Brockwell Park and The Shard (Credit: Edward Crompton)

A group of residents in Brixton have launched a website and petition to protest Lambeth Council’s proposal that two music festivals be hosted in Brockwell Park in summer 2018.

Lambeth council has proposed that Field Day and Lovebox festivals be hosted in the community park.

The website, www.brockwellstreets.org, asks local people to make a pledge to protect the Park and surrounding areas from large events, via a change.org petition.

The petition, set up by the local community ‘Brockwell Streets’, also urges the community not to vote for a councillor “who does not actively campaign to keep Brockwell Park events sustainable”.

The petition was set up five days ago, and since its publication it has reached over 600 signatures. Campaigners are sure that they can get enough support to ensure councillors recognise the importance to the community.

The website shows that the events, whilst popular, are poor value for music lovers. Tickets are generally around £65 for smaller festivals and each festival generates millions of pounds for the organisers. However, the festivals are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas, leading to longer queues, less facilities and less music for ticket holders.

One example is Field Day – having previously been held in Victoria Park (86 hectares) and is looking to move to Brockwell, a mere 50 hectares.

A Field Day representative confirmed that the organisers of the festival plan to reduce the number of stages to allow for the smaller space, but there are no plans to decrease the amount of tickets that go on sale or reduce the price of tickets.

The campaign organisers are keen to emphasise that they are not opposed to Brockwell hosting events, but want to ensure that events are sustainable and won’t damage the local community or economy.

Campaign organisers told Brixton Buzz:

“Locals recognise how fortunate they are to live near such a beautiful park, and know we need to be willing to share it.

But we also know that with that good fortune comes a responsibility to protect this invaluable green space. These events would do too much damage to the local environment, economy and community. Brixton has an amazing music culture; this isn’t about stopping live music.”