Overview
- Royal Parks says the site is locked from 8pm on December 30 until January 1 to prevent informal gatherings at the vantage point.
- The charity cites severely diminished crowd-control capacity in part linked to the disbanded Royal Parks policing unit.
- The Metropolitan Police says the shutdown was a Royal Parks decision and argues the former unit provided about 15 of roughly 145 officers there last year.
- About 30,000 people gathered on the hill last year for the Mayor’s fireworks despite it not being an organised event with formal controls.
- Safety concerns include the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Harry Pitman on New Year’s Eve 2023; the Met urges people to make alternative plans, noting citywide deployments and that the central ticketed display is sold out.