The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997

Acts in a Park for which written permission is required E+W

4.  Unless the Secretary of State’s written permission has first been obtained, no person using a Park shall—

(1) interfere with any plant or fungus;

(2) go on any flower bed or shrubbery, or on any area of a Park access to which is prohibited by a notice exhibited by order of the Secretary of State;

(3) use or operate a metal or mineral detector or any device for locating objects below ground level;

(4) attach any article to, climb or interfere with any tree, railing, fence, statue, seat, building or structure;

(5) interfere with any notice or sign;

(6) carry on any trade or business in a Park, offer anything for sale or hire or expose or have in his possession anything for the purpose of sale or hire therein;

(7) use language which publicly intimates that any article, commodity, facility or service can be obtained in a Park or elsewhere;

(8) exhibit any notice or advertisement or any other written or pictorial matter [F1 (other than a notice or advertisement approved by Transport for London and exhibited on a taxi or private hire vehicle)];

(9) play or cause to be played a musical instrument;

(10) use any apparatus for the transmission, reception, reproduction or amplification of sound, speech or images, except apparatus designed and used as an aid to defective hearing, or apparatus used in a vehicle so as not to produce sound audible to a person outside that vehicle, or apparatus used where the sound is received through headphones;

(11) discharge any weapon which is a firearm within the meaning of section 57 of the Firearms Act 1968(1), or project any missile manually or by artificial means;

(12) camp or erect or cause to be erected any tent or enclosure;

(13) wash or dry any piece of clothing or linen;

(14) collect or solicit money or any other gift;

(15) make or give a public speech or address except in the public speaking area in Hyde Park;

(16) unless for the purpose for which it is provided, interfere with or remove any lifebelt, lifeline or lifesaving aid or fixture;

(17) organise or take part in any assembly, display, performance, representation, parade, procession, review or theatrical event;

(18) take photographs of still or moving subjects for the purpose of or in connection with a business, trade, profession or employment or any activity carried on by a body of persons whether corporate or unincorporate;

(19) intentionally obstruct or otherwise interfere with free passage on any road, riding way or path;

(20) fish, take any egg, or intentionally injure or worry any animal or bird;

(21) cause or permit any animal or bird of which he is in charge to chase, worry or injure any other animal or bird;

(22) boat or bathe or otherwise enter any fountain, lake, pond or river, unless—

(a) in a place for the time being marked by buoys or other means as appointed for that purpose, and

(b) in accordance with any direction for the control of such activities given by a constable, or by a notice exhibited by order of the Secretary of State;

(23) sail any model except on Adam’s Pond in Richmond Park, on the [F2 Model Boating Pond] in Bushy Park, on the Rick Pond in Hampton Court Park, or on the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens;

(24) feed or touch any deer or pelican;

(25) ride any animal except—

(a) in Bushy Park,

(b) on the road between Blackheath Gate and St. Mary’s Gate in Greenwich Park,

(c) on the riding ways in Hyde Park or St. James’s and The Green Parks,

(d) on the road between Queen’s Gate and Coalbrookdale Gate in Kensington Gardens,

(e) on the roads in The Regent’s Park, or

(f) in Richmond Park;

(26) cause or permit any animal to be in a place for the time being marked by buoys or other means as reserved for bathing or to be in any boat on any water in a Park;

(27) drive or ride any vehicle which is constructed, adapted or in use for the purpose of a trade or business except as specified in Part I of Schedule 2 to these Regulations;

(28) drive or ride any vehicle on a Park road in excess of the speed specified in relation to that road in Part II of Schedule 2 to these Regulations;

(29) tow or leave any caravan;

(30) unless in an emergency, cause any vehicle to wait, or leave any vehicle unattended, in a place other than one for the time being appointed for the parking of a vehicle of that description by the Secretary of State;

[F3 (31) cause or permit any fire to be lit or to place, throw or let fall a lighted match, similar object or any other thing so as to be likely to cause a fire.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 4(8) added (6.4.2010) by The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces (Amendment) etc. Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/1194), regs. 1(1), 2(4)

F2 Words in reg. 4(23) substituted (6.4.2010) by The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces (Amendment) etc. Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/1194), regs. 1(1), 2(5)

F3 Reg. 4(31) added (10.5.2004) by Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces (Amendment) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/1308), regs. 1, 2(3)

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 4 in force at 1.10.1997, see reg. 1(1)

(1)

1968 c. 27.