Richmond Council has made a u-turn over its decision to leave all but one of the borough’s parks unlocked at night.

The council previously locked nine of the borough’s 160 parks and open spaces overnight but from April 1 only York House Gardens was locked after dark.

The move angered park users who petitioned to reverse the decision, which they said they were not consulted about and feared would cause an increase of antisocial behaviour, noise and litter.

The fierce opposition, which included the support of Twickenham MP Vince Cable, forced a rethink and three of the affected parks - Carlisle Park in Hampton, Grove Gardens and Alpha Road Gardens in Teddington – will now be locked.

Cabinet member for environment Councillor Virginia Morris encouraged residents to set up independent friends’ groups for each park and carry out surveys.

She said these would be reviewed along with consultations with park users in the summer, but assured people that until then the parks would remain locked overnight.

She said: “We are always committed to reviewing our policies, based on factual evidence and any antisocial behaviour in our parks.

“However, we also are a listening council and, in this instance, I have heard the concerns of residents and acted accordingly.”

Opposition environment spokesman Councillor Martin Elengorn said Coun Morris misled the council by claiming her decision was published and open to scrutiny when it had not been.

He said: “Clearly if the council was genuine about its claims to consult people about their local parks it would have done so.

“Coun Morris has now further confused the situation by saying the decision was advertised while accepting there was no local consultation.

“Nobody has yet been able to corroborate her assertion.”

Coun Morris said in her experience antisocial behaviour and vandalism was more likely to occur in locked parks because people targeted them knowing they could be unseen and undisturbed.

She said open parks acted as a deterrent, allowed better access for police and allowed a possible public presence at any time.