Word from the Cabinet
Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities, said:
“Striking a balance between putting on a world-class, inclusive, diverse cultural programme and protecting and stewarding our award-winning parks and open spaces is at the heart of our strategy around events in Brockwell Park and across the borough. This balance can often be a challenging one to strike, but one we do not want to shy away from and one which we continue to work hard on with our communities.
“We’re really pleased that these exciting, diverse and popular cultural events are taking place over the next few weeks, and we know the news that they are proceeding will be a relief to the tens of thousands of attendees and the many local businesses and suppliers that benefit significantly from them.
Investment
“In addition to the significant cultural and wider economic benefits, holding these events brings in £150,000 for park investment and local community projects, on top of the £500,000 spent annually maintaining Brockwell Park, and allows the much-loved Lambeth Country Show to remain one of the largest free community festivals in the UK.
“Due to the unprecedented budget pressures on local government, these investments for local residents would likely not be possible without income generated from events.
Decision
“The council acknowledges last week’s decision by the High Court and is reflecting on our processes relating to events in our parks. However, we have also seen inaccurate commentary that suggests that the judgment renders all events in our parks unlawful and this is just not true.
“I recognise that that there are strong feelings on all sides in our local community about these events and we continue to seek a middle ground that enables a fantastic programme of events to take place in a section of the park, whilst making sure the entire park remains open for the rest of the year, including over the school summer holidays.
Pledge
“We continue to engage in depth with residents, and have done over a number of years, about holding events in parks, and have made major changes around the timing, frequency, revised parking and traffic management, improved noise monitoring, independent ecological impact assessment and footprint of the events to accommodate local concerns.
“Clearly it will never be possible to please everybody and we will continue to engage with all residents, community groups and businesses to hear the concerns raised by local people around noise, the condition of the park and the impact on the surrounding area and we will continue to work hard to put in place mitigations.”
