Some living near Hyde Park are frustrated by the number of events there

PLANS for a football fan zone in Hyde Park have left neighbours chanting “here we no” rather than “here we go, here we go, here we go”.

Although all British teams are already out of this season’s Champions League, the final of Europe’s elite tournament is due to be played on neutral territory with a showdown at Wembley.

Fans arriving in the capital will be advised to head to a “meeting point” for pre-match entertainment in the park.

But councillors were yesterday agreeing the terms of a licensing application amid calls for them to kick the request for one of these zones to be in Hyde Park into the proverbial Row Z, or at least enforce strict controls.

Park users and people living nearby said there are already enough events on the grounds including the British Summer Time megagigs and the Winter Wonderland attraction in the run-up to Christmas.

Only Spanish and German teams are left in the Champions League competition after Arsenal and Manchester City lost in the quarter-finals.

This has left fans of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid hoping their teams will be involved in the showpiece match on June 1 and that they will soon be booking tickets for London.

Each team’s supporters will have their own meeting point with up to 20,000 fans from one of the finalists to be handed the spot in the Hyde Park Parade Ground.

The other team will be directed to a separate space at the Victoria Embankment Gardens in Villiers Street, while further events will be held in Trafalgar Square with the Greater London Authority keen to put on a big welcome.

Westminster City Council must still decide on what the hours and licensing rules should be and some neighbours of the park have appealed for the whole thing to be canned.

“With the whole of Hyde Park to choose from this site could not have been worse selected from a local residential point of view,” said one respondent in an objection filed with licensers.

“It is the closest it could have been put to residential property. Twenty-thousand football fans drinking all day can only be a recipe for disaster. There is a risk of unruly behaviour whether their team wins or loses.”

Another added: “Residents suffer from noise and some anti-social behaviour when Hyde Park concerts debouch and the concert-goers filter through residential streets instead of using main thoroughfares.

“There is no visible control of this, or monitoring of these fans, for concerts.

“There is no information to show how fans will be prevented from flooding noisily through residential streets and housing estates, or mention of whether there will be police or event stewards monitoring them on the ground.”

The Hyde Park Residents’ Association said disturbance could be reduced if police crowd-control teams used drones instead of a helicopter.

It is the number of events now taking place in Hyde Park which has frustrated other neighbours.

“Many people living in the vicinity feel the same way and are certainly not wanting to stop those events already held in the park, but enough is enough,” said another objector.

“You may say that I am lucky to live here and if I do not like it I could move, but a balance for all should be looked at.”

As the host city for the final, the Greater London Authority has the responsibility for delivering events on behalf of UEFA, the European football governing body.

It has appointed LS Events to work on this.

The GLA said that several sites were considered but Hyde Park and Victoria Embankment Gardens were selected due to their capacity and transport links.

A Royal Parks spokes-person told the Westminster Extra: “We are working closely with local stakeholders to listen to and address any concerns.”