Re-routing Carnival 'threat' to Hyde Park

Plans to stage the Notting Hill Carnival in Hyde Park risks blighting one of London's greatest jewels, a Conservative MP will claim today.

A review of the Bank Holiday festival by a London mayoral committee has recommended that the event starts or ends in the park.

But Mark Field, MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, says a survey of 4,000 local residents found 80 per cent hostile to the Carnival coming to Westminster.

"For most respondents the idea of the Notting Hill Carnival, with its massive street march, struck fears into their hearts," he will tell MPs.

He will also call for a big cut in the number of events held in the park.

"Commercialising Hyde Park is a short road to destroying one of London's greatest jewels ... a place of great beauty," he will say.

Events such as the Red Bull Flugtag and Star Trek show "led to destruction from which it will take the park many years to recover", he says.