Ann Kingsbury, chair of the Brockwell Park Community Partners, gave the following speech to the meeting of Lambeth Council’s Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, 27 September 2023:
The CC MAC and BP MAC are not against events in principle.
We are against events that are too big, too loud and too damaging.
Large and major events in parks always do damage. A lot of it cannot be prevented or fully rectified. It is impossible to repair all the damage that results from inconsiderate set-up or de-rig; only the worst can be dealt with.
In the case of many large events, Lambeth Landscapes does not have the resources to carry out these repairs. The need to employ outside contractors results in delay, often to the extent that restoration has to wait because the season or unsuitable weather has prevented it.
The worst damage comes from allowing events to be set up by event organisers who were inexperienced, unfamiliar with parks and under-resourced for the work—like the organisers of Pokémon Go this year. The large event providers like those who organise Brockwell Live are more experienced and better equipped, but even they do harm because any time there is a change of subcontractors, the learning process has to start again and mistakes are made.
A major problem is the size of vehicles used during set-up and de-rig. The Victorian pathways of our parks and commons were not designed to take the axle weight of the enormous rigs that are used for large events. Both the paths and the ground are damaged. The haulage companies are usually sub-contracted, so the event organisers cannot fully control them. Often, it is not possible to time access so the necessary banksmen are available. Frequently, the drivers have no local knowledge, get lost and drive in areas where they are not supposed to be. It is common to have them driving over tree root protection areas.
None of this is easy to manage because this kind of traffic is not appropriate to our open greenspaces. Huge infrastructure building also harms the surfaces that they are set up on; they concentrate weight and footfall in defined areas.
As usual, the damage you cannot see is the most important. Grass is fortunately hard to kill. Underground though, the compaction of the soil from the weight of vehicles and infrastructure, which accumulates steadily over time, eventually results in run-off, flooding and failure of rainwater to penetrate the soil. This process will make trees and other flora and wildlife vulnerable to our increasingly hot and dry summers, something we need to be aware of.
We should wish to limit damage where we can, but with large events dominating, it is not possible. We need to be aware that an ambitious programme of events in our green spaces will come at an unavoidable cost. Long-term, they will suffer and continue to deteriorate. This is a loss to all our communities and people for whom the local park or common is their link with the natural world.
