Local residents campaigning against the use of London’s Brockwell Park for a series of music festivals have said that Lambeth Council has “no business rubber-stamping a flawed legal position” in order to allow those events to go ahead despite a court ruling last week that said the necessary planning was not in place. The local authority should stop using “legal mechanisms to avoid scrutiny”, they add.
Meanwhile, one of the festivals due to take place in the park this weekend, Field Day, has issued a new statement about another controversy it is involved in, relating to its owner KKR’s investments in Israel.
It had a second go at responding to that controversy yesterday, after its first statement designed to battle the backlash just caused more backlash. This time Field Day’s organisers state in no uncertain terms that they are “passionately opposed to KKR’s unethical investments in Israel”.
Seven festivals are due to take place in Brockwell Park over the next few weeks under the banner Brockwell Live, kicking off with Wide Awake on Friday. A group called Protect Brockwell Park has been campaigning against Brockwell Live, arguing that fencing off half the park for several weeks each summer in order to host commercially owned festivals is too disruptive and not in the interest of local residents.
Lambeth Council argues that the repurposing of Brockwell Park for the festivals is allowed under the Town And Country Planning Act, because they fall within the scope of what are known as ‘statutory permitted development rights’.
That means neither the festivals nor the local authority need to go through a formal planning permission process. Instead the council just issues a certificate confirming statutory permitted development rights apply.
However, Protect Brockwell Park counters that forcing a formal planning application process on Brockwell Live would be in the interests of the local community, because that would require “robust environmental and community impact assessments”.
The campaign group took the matter to court, with a judge ruling in its favour last week. Key to the legal case was that the park could only be repurposed into a festival venue under statutory permitted development rights for a total of 28 days in any one calendar year.
When the logistical set up of Brockwell Live is taken into account, half the park is out of action for more than that time period. As a result, the judge cancelled the certificate issued by the council, meaning planning for the festivals was no longer in place.
Protect Brockwell Park insisted that that meant this year’s Brockwell Live events could not go ahead. However, organisers and the council said that the court’s decision was based on a technicality that can be easily dealt with.
Lambeth Council then announced that Brockwell Live organisers had requested a new certificate from the council covering a shorter time period, which means the festivals can, in fact, proceed under statutory permitted development rights.
In a new statement yesterday, Protect Brockwell Park said, “Brockwell Live claims that the judgment was made on a technicality and believes it has the legal right to proceed. We and our lawyers strongly disagree. Yet Brockwell Live has asked Lambeth Council to certify this position, again. Why?”
“Lambeth Council has no business rubber-stamping a flawed legal position for a second time”, the statement went on, adding, “issuing another certificate now would defy last week’s judgment”. The campaigners then confirmed that, if the council issues the new certificate, “we'll challenge it immediately”.
Urging supporters to contact their MPs and councillors to formally express their opposition to Brockwell Live proceeding, the statement concluded, “We want Lambeth Council to stop using legal mechanisms to avoid scrutiny”.
While the Brockwell Live festivals seem confident their 2025 events will be all to go ahead, despite the planning battle, some of the events are dealing with another big challenge: a number of artists pulling out because of the controversy around their connection to private equity firm KKR.
Those events are owned by festivals company Superstruct, which was acquired by KKR last year. Last month more than 50 artists backed an open letter highlighting KKR’s ownership of a portfolio of music festivals. It said that KKR is “known to invest in companies which develop Israeli underground data centres, and advertise real estate on illegally occupied land in Israeli settlements in the West Bank”.
“The consequences of KKR’s complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza and apartheid regime against all Palestinians”, the letter went on, “are not only countless violations of human rights and international law, but the systematic destruction of Palestinian life and society”.
Superstruct-owned festivals, and especially Field Day and Mighty Hoopla - which are both part of Brockwell Live - came under pressure to respond to the concerns about their connections to KKR and its investments in Israel.
Both festivals issued statements on social media last week explaining why they had allied with Superstruct, and stressing that that happened before KKR’s acquisition of the festival company, in which they had no say or involvement.
In its statement, Mighty Hoopla then said, “Whilst we cannot control agreements or investments made in our parent companies, we wish to state our clear opposition to KKR's unethical investments”.
However, Field Day’s statement didn’t really take a position on KKR’s investments, instead simply acknowledging the “strength of feeling” among artists and fans who have spoken out, and that “we know there will be many of you out there who are hurt and angry about this situation”.
The festival acknowledging but failing to really address the backlash over its connection to KKR just angered its critics even more.
As a result, it put out a new statement yesterday, apologising for not taking a proper position on KKR last week, and stating, “We are passionately opposed to KKR’s unethical investments in Israel. We cannot control who owns our parent company but we promise to make our - and your - voices, and the ethical values we regard as non-negotiable, heard and understood at all levels”.
“Many of you rightly challenged our previous post”, the new statement continued, adding, “we’re grateful for your comments and we respect the artists who have taken a stance. To the other artists on our line-up, we welcome and support you using your platform to stand against all forms of oppression, discrimination and genocide”.
It then concluded, “We believe music is uniquely capable of bringing people together and providing a space to express ourselves freely without discrimination, and we hope you will join us in that spirit this weekend. This is what we stand for, and we regret not making that clearer before. Free Palestine”.