Marathon-running councillor wants parkrun to for London's Hyde Park to help combat loneliness

A community-minded councillor who raised more than £10,000 for charity by running this year's London marathon, is calling for parkrun to come to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

Keen runner, councillor David Lindsay, spoke along with health experts and GPs at a meeting of the joint Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster councils’ health and well-being board in Hyde Park.

In April councillor Lindsay ran the London Marathon and raised £10,657 for the Rugby Portobello Trust, which is close to Grenfell Tower and helps children with reading, homework and activities such as sport and music.

It is also helping the Grenfell community after the disaster.

Mr Lindsay who is the council’s lead member for healthy city living, said: "We could have a parkrun going around Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park and thereby have a premium parkrun."

"I would do everything I can to work with Royal Parks to make it happen."

He told Thursday’s (November 29) health and wellbeing board that as well as giving runners the chance to get together for a free weekly 5k run, parkrun also involves people as volunteers, which helps cut isolation and boost their health.

Dr Naomi Katz who works as a GP at a practice in Harrow Road, also told the panel: "GPs are encouraging patients to take up parkrun. Loneliness has a massive impact."

Between them Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens receive 22m visitors a year, according to Royal Parks which looks after them.

Richard Pering, Royal Parks’ learning manager, said it already runs its own Royal Parks Half marathon and suggested the board talks to staff about their proposal.

But a Royal Parks spokeswoman said: "Due to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens’ central location, we are currently at capacity for regular walks and runs, and Parkrun is therefore not feasible."

She said the parks already hosts small running events "mostly for charities, hospices and community groups, and as part of our major events programme, we annually host the Royal Parks Half Marathon in four Royal Parks and Race for the Kids for Great Ormond Street Hospital in Hyde Park".

The Serpentine Running Club also hosts two regular runs every month in the parks.

"In addition to running, Hyde Park provides a number of sporting facilities in the park including tennis, lawn bowls, swimming and boating.

"We also believe that volunteering can help combat isolation and loneliness and have many opportunities across the parks for people to connect with nature and each other, from helping with guided walks and gardening, to wildlife surveying," said the Royal Parks spokeswoman.

In 2016 parkrun hit the headlines when Stoke Gifford parish council proposed charging the charity due to the volume of runners attending the event.

But the government planned legislation to ban charges for free weekly events which would overturn "our convention of free access to parks for their everyday use".

To find out more about events in Hyde Park, visit