Camden Park offers panoramic views of the capital, and in 2024 around 30,000 people celebrated New Year’s Eve there – but this year it is closed, with the gates locked from 8pm on Tuesday to 6am on New Year’s Day.

Part of the park has been cordoned off with sturdy stockades and temporary fencing, while other parts only have temporary fencing to keep potential spectators out.

Amy McKeown, a local resident, said she left the area on Monday to celebrate New Year’s Eve with family elsewhere.

“I left the area,” she told the Press Association. “It’s too grotesque to see.”

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Ms McKeown, who is part of the Primrose Hill Keepers volunteer group, added: “The park has never been closed like this.

“This is completely unprecedented.

“This is a public park where people should be able to come and watch the fireworks. That’s exactly what we should be encouraging people to do.”

The Metropolitan Police announced in November that it would disband the Royal Parks Police, which has helped respond to serious crime in green spaces including Hyde Park and Primrose Hill, as it attempts to plug a £260m funding gap.

But a force spokesperson said: “The decision to close Primrose Hill on New Year’s Eve is made by Royal Parks, not the police.

“It is not accurate to suggest that the decision was necessary due to the disbandment of the Royal Parks Policing Team.

“The officers on this team represented only 15 of the more than 145 officers deployed to Primrose Hill on New Year’s Eve last year. This is similar to the makeup of previous years’ deployments.”

The Royal Parks charity, which manages Primrose Hill, previously said the ability to manage crowds of the size that usually attend fireworks displays would be “severely diminished”, partly due to the closure of the Metropolitan Police’s Royal Parks operational command unit.

A spokesperson for the association said on Monday: “The decision to close Primrose Hill on New Year’s Eve was not taken lightly. Last year around 30,000 people visited Primrose Hill to watch the Mayor of London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display.

“This was not an event with an event organizer but a gathering in an open park and we have limited controls that we can deploy to ensure public safety. Therefore, we have decided that Primrose Hill will be closed and locked from 8pm on December 30 until January 1.

“We have worked closely with the Metropolitan Police in encouraging anyone who does not have a ticket for the Mayor of London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks to make alternative arrangements.”

Catherine Usiskin, who has lived in Primrose Hill for more than 40 years, said the fence around the park was “an overreaction”.

“It’s just ridiculous,” she said.

“It’s such an overreaction. We can’t shut down society.”

Ms Usiskin said Primrose Hill, part of which is in Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s constituency, had become much more populated since she started living there.

“I understand it’s harder to control,” she said. “But since the pandemic there has been hysteria around Primrose Hill.”

She said the closure would be detrimental to restaurants and pubs in the area, but she believes people will still try to gather in the park by climbing the fence.

Ms McKeown said the hoarding is similar to barriers used at Glastonbury.

“The year 2024 was successfully monitored and passed without incident,” she added.

“We went from an open event to a huge amount of resources being used to keep people out of the park.”

Commander Nick John, Met Police lead for New Year’s Eve, said: “Royal Parks is urging people not to try to gather in Primrose Hill this year and we will echo these calls.

“Please make alternative plans. Anyone trying to access the park will find that this is not possible.”

Scotland Yard confirmed there would be a police presence at Primrose Hill to “respond to crime” but added that preventing access to the park was not its responsibility.

Royal Parks declined to comment further.