Each summer sees applications from event organisations to hold festivals, sports events or other activities in Brockwell Park. In the last few years, some of these have been of particular concern to the local community because of anxiety about noise, antisocial behaviour or the impact on the park. Many of you have also been in touch about the long term financial sustainability of the park, as it’s an invaluable local asset.
Last year, we worked very hard to mitigate these concerns with regards to Love Box and Field Day applying to come. We held a public meeting and knocked on many of your doors to listen to your concerns. We developed some red lines and put these across strongly to colleagues, officers and licensing committee. Some concessions were won, and we will continue to do this with the application from Mighty Hoopla this summer too.
However, there were some issues raised which couldn’t be dealt with via individual event applications because they were reflections on the wider framework policy for events in parks. We committed to campaigning for a review of the events strategy and to giving you an opportunity to input into this.
With that in mind, we are holding a public meeting on reviewing the events policy and the future of Brockwell Park on 11 March at 6.30-8.30pm at Rosendale Primary School.
Mighty Hoopla and Cross the Tracks have applied to come to
Brockwell Park for a festival on the 8th and 9th of June
2019. This will be smaller than last year with fewer festival goers – on
present information neither event is set to exceed 20, 000 – and with a
considerably smaller amount of the park than was taken up by the Field Day
festival last year. We have set out all of the details here
– including what the implications will be for the park and more details about
how we can move towards more sustainable funding models.
Overall this application represents an improvement on the
situation from last year, but there are some concerns about how the festivals
will be managed and the clear up afterwards. For full details of the
application you can see the official form here.
One of the most important aspects of the approval process is
the grant of a license to the festival – this allows them to play live music
and sell alcohol and is subject to a very tight legal process, run by the
Council’s Licensing Committee. Last year when Field Day and Mighty Hoopla were
applying a for a license many residents wrote in commenting on the process and,
consequently, a large number of restrictions were placed on the festivals’
operations, relating to noise and security. This had the positive effect of
significantly reducing any anti-social behaviour and limiting noise complaints
to a handful of cases.
Our view is that the conditions on Field Day’s license last
year represent the bare minimum for a festival in Brockwell park and we would ask
that any license for Mighty Hoopla and Cross the Tracks should at least match
these terms, and go further in some key areas. We want restrictions on closing
times in line with the updated licensing policy for the area and enhanced noise
restrictions.
It would also be really helpful if residents made their
views known to the licensing authority. All it takes is an email to licensing@lambeth.gov.uk
with the subject line ‘Mighty Hoopla Representation’.
For all licensing applications please bear in mind that the
committee can only take into account applications dealing with the four
objectives under the 2003 Licensing Act:
The prevention of crime and disorder;
Public safety;
The prevention of public nuisance;
The protection of children from harm.
Any other matter, such as the repair of the ground or bio-diversity cannot be taken into account by the Licensing Committee.
Cllr Fred Cowell making a representation on behalf of local residents on Field Day and Mighty Hoopla at licensing committee in 2018
Further event consultations are taking place this week run by the organisers, and if you have any questions about licensing policy or process, do get in touch with Cllr Fred Cowell on fcowell@lambeth.gov.uk.
As we blogged recently, Mighty Hoopla and a new funk, soul and jazz festival called Cross the Tracks have applied to hold events in Brockwell Park this June.
A reminder that they are holding a community drop-in session this week on Wednesday 27th February. They have two times you can visit, during the day and in the evening:
Time: Midday-3pm and 5-8pm
Location: The Half Moon pub, 10 Half Moon Lane SE24 9HU
There will be an additional community engagement session on Wednesday 13th March 5-8pm at Jubilee Community Hill, Tulse Hill Estate, London SW2 2LY.
If you can’t make either but would like to ask the organisers a questions, they say residents, businesses and community groups are welcome to email them at community@mightyhoopla.com
The construction of Field Day is now underway in Brockwell Park. As we explained in our earlier post there will be just under two weeks of construction and one week of deconstruction involved in Field Day. In the first week around 70% of all deliveries have been made to the two event sites. Most of what is taking place now is construction.
There have been several complaints, which we have been raised with Field Day about the construction process these have been:
the speeding of vehicles in the park- which the site management team raised with the specific contractors who were speeding ensuring that everyone knew of the 5 mph limit. If you see speeding again get the number plate of the vehicle concerned.
The public not being aware of which paths are open – this was why signage has been put up about which paths are open.
Branches being caught and damaged – Trucks with heavy loads are now taking different routes through the park.
The Norwood-Dulwich Road slip road being closed at peak times – this has now been raised with the traffic management team and the slip road is open outside delivery times to ease traffic congestion.
There have been two health and safety inspections and next week the Councillors, the Council’s events team and Park groups will make further inspections to ensure that the trees, greenery and park furniture are unaffected.
We are also working with Field Day on other aspects of the build. All vehicles being used on site (for non-delivery purposes) are fitted with special grass tires so that they don’t make any marks on the grass, vehicles in the park are accompanied by banksmen at all times with extra staff committed where appropriate.
Areas such as the hard standing area, used by martial arts and other exercise activities, have been left open and should be left open until the start of t festival. Also in line with the requests from groups involved with the BCPC and other groups interested in the park large parts of the final area were left open for as long as possible during the build process.
Next weekend is the festival day and the entire part of the park allocated for the festival will be closed.
All of the above is only possible because concerns have been relayed directly to councillors.
In the next stage of the build we need any comments and concerns to come to us so we can do what we can to rectify them. You can contact Cllr Cowell if you are from Thurlow Park Ward – fcowell@lambeth.gov.uk , abirley@lambeth.gov.uk and PEly@lambeth.gov.uk – and other councillors from Herne Hill and Tulse Hill Ward can be found on the Lambeth site.
This is really important as Field Day is here for a one-year trial process only. After the event there will be a full consultation on the event and whether it is suitable for the park. We are also looking to review the events policy, which governs these events. Therefore every single issue about the the construction process, the event itself, egress and entry, noise and the de-rig is vital to feed into these processes.
This an FAQ sheet on the key details of Field Day. For any further queries please look at the Field Day website.
Cllr Fred Cowell speaking on behalf of residents at Field Day’s licensing hearing
The policies descried here are the result of careful work between Field Day, Lambeth Events, the
Brockwell Park Community Partners and local councillors. In Thurlow Park we held previous consultation sessions on events this summer, worked to modify the event through the Licensing Process and have committed to reforming the events policy.
There will also be a consultation period after the event to review how it went. This is intended simply to be a factual overview of what is happening in the park in the next few weeks.
This is not by any means complete or definitive but deals with the most commonly asked questions. We are also hosting an advice drop-in tomorrow Saturday 19th May between 10.30-12.30 at Norwood Lodge in the Park.
What is happening
Field Day is a three day music festival on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June. It is the only commercial music event in the park this year. On the Friday it will have around 19, 000 people attending, Saturday 26, 000 and Sunday 15, 000. In terms of numbers taken up this will be around the same size as the Lambeth Country show – although there are important differences between both events this is useful as a comparator of scale.
How will the event be set up
The event will be built in the park from Monday the 20th of May onwards. Most of the park will be unaffected during this period as the contractors will build the soundstages first. During this initial period delivery lorries will be turning into the park principally using the Herne Hill entrance. These will be Monday – Friday and limited to a window after 10 and before 3 so as to miss the school traffic and come at times where there is limited pedestrian traffic in the park. Any lories will be accompanied by a qualified banksmen – staff who is there to ensure pedestrian safety in the park and on the turn off from Norwood Road. A Traffic Order allows for the temporary closure of the slip-way between Norwood and Dulwich Road – that will be time limited to the specific times when deliveries are being made during the 10-3 delivery window, so it will not affect rush hour.
Will I still have access to the park
Until the 29th of May apart from three designated areas the majority of the park – over 90% of the park will be freely available. After the 29th of May – the Wednesday before the event a much larger section of the park will be closed. From the 31st of May to the 4th of June 31% of the park will be taken up with the festival. This will be removed on the 5th of June and by the weekend after the event the park will fully cleared.
Will there be road closures during the event
There will be a few roads that will be limited to resident access only during the event days and letters from Lambeth Council will inform residents in these roads about this and the procedure being used. Most of the area will be unaffected there will be some special arrangements made during the exit times of the festival (see below). There will be no bus diversions and apart from a very short window of time at the end of the evening the roads will not be affected. There will be parking enforcement staff on call the whole day on the event days so that if there is illegal parking as a result of the festival it can be dealt with quickly. Based on previous festi
How will people get to the event
The vast majority of access to this event will be by public transport – this is based on the previous experience of the organisers and a mapping exercise of the location of people buying tickets. Herne Hill and Brixton Station will be the principle point of access and according to Transport for London planners – who have been consulted on this – both are able to handle the extra capacity for the event. There will be special designated routes, patrolled by festival security, with partial fences to assist access from Brixton station and Herne Hill station into the park. Security teams will then check everyone going into the event. There is a carefully designed flow system to stop large queues building up, a holding area with toilets at busy times and security teams patrolling the area. This is in part as a response to poorly managed events in the park previously and these plans were carefully designed in consultation with local councillors, park community groups and the local neighbourhood forum.
Will the area be secure while the festival is on
An independent security company Showsec is providing security both inside and outside the event. Due to conditions imposed by councillors and Lambeth’s Licensing Committee there will be more security at this event than at any event in the park before. This will include regular patrols around the park to check for drugs, extra CCTV cameras in the area – some of which will be streamed directly to the Metropolitan Police, stewards on streets across all of the entrance and exit routes (Norwood Road, Brixton Water Lane, Dulwich Road). Over 50 toilets are located on or around the routes people will be taking to enter an exit the festival. There is an extensive drug and alcohol search policy for all festivalgoers, with an enhanced security plan, which has been approved by the police.
When does it close
Music stops at 10:30 on a Friday and Saturday and 9:30 on Sunday and the park has to be vacated from these times. This is later than what the community would have wanted but the Council’s Licensing Committee had to act in accordance with the law and stated policy.
How will people leave the event
Through the two main exit’s – Brixton Water Lane and Herne Hill these routes will be segregated from the main traffic route. These will be stewarded at all key points and toilets and rubbish stations will be on route. This should confine people to these two main routes although it is anticipated that there will be some movement up Norwood Road to Tulse Hill station and provisions have been made accordingly During the egress stage – and at this point only – normal traffic will be restricted at the junction of Dulwich and Norwood Road and on Brixton Water Lane but buses and emergency vehicles will still have full access. The organisers of Field Day project that egress of the entire site should take between 40 minutes and one hour. This is not a fixed time, it is a projection by the organisers but it is hoped that on Friday and Saturday the main group of people will have dispersed by around 11:15-11:30. Community management during the event
Unlike previous events there is a whole team looking after the wider community outside the festival gates. There will be a community hub run by Field Day in Railton Road. During the operational hours of the festival on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd you can call 0203 886 0739 about any issue regarding, waste management, noise, anti-social behaviour or indeed any aspect of conduct on festival. All calls to this number will be recorded to allow teams to respond to them in full. Even if you have to leave a voice message this will be responded to. In relation to the set up of the festival any procedure please contact you local councillors and Kelly@fielddayfestivals.com . This is the fastest way to get a response. A log of all complaints received by Field Day will be forwarded to the events team so that their responses can be monitored. Noise monitoring has been set up at various points around the site set above the ground to monitor noise levels.
Waste management and cleaning of the surrounding area
Field Day are providing large numbers bins along the exit and entry ways and have contracted with Veolia to provide an enhanced street cleaning service on every day the festival is running. This waste will be disposed of independently to all other public waste and the normal park bins and waste disposal will not be used. The festival are going to be using shatterproof plastic glasses and have committed to fully recyclable and biodegradable packaging and cutlery. After the event there will detailed information made available about the levels of recycling undertaken
Park recovery after the event
A detailed inspection is being done of the entire site this weekend before the site is handed over, and an inventory has been done of all trees, saplings, benches and other fixed features of the park at risk from the festival. After the event a full audit will be taken with Brockwell Park Community partners, specialists from the council and local Councillors. Field Day are responsible for restoring the park to its original condition and paying the full cost for doing so. This is completely independent of all income to the park and the council.
Field Day will be beginning to set up their event in Brockwell Park soon, so we have organised a drop-in advice morning to show you the maps and plans, discuss any concerns, take your comments back to the event organisers, and make sure you know how to get in touch.
When? Saturday 19 May, drop in anytime between 10.30 and 12.30
Where? Norwood Lodge – the building in the corner of Brockwell Park by Norwood Road and Brockwell Park Gardens
Since Lovebox and Field Day made applications to Lambeth last autumn to hold events in Brockwell Park, we have been working hard to ensure residents’ views are listened to. We have knocked on doors in the local area, worked closely with community and park
groups, and organised a public meeting last December to consult Thurlow Park
residents.
Reflecting on what you told us, we established some conditions which we felt large events in Brockwell Park ought to meet – these are set out on our blog here.
In January we were able to successfully push for Lovebox to be turned down as we did not feel that they met our conditions and they were not showing willingness to compromise on their plans.
In March, again reflecting what you have told us, we objected to Field Day being granted a licence unless certain strict conditions were met. Our submission to the Licensing Committee called for shorter opening hours, reduced noise levels and a better-managed exit from the park, in recognition of the fact there was going to be a lot of disruption to local area and that people such as shift workers and children doing their GCSE exams needed better protection.
We fought your case hard and spoke on residents’ behalf at the Licensing Committee hearing. The level of scrutiny of the organisers and the number of residents who spoke meant the hearing went on until midnight.
Cllr Fred Cowell speaking at the Licensing Committee hearing
After a further five days deliberation, the Licensing Committee have decided to award Field Day a one year licence to hold the event in Brockwell Park, subject to certain
conditions. You can view the full decision on Lambeth’s licensing site.
Our views of the decision are:
We had a degree of success in securing an enhanced security plan that is far in excess of anything at previous events in the park.
We are disappointed that the hours have not been reduced as significantly as we asked for, but were able to secure a partial reduction in opening times on Friday and Saturday and a fuller reduction on Sunday evening so that alcohol sales end at 9pm and music will end at 9.30pm.
Most importantly the licence is for this year only and we have secured a post-festival consultation at which we will review how it went and, if necessary, block it from ever coming to the park again.
Outside of the licensing process, we have secured a commitment to review the parks events policy later this year, including looking at a cap on overall numbers at events and a trigger for public consultation, which would affect any event applications for 2019.
In the short term events provide a means of managing the vast funding shortfall that parks are facing as a result of the huge cuts to local authority grants imposed by the
Tory government. In the medium to long term, we want to move away from music festivals as a source of income and are working with park groups and the Council on a project to redevelop Brockwell Hall to allow it to be used for weddings. Brockwell Park is at the very heart of our community and we remain committed to safeguarding it with tangible action not empty promises.
Having listened to residents and worked closely with local community groups, we have been clear that Brockwell Park is not a suitable venue for such a large event and that it isn’t acceptable for the park to be fenced off for so many days during the summer holidays.
For more detail on our view on events in Brockwell Park, please see here.
Yesterday evening Thurlow Park’s
Labour councillors hosted a public meeting to listen to the views and concerns
of local residents on possible events in Brockwell Park. Since Lovebox and
Field Day, two major events organisers, announced that they were applying to
move their festivals to Brockwell Park in 2018, this is just one of the ways we
have been listening to residents and seeking feedback – we have also heard from
over 100 of you by email, engaged with groups and individuals on social media,
doorknocked locally, and met with parks groups and local resident associations.
No decision has been taken
on the applications submitted by Lovebox and Field Day, and we wanted to ensure
that our residents’ views help to shape the way we challenge and scrutinise
these applications.
Events in our parks are part of a
difficult balancing act – since the Tory Government cut Lambeth’s funding by
over 50%, our parks need income in order to keep them maintained and looked
after. However, large events have a major impact on local residents and on the
fabric of the park – in terms of noise, disruption to transport, a large part
of the park fenced off for a significant period of the summer, anti-social
behaviour, loss of income for local traders, and the sheer volume of people
coming and going. Brockwell Park is such a vital part of our community that any
decision as to its future has to be taken very carefully.
Until
Brockwell Hall is refurbished and able to host such events as weddings and
conferences that would bring in sufficient income for the park, we understand
the need for some events to keep the park usable for everyone the rest of the
year round. However, we have some red lines on their scale and impact, which we
developed after listening to the concerns of residents.
We
believe applications from event organisers should meet these criteria:
40,000 people, as
proposed by Lovebox and Field Day, is too big for a park the size of Brockwell. We believe around 25,000 people per-day
should be the ceiling for large commercial events in the park.
Outsized
or large events which involve more than 20,000 people per day over multiple days must be limited to one a
year. There simply isn’t the scope alongside hosting the Country Show to
have more than one major commercial event and keep the park running for all
users to enjoy.
Set-up
and pack-down times must be kept to a minimum. The current proposals from
Lovebox and Field day shut off a significant portion of the park for many weeks
over the summer – this is unacceptable. Event days and set up and set down days
are the same thing for many park users who are blocked from their regular use
of the park.
The
‘footprint’ of the event must be limited and the days the park is fenced off
must be kept to a minimum.
Any
commercial event in Brockwell Park should be an accredited London Living Wage
employer, and should make this a condition in their contracts and
sub-contracts.
Commercial
events organisers should have a local procurement strategy – councillors
and the local community should have a key role in designing this strategy and
an ongoing role in monitoring its implementation.
Event
organisers should have a robust and detailed local travel plan that takes
into account not only Brixton tube station, but Tulse Hill and Herne Hill
stations, local buses, parking and pedestrian congestion.
On top of paying for additional policing, commercial event organisers should have
visible security staff in surrounding streets to prevent anti-social behaviour.
The wellbeing of local residents should be at the heart of any event organiser’s event planning and delivery. There should be a dedicated number for residents to call and a quick response time to any issues raised such as excessive noise.
As well as paying for the clear-up in the park
afterwards, events organisers should be
responsible for clear-up outside the park’s fences too – from littering,
anti-social behaviour and damage to property.
Any
commercial event organisers coming to Brockwell Park must provide high quality
apprenticeships to local young people. The number of apprenticeships should
be proportional to the size of the event.
As it currently stands, neither
event meets our criteria, so we oppose either application being progressed
unless they are prepared to make significant changes to their events.
From what we understand to date, Lovebox
have not yet made any indication they are willing to reduce the size of their
event, and have refused our request to stop selling tickets until their
application has been progressed. For this reason, we do not currently think
Lovebox should come to Brockwell Park.
Field Day have suggested that they are open to making some
changes to their application and we are open to working with to see if
something can be delivered that works for the park.
We also believe that it is not
appropriate to offer multi-year deals to new events. As we saw with Sunfall,
some event companies promise one thing but fail to deliver, causing disruption
and damage. We think an annual review of applications allows councillors and
the community the opportunity to reject event organisers who have proven
themselves to be irresponsible.
In assessing these applications,
we have identified some areas where Lambeth’s event strategy may need benefit
from a refresh – for example, it currently only talks about event days and does
not take into account how long it takes companies to set up and pack down their
stages and equipment. We think this is an opportunity to involve experts and
members of the community to address issues like access to the park, event
footprints and duration, an upper limit on volume of people, noise, anti-social
behaviour and other local impacts.
We also believe it is an opportunity
for a transparent discussion about park finances and the need for investment,
and to develop a stronger commercial offer which adds greater value to our
local community in the future for events wanting to come to Brockwell Park.
Two companies responsible for designing and building
large scale music events have approached Lambeth with a view to hosting events
in Brockwell Park. These events – Lovebox and Fieldday – were previously held in
Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets and are now looking for a new home.
It is important to emphasise that no decision on either
event has been made and all events that take place in the park are subject to a
rigorous scrutiny process. Both companies are cooperating fully with this
process and are engaging with the community.
We understand that there is some anxiety about a repeat of problems experienced at last year’s Sunfall Festival. There has been no application up
to now for the Sunfall event which took place over the last two summers to be
held next year and at this stage it won’t happen in 2018.
It seems there has
been some advanced advertising by both Fieldday and Lovebox which has led to residents
enquiring whether a decision has been taken already. This has no bearing
whatsoever on the decision process and is a commercial matter for these
companies – we are asking them not to preempt the decision process and to stop
advertising their events in Brockwell Park until any decision has been made.
In coming to a decision on whether any event takes place
in the park – including these two – the council will need to weigh up a number
of factors including any reduction in access to the park for the community, the
effect of the event on the condition of the park and maintenance of the grounds
and the impact on local businesses and transport networks.
There is the opportunity for some much needed investment
into the park which is important because of dwindling public resources for
investment in parks due to continuing Central government cuts. An event of this
scale would enable much more to be spent on improving green activities and play
facilities.
However the applications for these two events are far
larger than any private event that has been held in Brockwell Park for many
years. There is significant concern about the amount of the park that will be
fenced off and the level of interference in the use of the park by residents.
The overall scale of disruption caused by the set up and set down period of an
event this size has also been raised by local residents.
We have been working hard with the Brockwell Park Community Partners, neighbourhood forums, community groups and local residents to understand these concerns. We have met with the events organisers to ask for answers to these issues and for them to consider how they can support local businesses, minimise impact on the park during set up and pack down, keep nuisance to a minimum during the event, and pay the London Living Wage. We attended a public meeting organised by Fieldday and are following up concerns raised by attendees.
To support this work, we need to hear your view. We are organising an event to listen to concerns and answer any questions we are able to and relay questions to officers and organisers that we don’t yet have answers for.
Thurlow Park News 