Foraging or picking of plants in Royal Parks

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.25.044274

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would like to submit a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) regarding foraging or picking of plants in Royal Parks. Please provide the relevant information for the period between 1 January 2022 and the most recent date for which data is available.

Please could you provide the following:

1. The numbers of police cautions or warnings issued for foraging or picking of plants in Royal Parks. Please could you provide the following breakdown:
   a) The number of cautions/warnings issued for foraging or picking of plants in each Royal Park, broken down by year and the name of the park.
2. The number of fines issued for foraging or picking of plants in Royal Parks. Please could you provide the following breakdown:
   a) The number of fines issued for foraging or picking of plants in each Royal Park, broken down by year and the name of the park.
   b) The amount (in pounds) of each fine issued.
3. The number of prosecutions for foraging or picking of plants in Royal Parks. Please could you provide the following breakdown:
   a) The number of prosecutions for foraging or picking of plants in each Royal Park, broken down by year and the name of the park.
   Please include the name of the park in which the offence was committed, and the name of the offence under which the individual was prosecuted.

If you need to carry out a key terms search to locate these records, please include the terms foraged, foraging, wild food, forager, wild ingredients. If you would document these cases in another way, please include these results as per the spirit of my request.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full. Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

In total 96 Breach of Park Regulations Warning Notice’s issued for the offence listed (below) since 2022.

25 in 2022
St James Park = 1
Bushy Park = 2
Kensington Gardens = 2
Richmond Park = 19
Hyde Park = 1

45 in 2023
Hyde Park = 3
Green Park = 5
Richmond Park = 24
Kensington Gardens = 3
Greenwich Park = 10

25 in 2024
Hyde Park = 1
Richmond Park = 20
Greenwich Park = 2
Bushy Park = 2

1 in 2025
Hyde Park = 1

0 Prosecutions 0 Fines. Repeat offender would be considered for prosecution. 0 repeat offenders.

The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997

Acts in a Park for which written permission is required;
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;