Brockwell Park residents launch new challenge against council over festival licenses

Campaign group Protect Brockwell Park have challenged Lambeth Council’s decision to grant planning permission for festivals like Field Day, City Splash and Wide Awake.

The group is made up of locals in the Brixton area, who last year crowdfunded more than £30,000 to launch a legal fight and sent a pre-action letter to Lambeth Council claiming the granting of licenses for the events is "unlawful".

Protect Brockwell Park (PBP) complained that such "large-scale" events cause environmental damage and block public access to the park for extended periods.

They successfully won two judicial reviews as a result, with the council twice ruled to have "acted unlawfully in approving commercial events", forcing Brockwell Live – who run festivals at the Lambeth park – to obtain full planning permission.

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Despite PBP winning those reviews, commercial events such as Mighty Hoopla, Field Day, Cross The Tracks and City Splash still went ahead last year as planned.

Now, Protect Brockwell Park has launched its third judicial review against Lambeth Council’s decision to grant permission to those same events, claiming that "leading barristers advise that this planning permission, too, was improperly granted".

“The park is strongly protected under national policy, particularly in its value as public open space, but this was not taken seriously in the planning decision, there was missing evidence, and the council relied on vague environmental assurances,” a crowdfund campaign reads.

While PBP argue that the group is “not against” all events at Brockwell Park, they claim that "the current model - large-scale, repeated commercial use with long enclosures - is not sustainable."

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"If this goes unchallenged, Brockwell Park faces the same pattern again - including exclusion of the public from large areas for over a month, ongoing and cumulative damage to grass, trees and wildlife, and repeated enclosure for large commercial events," they argue.

In response to the new challenge, Brockwell Live have issued a statement to Mixmag saying that they are "disappointed" with Protect Brockwell Park's decision.

"The planning process was thorough, shaped by feedback from residents, stakeholders and councillors, and supported by experts in ecology, biodiversity and planning," they said. "It confirmed the event can be delivered responsibly and, with ongoing investment, deliver a net positive impact on the park’s biodiversity and ecology."

"Brockwell Live supports the UK’s under-pressure night-time and creative industries, delivers free community programmes and provides thousands of free and discounted tickets for local residents and key workers. Lambeth Council also projects the 2026 series will generate over £10 million for the local economy."

Gemma Ross is Mixmag’s Associate Digital Editor, follow her on X