Plans to give Boris Johnson overall control of London's royal parks have been abandoned.
The Government had proposed making the Mayor the "high-profile champion" of the eight parks, which include Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Greenwich Park and Richmond Park.
Instead he will only be able to nominate the members of a new 12-member board to oversee their running, with funding and final powers remaining with the Department of Culture.
Campaigners who had been fighting the proposals welcomed the news and claimed it will prevent the further commercialisation of the parks. About £14 million a year is already raised from open-air concerts and other events.
The Department for Culture said it had abandoned the outright transfer of the parks to the Mayor because this would require new laws to be passed - which could have taken years because of a lack of parliamentary time. However it expects him to have practical oversight of the parks, with the Culture Secretary intervening rarely. The changes will not happen until autumn next year to prevent them interfering with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee or the Olympics.
Malcolm Kafetz, chairman of the Friends of Regent's Park and Primrose Hill, said: "We are quite pleased about it. We don't think they [City Hall] have enough experience in running parks to do it properly. They're too interested in making money out of the parks. They were designed for peaceful use, not for people turning them into a funfair."
The board members will include councillors from boroughs containing royal parks, a representative of the royal household and two executives from the Royal Parks Agency.
There will be no place for representatives of the many "friends" of the parks or the public. Ron Crompton, chairman of Friends of Richmond Park, said: "If you look at the board as it's going to be constituted, it's all politicians."
But Jacqueline Hyer, co-chairwoman of the Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, said: "We have got a balanced group of people overlooking the whole thing, rather than just the Mayor, who can change."
Heritage minister John Penrose said the board would be directed to develop ways of giving "local communities and park users a role in decision-making".
