Campaigner wins legal fight over park festivals

A campaigner has won a High Court challenge over the use of a south London park for music festivals this summer.

Lambeth Council has permitted Brockwell Park, near Herne Hill, to host a series of events, such as the Mighty Hoopla, which are expected to attract hundreds of thousands of people.

Local resident Rebekah Shaman took legal action, arguing that council did not have the correct planning permission - with a judge ruling in her favour.

A Lambeth Council spokesperson said: "We are currently assessing the impact of this judgment and determining next steps."

Ms Shaman's argument centred around planning laws prohibiting a change of use of parks for more than 28 days each year without additional planning consent.

Presiding over the case, Mr Justice Mould found that parts of the park would be used for these events for as many as 37 days.

The judge said his ruling was only about the lawfulness of the council's decision to grant permission for the additional days - a decision he described as "irrational".

Ms Shaman told BBC London: "We are feeling elated, it's been a long time coming. It's regrettable we had to take Lambeth Council to court; it isn't what we wanted to do but we felt they were not engaging with us.

"This has been going on for years, it isn't a one-off situation and it has been a consistent deterioration of the park, to the point where the community had to speak up to protect the park for future generations."

She added: "We are hoping to come to an agreement where events can still continue, but on a much lower level and also much more connected to the community."

Lawyers for Lambeth Council and festival organisers Summer Events Limited both asked for permission to challenge his decision but the judge refused.

However, they are still able to ask the Court of Appeal for permission to challenge the decision directly.

The Academy Award-winning actor Sir Mark Rylance, who has supported the campaign, described the ruling as "wonderful news".

Emily, in Brockwell Park, told BBC London: "I think the result is brilliant. I have been going to the festival for many a year, however the destruction of the park afterwards is pretty bad... I'm wholeheartedly really pleased."

Matt, who has lived in the area for the past 12 years, said: "I'm really happy with the outcome because it's a win for the local community who've been fighting Lambeth Council for a long time."

However, local resident Lucy told BBC London: "I think it's brilliant to bring festivals to Brockwell Park, I think it's a great celebration of culture, we need to give opportunities to young people and we need to keep art alive."

Richard Harwood KC, for Ms Shaman, had argued that Brockwell Park had "increasingly" been used for large commercial events in recent years, with "substantial" parts of the park being fenced off from the public during the events with damage caused to the ground.

"Due to inclement weather over the weekend of one of the commercial events, the park effectively became a mudbath," Mr Harwood added, referring to one event last year.

Matthew Reed KC, for Lambeth Council, said the "majority" of the park remained unfenced and available for the public to use during the events.

He also said that the council was able to lawfully decide how often the park was used for festivals and would grant special permission if needed.

However, Mr Justice Mould found in his ruling that Lambeth Council's planning officer had "erred in taking into account the mere prospect of planning permission being granted".

The Protect Brockwell Park group has previously said it is "not anti-festival" and supports "well-run, inclusive events".

The group said in a statement: "These large-scale, high-impact commercial festivals are damaging Brockwell Park's ecology, heritage and community value.

"The park is being overused and under-protected."

Additional reporting by Frankie McCamley and Barry Caffrey

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