The Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen's Park Committee convened to discuss risk management, fundraising, revenue, and asset updates for Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen's Park. The committee was also scheduled to discuss assistant director's reports for each of the named locations.

Natural Environment Charity Review

The committee was scheduled to receive updates on the Natural Environment Charity Review (NECR), specifically focusing on fundraising workstreams and asset updates for Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood, and Queen's Park. A report on the fundraising workstream noted that external consultants, The Transform Partnership, were engaged in April 2025 to provide advice on fundraising team development and strategy, analyse fundraising potential across all sites, identify viable income streams, and develop a fundraising policy framework. The consultants were expected to present their report to all Members by the end of October 2025.

Another aspect of the NECR was an audit of land assets owned by the City of London Corporation (CoLC) as trustee of each of the eight Natural Environment charities. The report summarised the processes used to audit the land assets held by the CoLC as trustee of the Hampstead Heath charity. A list of the charity land assets for Hampstead Heath, along with a plan showing their location, was included in the appendix of the Necr Charity Assets Update Hampstead Heath Final report.

Risk Management

The committee was scheduled to discuss a report to provide assurance that risk management procedures in place within the Environment Department and its Natural Environment Division are satisfactory and meet the requirements of the Corporate Risk Management Framework and the Charities Act 2011¹. The report noted that the three highest risks for both Hampstead Heath and Highgate Wood and Queen's Park remained the 'Decline in condition of assets', 'Impacts of anti-social behaviour on staff and site', and 'Work related stress'.

The report also detailed mitigating actions for these risks. For the 'Decline in condition of assets' risk, a new mitigating action, owned by the City Surveyor's Department (CSD)'s Operations Group Director, to deliver work packages as agreed with the Environment Department was scheduled to be added to the risk of each charity and kept under regular review.

Revenue Outturn

The committee was scheduled to discuss reports comparing the revenue outturn for the services overseen by the committee in 2024/25 with the budget for the year for Hampstead Heath, and Highgate Wood and Queen's Park.

The report for Hampstead Heath noted that actual net expenditure totalled (£6.067m), with an unfavourable budget variance of (£1.527m) compared with the budget of (£4.540m). The central risk adverse variance of (£1.285m) was driven primarily by the decrease in central risk investment income of (£1.098m) due to the initial budget target calculated on a set inflexible formula. The overspend by the City Surveyor on the Cyclical Works Programme (CWP) of (£363,000) was due to the rephasing of projects.

The report for Highgate Wood and Queen's Park noted that actual net expenditure totalled (£2.588m), with an unfavourable budget variance of (£181,000) compared with the budget of (£2.407m). The overspend on budgets managed by the City Surveyor was mainly related to Cyclical Works Programme (CWP) expenditure being (£126,000) higher than expected due to the rephasing of projects.

Assistant Director's Reports

The committee was scheduled to receive the Assistant Director's Reports for Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood, and Queen's Park.

Hampstead Heath

The Assistant Director's Report for Hampstead Heath provided an update on matters relating to Hampstead Heath since the last meeting of the Hampstead Heath Consultative Committee on 29 April 2025 and the last meeting of the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood, and Queen's Park Committee on 20 May 2025.

The report noted that the new cricket net structure was opened on 24 May 2025, and that the summer season at the Lido began on 3 May with extended opening hours.

The report also provided an update from the City Surveyor's Department, noting that some key projects across North London Open Spaces (NLOS) throughout the first year of the Cyclical Works Programme (CWP) included a recently concluded capital project at the Kenwood Ladies' Pond, which involved an investment of c.£250k to upgrade the existing facilities for both the users and staff.

Highgate Wood

The Assistant Director's Report for Highgate Wood provided an update on matters relating to Highgate Wood since the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen's Park Committee meeting on 20 May 2025.

The report noted that officers had been reviewing the closure threshold for Highgate Wood in high wind events, with expectation to submit a report at this meeting of the Committee. However, additional work remained to be done on this topic before a report and recommendation could be finalised and brought forward.

The report also noted that the proposed rebuilding of the Highgate Wood Education Centre and quotation submitted by the City Surveyor's Department had exceeded the funds available from the National Lottery grant.

Queen's Park

The Assistant Director's Report for Queen's Park provided an update on matters relating to Queen's Park since the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen's Park Committee meeting on 20 May 2025.

The report noted that the team at Queen's Park was busy carrying out the summer maintenance tasks of grass cutting and strimming, and that the Farm saw the arrival of three new pygmy goats in May.

The report also noted that a number of events were being held in the Park again this year, including the Queen's Park Book Festival on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 August 2025, and Queen's Park Day on Sunday 14 September 2025.