The cost to police this year's Eastern Electrics Festival has been revealed.

A Freedom of Information request by the Merton Conservative Party - which has been seen by the Wimbledon Times - showed that the estimated cost to the Met Police was £140,000.

This was nearly triple the original estimated cost of £50,000.

This revelation has once again sparked debate on whether the festival should be held in Morden Park.

“This year’s Eastern Electric festival descended into chaos as four people were stabbed, along with anti-social behaviour, including drug taking and fighting," Conservative Councillor Nick McLean said.

"As such the police were forced to spend £140,000 of taxpayers’ money to secure the event, which is significantly more than the council received from the event.

"As a local resident I was appalled by the drugs, crime and violence, and I am determined to oppose the festival being held for a fourth year in Merton. It was only due to the presence and professionalism of our police officers that there was not a higher level of disorder."

As well as the total cost to police, the FOI also revealed that around 52 additional officers were brought in from other parts of London on the Sunday, the day after the four stabbings.

"I know that Merton Council applied stringent conditions to the decision to allow EE to operate this year, and also that the organisers made every effort to comply with the conditions and worked with police to minimise the potential for anti-social behaviour," Cllr McLean added.

"However, the last three years have shown that the EE festival organisers cannot prevent drug taking, crime and violence occurring in Morden despite their efforts; the EE Festival is simply the wrong event for Morden Park and this is why Merton Conservatives oppose the festival being held in the borough.”

While a licensing application has not yet been submitted by the festival organisers, Merton Council's cabinet member for commerce, leisure and culture, Caroline Cooper-Marbiah, said the impact of past events would be taken into consideration.

"The money raised helps to keep our parks and open spaces maintained and in good condition, at a time when our last survey of residents demonstrated that enjoyment of our parks and open spaces was rising, and as part of the reason Merton is a great place for families," she said.

"As a council, we think it’s important to offer cultural events for all age groups, including young people. So it's extremely disappointing that some people have not respected our community and behaved so badly.

"Should an application be submitted to the council for an event of this nature in the future, the impact of past events would be taken into consideration. However, It would be terrible if the poor behaviour of a few meant that the many are unable to enjoy themselves in the future.”

The council also declined a request to reveal how much revenue it received from the festival, saying that it was "commercially sensitive".

The FOI continued to say that the bulk of the officers deployed to the event were pre-posted from within the South West command and that very few additional officers were brought in from other parts of the BCU after the violence occurred.

It did also reveal that "a large number of officers worked extremely long shifts which incurred an overtime and welfare cost."

Police Sergeant Steve Grant who works on the police licensing team said: "At this time the police have not been made aware of any application to obtain a licence for the Eastern Electrics festival that was held in Morden Park this year.

"Should an application be received by Merton Council, all responsible authorities will have a duty to consider the application and it’s merits.

"As part of any process we will consider all factors with a view to upholding the licensing objectives."