PRESS RELEASE 4 APRIL 2018
Friends of Brockwell Park deplores licensing go-ahead for Field Day event
Independent parks charity, the Friends of Brockwell Park (FOBP), deplores the decision by the London Borough of Lambeth’s Licensing Committee to grant a licence to Field Day/Mighty Hoopla to hold a massive, gated event in Brockwell Park this 1-3 June 2018. Lambeth’s decision comes despite a prolonged local campaign, in which FOBP played a prominent role.
FOBP chair Peter Bradley said: ‘This is absolutely the wrong decision. The intimate spaces of Brockwell Park are wholly unsuitable for events on this scale. Thousands of local people have made clear their objection and it is extremely depressing that the Council has not listened to us.
‘Because of government financial pressures, times are tight for local councils and we are afraid it appears that money has talked: this is an event that will bring £500,000 to Lambeth’s funds, although not a penny of that £500,000 will go to the Park that is generating the revenue.
‘This is a dreadful day for Lambeth parks. Use of them for events on this scale is a perversion of their purpose to be a haven of peace and relaxation for local people of all ages. They should not be an opportunity for private companies to make millions of pounds for their directors and shareholders, at the expense of local people and our beloved park. FOBP strongly hopes the London Borough of Lambeth will do a thorough review of its present events strategy, which is clearly not fit for purpose.’
whats your thoughts on the council allowing a “massive, gated event in Brockwell Park” on the weekend of 21st and 22nd of July? I havent seen any outrage over that. Or is The Lambeth Country Show fine because you dont have to pay to get in, and the music isnt electronic music which mostly young people like?
Plus this year you can’t bring your own alcohol, so forced to pay high prices for a drink
The Lambeth Country Show is a free event and is not held in order for a large corporation to make money out of our park, it is a community event, a wholly different situation indeed. The reason for the fences around the park on that occasion is, so I understand, because Lambeth couldn’t secure any insurance for the event without the fences, so without them there would be no Lambeth Country Show at all.
Rubbish. A large corporation will be making money out of the park during the Lambeth Country Show- the ones who run the bars who Lambeth council will have informed there will be 50,000 thirsty punters to sell alcohol to at inflated prices.
You threw your toys out of the pram over Lovebox and Field Day mostly because you said there would be a large part of the park fenced off for a week or so, meaning you couldnt enjoy the park as normal. Well, the same is now going to be happening with The Lambeth Country show, but that doesnt seem to be a problem. Complete double standards and pure hypocrisy.
I never said it wasn’t a problem. I think fencing in the Lambeth Country Show is appalling, and if you want my opinion, I am actually against ALL events of this size in the park because of the lasting damage they leave. If I had the authority I would cancel ALL of these events. The fencing off of the park is not MY main issue, nor is the noise to be honest, but it is the long-lasting environmental damage to the park that is the beating heart of the community I love. That’s it.
The fundamental purpose of a public park is to allow residents free and unencumbered access during daylight hours. The Lambeth Country Show is compatible with the purposes of a public park – it is free to enter, there is no admission fee and until this year was not fenced. Ticketed commercial festivals, however, are divisive in that they gate off vast swathes of the Park at the height of Summer and prevent free and unencumbered access to the Park by park goers. That said, LCS is not universally praised – some believe that it has become more of a Festival than a Country Show – and long term the net cost to the Council of operating it will need to be addressed. Alternate solutions to raising revenue for the Park must be explored – for example the Hall as an after hours corporate events venue, public bond scheme etc. Commercial Festivals are simply too divisive and cause too much grounds damage, anti-social behaviour and noise. A rethink is required.
Given that the council has a limited supply of money , insufficient to provide the services and infrastructure that we need to support a healthy and cohesive community, I can see the attraction of raising revenue by hiring out public facilities and land. This seems to be far better than the short-sighted policies of selling off public land/assets, but still amounts to the commodification of public space. Is this the road that we want to go down, viewing our housing, open spaces, libraries and other public buildings for their income generating potential rather than as collective resources for the benefit of the community? I would rather see a raise in taxation to generate the money (but accept this might not be possible for legal reasons).
Obviously Brockwell park is not the only London space being used in this way – Hyde Park and Clapham Common, for example, are also used for concerts and fairs. It seems to me that a larger issue is the lack of public space in London. This is why our parks and green spaces are so precious to us and when they are fenced off it is a problem. Even when they are not fenced off, our parks can begin to feel crowded. I believe we should not just be trying to keep these public spaces permanently public, but that we should be asking for the creation of new public spaces to support the rise in population density. We could do this for example, by pedestrianising streets and turning them into gardens- e.g. http://www.vangoghwalk.org/p/van-gogh-walk.html).
I also notice that the press release suggests that private individuals will make millions from the deal. If this is correct, there is an additional issue with the council’s ability, through its lawyers) to negotiate a decent contract and this should be raised with the council.