Residents fear ‘green oasis’ will be ruined as Burgess Park could be closed for 56 days

Residents fear their “green oasis” in the heart of the city will be ruined after a council agreed to let music festivals and film shoots take over a local park for almost two months a year.

A huge section of Burgess Park could be fenced off from the public for private events for up to 56 days per year under the plans approved by Southwark councillors on March 28.

Speaking on behalf of a group of residents, Catriona Sinclair from local park protection group Friends of Burgess Park said holding more events would cause extra unnecessary nuisance to locals.

She told a council planning committee: “To increase the number of days when local people will have to suffer is completely unacceptable. […] Southwark has not demonstrated an ability to manage excessive noise in the park, nor after events have supposedly stopped, the music continues.

“The park is supposed to provide a green oasis in the heart of London. Increasing the number of events, particularly on weekends when people are looking for a place away from all forms of pollution, negates what a park is meant to be. Burgess Park is well used and does not need events to promote it as suggested in the proposal.”

Festival organisers paid Southwark council £16,500 to hold events in the park in 2022, but that figure is expected to balloon to £122,000 this year as the number of events increases.

Events already planned to take place in the park this year include two electronic music festivals organised by club promoter Boiler Room in May and September, a music and arts festival celebrating the Windrush generation in June and Latin American culture festival, Carnaval del Pueblo in August.

Restrictions mean no more than 30 per cent of the park will be fenced off at any one time and the area reserved for events will be limited to the east of the park.

Janet Long from Planit Consulting, the council’s planning advisor for the application, said increasing the number of days the park could be used for events would allow officials to “more efficiently organise events.”

She said: “This will give residents more advance notice of upcoming uses. It also means the park team can better manage any additional contributions and can schedule park enhancements and planting schedules.”