Residents dismiss council’s claims that park events boost biodiversity

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Campaigners have poured cold water on a Labour councillor’s claim that Brockwell Park’s biodiversity is the result of festivals like the Mighty Hoopla taking place there.

Councillor Donatus Anyanwu, who holds the portfolio for events, told a Lambeth council meeting on July 17 that the variety of nature found in the park, in Herne Hill, was down to the cash generated by events held there.

Answering a question from Green Party councillor Scott Ainslie, Cllr Anyanwu said: “The events raise money that can help us to build in relation to our ecological maintenance of the park. The biodiversity we have in Brockwell Park is as a result of investment that is being generated by events.”

But residents, who demanded the council stop holding large commercial events at the park at the same meeting, dismissed Cllr Anyanwu’s suggestion that festivals boosted Brockwell Park’s biodiversity.

In a statement released on Friday, Jen Hawkins and other local campaigners said: “Biodiversity cannot be bought, or meaningfully increased, with this extent, duration and footprint of events. It is irrational to damage one part of the park to improve another.”

They added: “The movement of species due to disruption will also affect the biodiversity of an area. It’s a complex interplay that has nothing to do with finances. The money for biodiversity is from the park levy; a tiny proportion of the events’ income and a tiny amount for such vast disruption and damage.”

Two weekends of back to back festivals at Brockwell Park in late May and early June resulted in damage to parts of the green space. Photos taken of the park in June showed a large patch of mud and tyre tracks where there would normally be grass.

Cllr Ainslie, Green member for Streatham St Leonard’s, said the Labour-run council needed to back up their claims about biodiversity with proof.

He said: “At the moment I don’t think that information is really in the public domain. It would be good to see clear, indisputable evidence of that.

“It is about making sure the park is for everyone. It would be good to revisit the decision making process around the events we do have.”

Campaigners who spoke at the council meeting on Wednesday voiced concerns about the impact of events in the park on the environment and people who live locally.

Residents said that the St Matthew’s Project – a local sports charity for children – had been unable to play any 11-a-side football matches in Brockwell Park during the season due to damage caused to the green space by a Pokemon event held there in 2023.

They added that further damage to the park caused by events earlier this year meant the charity was unlikely to resume playing games there when the new season started. A petition campaigners set up two weeks ago outlining their concerns about large events at Brockwell Park has already racked up more than 2,200 signatures.