The battle for live music in London

When a campaign group won a legal battle over gigs playing in south London's Brockwell Park this summer, it opened up a wider debate around festival ownership, independence and public access to green spaces in the capital

- WILL RICHARDS

IF YOU WALKED around the giant green structures that fenced off around half of south London's Brockwell Park for more than five weeks over May and June, it was clear that the local community was in revolt. "Whose park? Our park!" read the largest and most notable sign, with another hitting out at "council capitalists".

Others took a more humorous route to sharing their discontent ("You love expensive pints!"... "You stole my smoke spot!"... "You fucked our park, we fucked your wall!").

The fences were erected in the lead-up to the park's Brockwell Live series of day festivals, including Wide Awake, Field Day, Mighty Hoopla and Cross the Tracks. At the same time the graffiti was emerging, a local campaign group called Protect Brockwell Park had just won a legal case against Lambeth Council, with a judge declaring that the festivals did not have the correct planning permission to go ahead.

Local resident Rebekah Shaman, leader of Protect Brockwell Park, cited in court a law stating that festivals can only use public parks for 28 days per year without gaining additional planning permission, and that Brockwell Park would be used for 37 days in 2025.

Protect Brockwell Park said on Instagram at the time: "We regret that legal action became necessary. The applicants and Lambeth Council created a binary situation with no room for compromise, and built in risks and delay by submitting inappropriately late applications, as has happened in previous years." Responding to the ruling, Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth's Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities, said: "The council acknowledges last week's decision by the High Court and is reflecting on our processes relating to events in our parks.

However, we have also seen inaccurate commentary that suggests that the judgment renders all events in our parks unlawful and this is just not true.