Battersea Formula E race moves a step closer after council vote

A meeting of Wandsworth Borough Council's Community and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee gave its agreement in principle to the Formula E series finale taking place in the Thameside park on June 27 next year.

A final decision will be made an extraordinary meeting of the committee, scheduled for late October or early November, after further public consultation and discussions with the Heritage Lottery Fund, which awarded the council a grant of £7.5 million between 1998 and 2003 for restoration of Battersea Park.

Formula E will, in the meantime, be able to make a preliminary planning application for building the safety infrastructure around the park's perimeter roads, which will create a circuit of just under two miles.

Should the final approval be given by the community services committee and the council's executive, a formal planning application could be made sometime in November.

This would require 12 weeks, meaning that final confirmation of the event is unlikely before February.

The agenda for Thursday's meeting confirms that London is one of the European events, along with Monte Carlo and Berlin, in the frame to hold a two-day double-header meeting.

It also reveals that contact with the council was first made by Formula E in May 2013, when London was listed as the opening round of the inaugural 2014/15 series.

Formula E's desire to make its debut in London at the Battersea venue this month was impossible because of long-standing bookings for events in the park.