The "green dream of a grand prix in London, featuring sleek 140mph racing cars powered by batteries, could be abandoned after just one event because of a legal challenge by angry residents led by a blind author and a prominent professor in green technologies," according to Graham Wright of the LONDON TIMES. Just two days after Formula E staged a "revolutionary" grand prix around the streets of Paris -- the first motor race in modern times on the streets of the French capital -- the sister event in London "is in jeopardy from a sustained campaign of opposition." The Battersea Park Action Group is "pushing for a judicial review in the High Court over the use of Battersea Park as a racetrack." The review "would have to be heard before the London ePrix, as it is named, takes place during the first weekend in July if it is to have any impact on the future of the race."
The Action Group has turned to crowdfunding to find the £30,000 ($43,400) needed to finance the legal action and has so far raised more than £19,000 ($27,500) from almost 400 donors. It is understood that Wandsworth Council "could face a compensation claim running into tens of millions of pounds should the legal challenge succeed." However, lawyers for Formula E believe that the London ePrix "is safe."
Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag said that the legal challenge was a "long shot." Agag: "These protests do not involve us but is something between them and Wandsworth Council. The people say that the council has no right to rent out the park. We are advised that we have a strong case, but we will abide by any finding by the courts."
The loss of the London round of the championship "would be deeply damaging for the capital’s reputation for staging major sports events." Sponsors investing millions of pounds "are said to be highly nervous that they could lose a Blue Riband event from the series, which includes some of the world’s major capital cities, including Beijing, London, Buenos Aires, Berlin and Moscow" (LONDON TIMES, 4/25).
