Author: Laura Morland

Summary:

• First, reconsider the use of Lambeth’s precious parks as mere assets to sweat, rather than an oasis to protect for future generations
• Second, if you make promises to local people and local groups, please keep them.

At 7pm on Wednesday 27 September 2023, the first item on the agenda of Lambeth Council’s important Scrutiny Committee was the topic of events in parks. Brockwell Park and Clapham Common were both represented, with excellent speeches. Councillors listened with care and asked intelligent questions. There was no evidence of any shift in opinion away from supporting events in parks: they make too much money for a cash-strapped council.

Ann Kingsbury, chair of Brockwell Park Community Partners, made a stirring speech saying a Victorian park such as Brockwell could not sustain the weight of gigantic vehicles, while Lambeth’s events team lacked the resources to monitor events properly. She said it was not just the visible damage that was of concern, but the hidden damage of compaction underground from all the vehicle movements.

Here is the full text of the speech by the FOBP chair:

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Peter Bradley, chair of the Friends of Brockwell Park. I thank you for this chance to give you the views of the Friends on paid events in Brockwell Park. My colleague Michael Boyle has already communicated to councillors his opinions, which we share.

First, a difference of philosophy: nowhere in the voluminous documentation prepared for this meeting is there any questioning of whether the Council should be holding events in Parks at all. We do question that and see it as a betrayal of your duty of care to our parks, just for financial gain. We urge you to rethink.

Second, there is no genuine consultation of local people about events in parks. They are just imposed on us.

Third, despite numerous requests, the Council has supplied no evidence to back its claim that local traders benefit from these events. FOBP surveys repeatedly show that the majority either lose money, or the events make no difference to them.

Last, local groups such as the Friends and the Brockwell Park Community Partners made a suggestion with the potential to save the Council millions of pounds: to bring the Lambeth Country Show within the same timeframe as the May/June events, so only one wall is built, saving the Council pots of money.

The quid pro quo, promised to user groups and made in a letter to local residents, was that there would be no further major events in Brockwell Park outside the May/June timeframe. Then Pokémon Go was imposed on the Park in August. All sorts of linguistic contortions tried to pretend this was not a major event. It was a gigantic breach of faith by Lambeth Council.

It is heartbreaking to walk around Brockwell Park and see the damage caused to the grass by this summer’s major events. We even had the ridiculous sight of Brockwell Live planting seeds in June to repair the damage it caused in May, only to see those seeds ripped up in August by the wandering crowds of Pokémon Go.

To sum up:

• First, reconsider the use of Lambeth’s precious parks as mere assets to sweat, rather than an oasis to protect for future generations
• Second, if you make promises to local people and local groups, please keep them.

Friends of Brockwell Park (FOBP) is pleased to contribute £2000 to the Brockwell Park wild life hedge. This a major project initiated by Lambeth council and the Brockwell Park Community Partners (BPCP). The hedge runs from the top of the park at Cressingham Gardens right down the west side to Brixton Water Lane. The benefits of the hedge include: pollination enrichment, small bird sanctuary and food provision, small mammal protection and migration route.

The FOBP contribution will go towards planting wild flower plugs along the edge of the hedge, as part of the present  renovation scheme. As well as looking good these plants will boost pollination opportunities and provide cover for small mammals. FOBP hopes to offer volunteer planting days later in the autumn and winter/spring.

Watch this space for dates!

The long-awaited restoration of Brockwell Hall, the jewel in the park’s crown, is finally under way. The cafe is gone but is still open nearby (see picture). 

This is the first step on the way to restoring the best rooms in the Hall for community access and use. We can look forward to exhibitions in these spaces and public hire and to a lovely new cafe opening out into Stable Yard at the back of the house. Re-opening is projected to be in summer/autumn 2024.

Background to the project:

The big holdup had been the lack of accommodation for the council’s parks department, who have been occupying the Hall for several years. The plan was to move them to a depot by the Norwood Lodge entrance to the Park, but the building of the new facility faced many delays. That has finally opened, the staff moving in this month, leaving the Hall empty. On Wednesday 28 June, clearing the building began, and by Friday 30 June it was almost an empty shell, waiting for the restoration team to begin work. Worryingly, there was a Lambeth pest control truck outside on the Friday …

In March 2021, the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) awarded Lambeth a grant of up to £3,300,800 towards the restoration of Brockwell Hall and related capital and revenue work streams. The grant constitutes 52% of the total estimated total costs of £6,310,943. The Council has to find the balance. The construction period is expected to last just over a year, but major projects such as this have a tendency to overrun.

The tender for the restoration works at Brockwell Hall has come in over budget, leading to parts of the project being scrapped, Brixton Buzz reports. As a result, the Council has removed the stable block and landscaping from the project to stay within budget. 

The main building will be refurbished and restored to provide multi-purpose use spaces, including exhibitions, business and community events, a café, offices for events staff, and accommodation for local volunteers. Connected to the main building, an events space will be constructed within the stable yard area, accommodating 160 people and available for hire for weddings and other events.

Brockwell Hall is 210 years old this year. It was commissioned by John Blades, creator of the Brockwell estate, and built 1811–1813, to the design of architect David Riddall Roper (1773–1855).

• Mighty Hoopla weekend just finished 3rd – 4th June 2023
• Lambeth Country Show this weekend June 10–11
• Pokemon Go event scheduled Friday August 4^th to Sunday 6^th

Events in Brockwell Park seem over the top and have received more attention than usual.

Friends of Brockwell Park chair, Peter Bradley, was in the thick of it, with two BBC interviews, one on TV one on radio.

He was on BBC London TV, broadcast both lunchtime and at 18.30, on Tuesday 6 June; and at 07.15 on BBC Radio London, on Shay Kaur-Grewel’s show, Wednesday 7 June (both available on BBC iPlayer).

In both interviews, Peter spoke of the intrusiveness of such events into the normal peaceful enjoyment of the park, by humans and wildlife. He also accused Lambeth Council of a breach of faith, with its decision to run the Pokemon major event, where it had promised that no more would be held outside the May–June timescale (see previous blog on this, FOBP Press Release).

For the BBC TV interview with Luxmy Gopal, Peter invited her and her cameraman into his flat, 13 floors up, facing the park, where the journalists could hear the noise from Mighty Hoopla first hand and commented ‘you can feel the whole room vibrating’.

Local businesses lose out.

In both interviews, Peter challenged the council’s assertion that such events brought in money for local businesses, saying that the council had no local evidence to support its assertion.  FOBP has surveyed local businesses after each event for many years, and 80% of 80+ respondents said they either lost money, or their takings stayed the same.

Friends of Brockwell Park (FOBP) strongly objects to the proposal to hold a three-day Pokémon Go major event in Brockwell Park this August 2023, for these reasons:

• It constitutes a further unacceptable large-scale intrusion onto a critical public facility
• It is in the middle of a period that had been set aside by agreement with the Council for the uninterrupted enjoyment of the facility by park users
• It represents the unavoidable and significant detriment of that park user enjoyment both in the three days of the event, and the nine-day build-up
• It will lead to the significant disfiguring of the park itself both in that period and long term, by vehicles and heavy machinery required to install disfiguring structures and installations and by the additional projected footfall of at least 60,000 people in three days. This will be compounded if it occurs in a period of bad weather
• Last but not least, it is a gross breach of the undertaking Lambeth Council gave to the Brockwell Park Community Partners (BPCP) and to the FOBP that major events, including the Lambeth Country Show, would be restricted to the May–June period.

FOBP fully endorses the recent BPCP statement about the Pokémon Go event. It is fair and measured.

FOBP has also received the briefing sent to Councillors by Lambeth’s Events Team. We find this briefing unworthy of public servants:

• First, the Events Team claims that Pokémon Go is a ‘large’, rather than a ‘major’ event. ‘A major event is defined under Lambeth’s Event Policy as having a capacity over 20,000. This event has a capacity of 9999 and is defined by the policy as a large event,’ the Events Team claims. But this is semantics from the Events Team: there are two 9999-strong sessions per day for each of the three days, making each day an actual capacity of 19,998. This is indeed a major event in Lambeth terms, and therefore a gross breach of the agreement with park user groups
• FOBP is opposed to walled, paid-for events in Brockwell Park, but at least they verify and control the numbers attending. There is no means of controlling the numbers, or timing, of attendees of the Pokémon Go event
• There is still no detailed plan of where it will be located in the Park

• The amount the Park will receive from the ‘PIL’ (Park Investment Levy)—£20,000—is derisory
• The Events Team claims ‘there are substantial independent reports showing the economic benefit that these events have brought to local areas and businesses’. FOBP challenges the Events Team to produce one such report that supports this for the traders around Brockwell Park. Councillors will be aware that repeated surveys by FOBP show that most local businesses experience worse trading at the time of major events.

FOBP chair, Peter Bradley, said: ‘Park user groups such as FOBP and BPCP, reflecting the views of their members and many local people, have strong reservations about major, paid-for events in Brockwell Park. We thought we had an agreement with Lambeth Council at least to restrict major events to the May–June period. This Pokémon Go major event, shrouded in mystery, obfuscation and numbers games, rides roughshod over that agreement. It is an act of bad faith by Lambeth Council towards park users.’

This year’s bird walk, organised by the Friends of Brockwell Park and the local RSPB group, took place on Sunday 23 April. The walk was led by Czech Conroy of the local RSPB, and some 27 people joined him. We saw 35 species of birds, with the highlights being watching mistle thrush chicks being fed on their nest in the oak near the Lido, a spotted woodpecker pecking on the fallen log by the exercise kit opposite the BMX track, and a cormorant eating loads of fish in front of us on the top pond.

Here is the full list of the species observed: Graylag Goose; Canada Goose; Mute Swan; Mallard; Tufted Duck; Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon); Stock Dove; Common Wood-Pigeon; Eurasian Moorhen; Eurasian Coot; Herring Gull; Great Cormorant; Gray Heron; Great Spotted Woodpecker; Rose-ringed Parakeet; Eurasian Jay; Eurasian Magpie; Eurasian Jackdaw; Carrion Crow; Eurasian Blue Tit; Great Tit; Common Chiffchaff; Long-tailed Tit; Eurasian Blackcap; Greater Whitethroat; Eurasian Wren; European Starling; Mistle Thrush; Eurasian Blackbird; European Robin; Dunnock; House Sparrow; Common Chaffinch; European Greenfinch; European Goldfinch.

By Peter Bradley and Czech Conroy. Photography by Ian Judson