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The initiative for this important  project to enable amphibians to breed in the park was from the Brockwell Park Community Partners (BPCP) Biodiversity lead officer aided by park officers and some corporate volunteers.

The Friends are resolutely opposed to the large commercial events.

Our historic park has exceptional amenity and landscape value and is one of the last remaining civic places we all share. It is wrong to profit from the loss of this value; depriving users for a significant part of the summer; causing environmental damage; and distressing local residents.

We are sympathetic to Lambeth Council’s financial challenges, and we are certainly not against music events. But there are much better locations for the country’s largest pop festival than a Grade II listed park in a dense residential area.

We will collaborate with other groups to insist that decisions about future commercial events are made with full transparency and meaningful local representation. We will campaign for the publishing of an authoritative financial appraisal showing both income and cost, and for proper professional assessments of all the impacts – on users of the park, on the landscape and ecology, and on local residents.

We believe that with a full picture, It will be clear that the large-scale commercial events are not sustainable.

Michael Taylor

See the Friends of Brockwell Park newsletter here

Inside Brockwell Hall revealed! FOBP committee members Peter Bradley, Michael Taylor and Laura Morland visited the restoration site on 13 August. Read Peter Bradley’s full report below.

On Tuesday 13 August, there was an opportunity to visit the Brockwell Hall building site. FOBP Committee members taking part were Laura Morland in the morning, and Peter Bradley and Michael Taylor in the afternoon ~ all wearing hard hats!

Each tour lasted about an hour, and was led by Lucy Zaman, event services manager, Lambeth Council. Wedding organisers, who the council hopes will be a major source of revenue once the restoration is completed, joined the afternoon tour.

It is still very much a building site ~ hence the hard hats ~ but the progress achieved is impressive. 

Upstairs, the major ‘Bristowe Room’ and two small satellite rooms will be available for hire, with small offices and kitchen for staff on the same corridor. 

On the ground floor, the former kitchen/serving area and ‘Picture Room’ ~ whose Strachey pictures are in storage at the moment ~ will be repurposed as learning centre and quiet space. The major innovation on the ground floor is the creation of a 70-seat café. This will include the first new door in Brockwell Hall in 200+ years, on the side of the ladies toilet. 

An exciting addition is the events space, which takes up half the yard between the Hall and the Stable Block. It is made of wood, with an elegant sloping, tiled roof. In the building works, a Regency ice house was discovered. This will be preserved in the space, with a glass viewing screen. When the events space is not used for private functions, it will be open to the community. 

The basement will be available for community use. The new lift serves all three floors.

Finally, after initial doubts about whether the money could be found, a full restoration of the Stable Block is going ahead. It will be used for staff offices. 

The £6 million restoration of Brockwell Hall is being funded jointly by Lambeth Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Community involvement in the project is being led by Ann Kingsbury and Derek Hoare of Brockwell Park Community Partners. 

BROCKWELL PARK JUNE 2024

Is this responsible stewardship of a treasured, ecologically fragile community resource, critical to the mental and physical health and wellbeing of that community?

Is this the park the Council feels is acceptable to hand back to that community for the rest of their summer after authorising the equivalent of 200,000 people jumping up and down continuously on its grassed areas for periods of around 9 hours, despite clearly soaking ground conditions, making the disastrous damage entirely inevitable?

The heart of the park is a fenced-off wasteland that has patently no prospect of meaningful restoration this summer, although we are generously invited back onto the bare ground immediately after it has been resown, an offer with a political rather than an ecological origin, I would estimate. Perhaps by next summer there may be the beginnings of the patient’s real recovery, just in time for a further 200,000 stamping feet to be unleashed onto it?

Lambeth, please advise.

Huge bare patch gouges are in addition to be found all over the park.

Once again this year, users are left with a disfigured, limited remnant of the park that plays such an important part in the maintenance of their mental and physical wellbeing.

What too is the long-term damage?

Friends of Brockwell Park’s longstanding position has been to oppose the siting of walled commercial events in the park. Nevertheless, in an attempt to find a compromise solution that took account of the Council’s fundraising needs, the Friends agreed not to oppose the ‘sealed envelope’ of walled events in May, with the aim of leaving park users free to enjoy their park undisturbed for the rest of the summer.

This arrangement has been shown not to work. Noone disputes the social importance of festivals or the need governments have foisted on Councils to raise finance. Neither of these, however, can be said to be satisfactorily addressed by a policy that results in huge damage to a resource that is also critical to the daily health and welfare of the community.

Until such time as a proposal is brought forward from the Council that guarantees the community full and undisturbed use of an undamaged park for the unchallenged majority of the summer, the Friends return to their opposition to any walled commercial event in Brockwell Park.

Members are informed of a petition against commercial events in the park started by Jenny Hawkins, and which now has 1600 signatories. By googling ‘Brockwell Park Events Petition’, a Brixton Buzz story will be brought up that provides a link direct to the petition.

Shortly, FOBP will issue its own survey to gauge in detail local reaction to events.

Michael Boyle, on behalf of the FOBP Committee

Ann Kingsbury, chair of the Brockwell Park Community Partners, gave the following speech to the meeting of Lambeth Council’s Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, 27 September 2023:

The CC MAC and BP MAC are not against events in principle.

We are against events that are too big, too loud and too damaging.

Large and major events in parks always do damage. A lot of it cannot be prevented or fully rectified. It is impossible to repair all the damage that results from inconsiderate set-up or de-rig; only the worst can be dealt with.

In the case of many large events, Lambeth Landscapes does not have the resources to carry out these repairs. The need to employ outside contractors results in delay, often to the extent that restoration has to wait because the season or unsuitable weather has prevented it.

The worst damage comes from allowing events to be set up by event organisers who were inexperienced, unfamiliar with parks and under-resourced for the work—like the organisers of Pokémon Go this year. The large event providers like those who organise Brockwell Live are  more experienced and better equipped, but even they do harm because any time there is a change of subcontractors, the learning process has to start again and mistakes are made.

A major problem is the size of vehicles used during set-up and de-rig. The Victorian pathways of our parks and commons were not designed to take the axle weight of the enormous rigs that are used for large events. Both the paths and the ground are damaged. The haulage companies are usually sub-contracted, so the event organisers cannot fully control them. Often, it is not possible to time access so the necessary banksmen are available. Frequently, the drivers have no local knowledge, get lost and drive in areas where they are not supposed to be. It is common to have them driving over tree root protection areas.

None of this is easy to manage because this kind of traffic is not appropriate to our open greenspaces. Huge infrastructure building also harms the surfaces that they are set up on; they concentrate weight and footfall in defined areas.

As usual, the damage you cannot see is the most important. Grass is fortunately hard to kill. Underground though, the compaction of the soil from the weight of vehicles and infrastructure, which accumulates steadily  over time, eventually results in run-off, flooding and failure of rainwater to penetrate the soil. This process will make trees and other flora and wildlife vulnerable to our increasingly hot and dry summers, something we need to be aware of.

We should wish to limit damage where we can, but with large events dominating, it is not possible. We need to be aware that an ambitious programme of events in our green spaces will come at an unavoidable cost. Long-term, they will suffer and continue to deteriorate. This is a loss to all our communities and people for whom the local park or common is their link with the natural world.

Summary:

• First, reconsider the use of Lambeth’s precious parks as mere assets to sweat, rather than an oasis to protect for future generations
• Second, if you make promises to local people and local groups, please keep them.

At 7pm on Wednesday 27 September 2023, the first item on the agenda of Lambeth Council’s important Scrutiny Committee was the topic of events in parks. Brockwell Park and Clapham Common were both represented, with excellent speeches. Councillors listened with care and asked intelligent questions. There was no evidence of any shift in opinion away from supporting events in parks: they make too much money for a cash-strapped council.

Ann Kingsbury, chair of Brockwell Park Community Partners, made a stirring speech saying a Victorian park such as Brockwell could not sustain the weight of gigantic vehicles, while Lambeth’s events team lacked the resources to monitor events properly. She said it was not just the visible damage that was of concern, but the hidden damage of compaction underground from all the vehicle movements.

Here is the full text of the speech by the FOBP chair:

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Peter Bradley, chair of the Friends of Brockwell Park. I thank you for this chance to give you the views of the Friends on paid events in Brockwell Park. My colleague Michael Boyle has already communicated to councillors his opinions, which we share.

First, a difference of philosophy: nowhere in the voluminous documentation prepared for this meeting is there any questioning of whether the Council should be holding events in Parks at all. We do question that and see it as a betrayal of your duty of care to our parks, just for financial gain. We urge you to rethink.

Second, there is no genuine consultation of local people about events in parks. They are just imposed on us.

Third, despite numerous requests, the Council has supplied no evidence to back its claim that local traders benefit from these events. FOBP surveys repeatedly show that the majority either lose money, or the events make no difference to them.

Last, local groups such as the Friends and the Brockwell Park Community Partners made a suggestion with the potential to save the Council millions of pounds: to bring the Lambeth Country Show within the same timeframe as the May/June events, so only one wall is built, saving the Council pots of money.

The quid pro quo, promised to user groups and made in a letter to local residents, was that there would be no further major events in Brockwell Park outside the May/June timeframe. Then Pokémon Go was imposed on the Park in August. All sorts of linguistic contortions tried to pretend this was not a major event. It was a gigantic breach of faith by Lambeth Council.

It is heartbreaking to walk around Brockwell Park and see the damage caused to the grass by this summer’s major events. We even had the ridiculous sight of Brockwell Live planting seeds in June to repair the damage it caused in May, only to see those seeds ripped up in August by the wandering crowds of Pokémon Go.

To sum up:

• First, reconsider the use of Lambeth’s precious parks as mere assets to sweat, rather than an oasis to protect for future generations
• Second, if you make promises to local people and local groups, please keep them.

Friends of Brockwell Park (FOBP) is pleased to contribute £2000 to the Brockwell Park wild life hedge. This a major project initiated by Lambeth council and the Brockwell Park Community Partners (BPCP). The hedge runs from the top of the park at Cressingham Gardens right down the west side to Brixton Water Lane. The benefits of the hedge include: pollination enrichment, small bird sanctuary and food provision, small mammal protection and migration route.

The FOBP contribution will go towards planting wild flower plugs along the edge of the hedge, as part of the present  renovation scheme. As well as looking good these plants will boost pollination opportunities and provide cover for small mammals. FOBP hopes to offer volunteer planting days later in the autumn and winter/spring.

Watch this space for dates!

The long-awaited restoration of Brockwell Hall, the jewel in the park’s crown, is finally under way. The cafe is gone but is still open nearby (see picture). 

This is the first step on the way to restoring the best rooms in the Hall for community access and use. We can look forward to exhibitions in these spaces and public hire and to a lovely new cafe opening out into Stable Yard at the back of the house. Re-opening is projected to be in summer/autumn 2024.

Background to the project:

The big holdup had been the lack of accommodation for the council’s parks department, who have been occupying the Hall for several years. The plan was to move them to a depot by the Norwood Lodge entrance to the Park, but the building of the new facility faced many delays. That has finally opened, the staff moving in this month, leaving the Hall empty. On Wednesday 28 June, clearing the building began, and by Friday 30 June it was almost an empty shell, waiting for the restoration team to begin work. Worryingly, there was a Lambeth pest control truck outside on the Friday …

In March 2021, the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) awarded Lambeth a grant of up to £3,300,800 towards the restoration of Brockwell Hall and related capital and revenue work streams. The grant constitutes 52% of the total estimated total costs of £6,310,943. The Council has to find the balance. The construction period is expected to last just over a year, but major projects such as this have a tendency to overrun.

The tender for the restoration works at Brockwell Hall has come in over budget, leading to parts of the project being scrapped, Brixton Buzz reports. As a result, the Council has removed the stable block and landscaping from the project to stay within budget. 

The main building will be refurbished and restored to provide multi-purpose use spaces, including exhibitions, business and community events, a café, offices for events staff, and accommodation for local volunteers. Connected to the main building, an events space will be constructed within the stable yard area, accommodating 160 people and available for hire for weddings and other events.

Brockwell Hall is 210 years old this year. It was commissioned by John Blades, creator of the Brockwell estate, and built 1811–1813, to the design of architect David Riddall Roper (1773–1855).

• Mighty Hoopla weekend just finished 3rd – 4th June 2023
• Lambeth Country Show this weekend June 10–11
• Pokemon Go event scheduled Friday August 4^th to Sunday 6^th

Events in Brockwell Park seem over the top and have received more attention than usual.

Friends of Brockwell Park chair, Peter Bradley, was in the thick of it, with two BBC interviews, one on TV one on radio.

He was on BBC London TV, broadcast both lunchtime and at 18.30, on Tuesday 6 June; and at 07.15 on BBC Radio London, on Shay Kaur-Grewel’s show, Wednesday 7 June (both available on BBC iPlayer).

In both interviews, Peter spoke of the intrusiveness of such events into the normal peaceful enjoyment of the park, by humans and wildlife. He also accused Lambeth Council of a breach of faith, with its decision to run the Pokemon major event, where it had promised that no more would be held outside the May–June timescale (see previous blog on this, FOBP Press Release).

For the BBC TV interview with Luxmy Gopal, Peter invited her and her cameraman into his flat, 13 floors up, facing the park, where the journalists could hear the noise from Mighty Hoopla first hand and commented ‘you can feel the whole room vibrating’.

Local businesses lose out.

In both interviews, Peter challenged the council’s assertion that such events brought in money for local businesses, saying that the council had no local evidence to support its assertion.  FOBP has surveyed local businesses after each event for many years, and 80% of 80+ respondents said they either lost money, or their takings stayed the same.