Formula E will return to Battersea Park for two years despite protests at Wandsworth council gates

Members of the community services overview and scrutiny committee voted seven to four, on party lines, to bring Formula E back to the Grade II listed park in June 2016 and 2017.

The councillors were faced with the option of activating a break clause in the five year contract, which would have ended the relationship between Wandsworth Council and Formula E. The next opportunity to use a break clause will be 2017.

November 24: BREAKING: Formula E will return to Battersea Park

November 24: Formula E: Campaigners question "critical" support as decision day looms for Battersea Park

November 20: Formula E Battersea Park: Wandsworth's Labour councillors pledge to vote against return

November 17: Promises of a quieter Formula E 2016 as five groups object to its Battersea Park return

September 17: Battersea Park campaigners rev up pressure on Wandsworth Council to stop Formula E race

In a debate which lasted several hours, campaigners were accused of 'cooking the books' and told parks were a 'luxury' by Conservative councillors.

John Fox, from the Battersea Park Formula E action group, presented the group's petition, which had 2,700 signatures against the return of the event, and strenuously denied claims by Councillor Ian Hart that there were duplications and alias in the list.

He said: "The set up and take down was shambolic.

"Formula E are long on promises and short on delivery. Their brand of event management is crass."

As well as Mr Fox's group, Warriner Gardens and Alexandra Avenue Residents, the Battersea Society, the Prince of Wales Drive Mansion Blocks and the Friends of Battersea Park, urged the event be stopped in presentations made to the committee.

Coun Hart told campaigners they would be welcome to Tooting Common or Wandsworth Common during the event, and Councillor Rosemary Torrington said parks were a luxury, not a necessity.

Frances Radcliffe, chairwoman of the Friends of Battersea Park, told the committee the park was "industrial" during the set-up and that it was impossible to find tranquillity.

She said: "This is like putting boulders in a Ming vase."

Councillor James Cousins, an independent, addressed the committee as one of only three councillors who had voted against Formula E in 2014 but was not part of the committee and could not vote on the matter.

He told the committee he believed members knew "deep down" that Formula E was "wrong".

He said: "Everyone here knows Battersea Park crossed a line, and we have the chance the park back to the people who love it."

During the evening, Paul McCue, managing director of staff mutual Enable, and author of the report, admitted that tyre marks remain in the park and that helicopter noise was worse than expected.

Mr McCue also defended attendance figures, stating that official sales went through Ticketmaster, and match similar events in Berlin.

He confirmed that two schools had to cancel their sports days because safety of pupils could not be guaranteed during the set up.

Before the meeting Labour councillors committed to voting against the event's return, and all four committee members did on Tuesday, November 24.

Councillor Fleur Anderson said: "I would like to think that there could be mitigating aspects but fundamentally it is the wrong event for the park.

"We trusted them [Formula E] to run it but communication was poor, stewarding and marshalling was poor.

"The money is a big issue but there is a value to the park over those three weeks.

"We pay for the flowers, for the park to be used, and for the three weeks in June when it is most glorious, there is no access to it."

Committee chairman Councillor Kim Caddy said: "Despite the amount of local opposition, I think there are a lot of people supporting and it is much less likely that people are going to fill in a form if they are happy with it.

"We have a responsibility to the whole borough."

The recommendation will be put to the executive at their meeting on November 30.