Campaigners plea ‘Let our park recover, postpone Lambeth Country Show’

BY TOBY PORTER toby@slpmedia.co.uk

Campaigners have called a massive family festival to be postponed to allow the ground to recover from a previous festival – and because they have not been consulted about having a fence around the park where it is held.

Members of the Friends of Brockwell Park (FOBP) are annoyed that a briefing meeting, due on June 21, where they were to be told arrangements for the Lambeth Country Show (LCS), was cancelled.

And they fear the grass in the park will not be able to cope with the 150,000 people expected at the event on July 21 and 22, after Field Day/Mighty Hoopla on June 1 left much of the turf destroyed.

But Lambeth town hall chiefs say FOBP has been consulted and the security arrangements were recommended on police intelligence. The FOBP believes the LCS should be postponed to the autumn, to allow proper consultation and give the park time to recover.

They also say body search and confiscation of all drinks at 70 access points will cause massive delays and damage the enjoyment of families with young children, the old and the disabled.

FOBP Peter Bradley said: “We call on the council to postpone this year’s LCS to the autumn – something it has done before, in 2012 for the Olympics – to allow time for proper consideration of this immense change to a loved event.

“What is needed urgently is a detailed, reasoned argument, with alternatives, including contributions from the police and the insurers.

“We are all aware of the need for heightened security, but the ways of achieving that must be transparent and open to democratic discussion.

“There has been no consultation with the local community on this hasty decision, neither with the Friends of Brockwell Park nor with the park’s umbrella group, Brockwell Park Community Partners, although the council promised such consultation would happen.

“The point of submitting plans to local people and organisations in good time is that we might come up with a better solution for the park we love.

“It will take months to heal.”

FOBP, which will have a stall, also say there is no map of the extent of the fence which will damage the park’s turf and verges, especially in wet weather – and not enough information about the three-hour dismantling window after the festival on July 23.

Lambeth spent more than £350,000 on last year’s show – or £2 per household. “This year’s loss could easily double to £700,000,” claimed Mr Bradley.

“The decision to fence the Lambeth Country Show for the first time in 40 years amounts to a huge and unwelcome change. It has been taken without serious explanation or consultation.

The costs of the fence and accompanying security over a summer weekend are of major concern to council taxpayers.”

A Lambeth council spokesman said: “The new security arrangements for Lambeth Country Show are being put in place following specific advice and intelligence from the Safety Advisory Group which includes all emergency services and Health & Safety officers.

“This is to ensure everybody remains safe and enjoys the event.”