|
|
Find the best London accomodation and car hire here online!
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 Management |
 |
These eight parks today are formally managed by the Royal Parks Agency and are policed by the Metropolitan Police.
The primary source of funding for the Royal Parks is a central government grant which is different from the management of most of London 's other parks, which are funded by local borough councils. The London Borough Council is elected every four years and is the most important unit of local government in London . It is responsible for running most local services in their areas. The Royal Parks Agency generates additional income from commercial activities such as catering and staging public events like concerts and plays.
To meet with the challenge of keeping 5,000 acres of urban parkland stocked with trees and other plants, the Royal Parks Agency has their own nursery to meet the demand, plus a dedicated team of plantsmen and Parks staff to keep the Parks clean, functional and lovely-looking all year round.
In an effort also to conserve the beauty and resources of the Parks for future generations, they also have a "Green Housekeeping Committee." This committee is responsible for reducing the impact of the parks on the local and wider environment, among other things. The agency also has an Ecology Officer who advises on habitat management, sustainability, and biodiversity.
The Royal Parks is an executive agency of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport or DCMS. This department is responsible for government policy on the arts, sport, the National Lottery, tourism, film, the music industry, press freedom and regulation, licensing, gambling libraries, museums and galleries, broadcasting, as well as the historic environment of London . It is the DCMS that has the responsibility for the organization of the Annual Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Cenotaph. As of May 2005, the department has also taken over responsibility for fashion design and the arts market from the Department for Trade and Industry or DTI.
DCMS contribution to art and the Royal Parks in particular, is through the listing of historic buildings (over 500,000 in England ) and scheduling of ancient monuments, the export licensing of cultural goods, and the management of the Government Art Collection, especially for the Royal Parks Agency. The DCMS works through Regional Cultural Consortiums in each of the English regions outside London while in London, the Mayor and his Cultural Strategy Group plays a similar role.
On the other hand, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) safeguards the Royal Parks. They are commonly referred to by their former official name, Metropolitan Police, or colloquially, as The Met. In legislation, they are often called the Police of the Metropolis.
The Metropolitan Police Service is famous for its unique place in the history of policing. It is by far the largest of the police services that operate in greater London which also includes now the reputable Royal Parks Constabulary . The MPS is the Home Office police force for Greater London, England , except for the square mile of the City of London , which has its own police force that is called the City of London Police.
To date, the Metropolitan Police Service employs around 31,141 officers, 13,661 police staff, 414 traffic wardens and 2,106 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), and, since the realignment of police boundaries in April 2000, it covers an area of 620 square miles and a population of 7.2 million. The Metropolitan Police's headquarters are at the commonly known as Scotland Yard, or New Scotland Yard, in Westminster . The head of the Metropolitan Police Service is the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis who is usually referred to as the Commissioner. The post was first held jointly by Colonel Sir Charles Rowan and Sir Richard Mayn e. The MPS was founded by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 with an original establishment of about 1,000 officers who policed a seven-mile radius from Charing Cross that has a population of less than 2 million.
However, the previous force policing the parks was the Royal Parks Constabulary or RPC that has already been abolished. It used to be the police force responsible for the Royal Parks in London and a number of other locations in Greater London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. The constabulary was established in 1872 and was originally called the Parks Peace Keeping Force.
What makes RPC so unique is that, unlike most other police forces in the UK, the Royal Parks Constabulary did not report to the Home Office, but instead to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who provided funding for it through the Royal Parks Agency . But on 1 April 2004, the Metropolitan Police took on the responsibility of policing the Royal Parks in Greater London after a review of the Royal Parks Constabulary by Anthony Speed . Many of the officers from the Royal Parks Constabulary transferred into the new Metropolitan Police Royal Parks Operational Command Unit (OCU). At that time the OCU, fully funded by the Royal Parks Agency, was created with a mandate to provide police services to the 17 Royal Parks, Gardens and other open spaces within the Metropolitan Police District. It is mandated to provide service to several million people who visit the Royal Parks every year. They have the goal to "provide and be seen to provide the best possible level of policing for the Royal Parks, so as to ensure that they remain free from disturbance and the fear of crime." Translated into police activities, this goal literally translates to permanent units at Bushy, Greenwich, Hyde, Regent's, Richmond and St James's Parks providing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week policing. In addition to the Police Officers, the Royal Parks OCU has a dedicated team of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), MPS Special Constables and Police Staff.
The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 formally abolished the Royal Parks Constabulary in England and Wales but not in Scotland where the Constabulary's powers are exercised by Historic Scotland.
|
|
|
|
|
