qureshi is supported by Green Party London Assembly member, Jenny Jones, who said the Royal Parks were a “wonderful resource that could be better”.

The Royal Parks, an executive agency of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, defended its record on giving space over to public sports pitches, but said it was not planning on creating any more. A spokeswoman said: “We invested over £2million six years ago to improve playing fields in Regent’s Park and we ensure youth sports teams and community groups have priority and benefit from subsidised prices

“There are playing fields in Hyde Park, Richmond Park, Bushey Park and Greenwich Park. We need to balance the needs of all these people. At the moment we have no plans for more playing fields.”