After Union Council took a position of opposing the charging of the use of pitches in Hyde Park we delivered a letter outlining our position to the Royal Parks. Royal Parks are the organisation that run the eight Royal Parks in London. Recently they launched a consultation regarding introducing charges for the area of Hyde Park known as the "Old Football Pitches". Currently at least 16 student groups use this space for training and exercise. As a result of this plan we made a call to all of our 300+ Clubs, Societies & Projects to fill our a questionaire regarding the proposed charges as part of their consultation exercise.  

Union Council regularly votes on positions on issues that affect your life as an Imperial student. Once Union Council has made a decision your Sabbatical Officers and Union Staff work to make sure the Union's position is known to those that need to know.

A copy of the letter is included below:

To whom it may concern,

We are writing in response to the Hyde Park Old Football Pitches Consultation exercise. I am writing in my capacity as Deputy President (Clubs & Societies) and trustee at Imperial College Union. We are the students' union of Imperial College London and every student of Imperial is a member of the Union. As the voice for all 16,000 plus students at Imperial College our Union Council has taken a position of opposing the imposition of charging for the space known as the “Old Football Pitches” at Hyde Park, which has caused much consternation to many of our members.  

We have at least 16 formal student groups comprising of many individual teams who utilise this space for games, training and recreation alongside many informal groups of residents from our halls of residences and simple groups of friends getting together on a casual basis. Our formal groups which use this space include:

Many Union Clubs, Societies & Projects, halls of accommodation football teams and other groups of students will be negatively impacted upon by the booking and charging system, causing them to move their activities to a different location, cease their activity altogether or increase the financial cost of taking part which may exclude or deter individuals from participating in their activities.

Activities that take place on the old football pitches are an important part of our members’ time at University. Recreation that takes place there is important for their physical and mental health and wellbeing, building friendships with others and developing skills such as communication, teamwork and leadership. Access to this space helps encourage participation in sports and physical activity at a variety of different skill levels and is this is often the only sporting activity that many of our members will participate in during their time at university. Hyde Park is a fantastic resource and we do not want to see any of our members deterred from participating in sport or unable to use the space as generations of students have for many years.

We would be happy to further share the views of our members with you and to contribute in any way that we can to discussions over the future usage of this space.