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Raver Tots, Mighty Hoopla, Soho House Festival and Symphonic Ibiza are just a handful of events that have become major attractions for London’s parks during the summer festival season.
But the outdoor gatherings have also become a point of tension for neighbourhoods in the UK capital, with residents and promoters fighting over the soul of London’s public green space. Councils, meanwhile, argue that festivals are a necessary way to generate income after more than a decade of central government budget cuts.
Over the past few years London’s festival calendar has been expanding steadily. There are a cumulative total of 140 days of ticketed music festivals and concerts planned across London parks for 2025, up nearly 14 per cent since last year, according to analysis by the Financial Times.
Those festivals, and councils’ revenue-generating strategies, are on unsteady footing after a High Court ruling last week. Planning judge Tim Mould KC found that Lambeth Council’s decision to grant permission for events hosted in Brockwell Park was unlawful, after a legal challenge was brought by a group of local residents.
The Protect Brockwell Park campaign argues that the council has been prioritising for-profit events that reduce local access to the park, damage its ecology and contribute to neighbourhood noise pollution.
The case hinged on a type of planning certification granted by Lambeth that limited a park’s “change of use” to 28 days per year — the judge found that Brockwell Park had authorised 37 days of commercial activities in the park.
But despite the ruling, the festivals in the park are going ahead. Lambeth Council announced late on Thursday that it had approved a new certificate submitted by the organisers, Brockwell Live, less than 24 hours before the first performers were set to take to the stage at Wide Awake festival.
Protect Brockwell Park has said it is pursuing further legal action to halt the festivals. Brockwell Live has retaliated by issuing a strategic lawsuits against public participation (Slapp) against the group.
While Lambeth has refused to say how much it stands to gain from the festivals this year, a freedom of information request revealed that the park generated more than £500,000 of revenue in 2023.
London Councils, a governing body that represents the capital’s local authorities, has estimated the total funding shortfall for all 32 boroughs is £500mn this year.
While council policy varies, most of the funds generated by festivals go towards funding park upkeep or other cultural activities.
Haringey Council generates £1.2mn a year through fees it charges for the use of Finsbury Park, while Tower Hamlets said in 2023 that it anticipated £1.6mn from events at Victoria Park.
As access to parks and green spaces is not considered a statutory requirement, councils are under no legal obligation to provide park services.
David Mathias, a planning solicitor and partner at law firm Shoosmiths who was not involved in the Lambeth case, said councils had previously relied on legal “flexibility” when granting permissions to festivals. He added that the precedent set by the High Court decision “is likely to have financial implications for local authorities”.
“Securing planning consent involves time, cost and uncertainty — factors that may deter some event organisers or limit the scale of events. It also increases the risk of legal challenge from residents.”
Friends of Finsbury Park, a residents group in north London, said that it had written to Haringey Council to raise objections about Wireless Festival following the latest ruling. The group had previously pursued an unsuccessful legal challenge over the festival in 2016.
Antonia Jennings, head of the Centre for London think-tank, said that while residents in the capital should have access to public spaces, festivals in the city are “particularly important for younger demographics and ethnic minorities”.
Polling data commissioned by the think-tank last year suggested that one in four Londoners had attended festivals. It also found that 27 per cent of those from an ethnic minority background had attended a festival or carnival in the past year, versus 19 per cent of those from a white background.
Andrew Smith, a professor at Westminster university, said the growth of festivals had been driven by consumer willingness to spend money on “experiences rather than commodities”.
But he said the commercialisation of park space was worrying, particularly as councils were not in a strong position to negotiate with large festival operators such as Live Nation, which owns Wireless, the Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner of London’s O2 Arena and the company behind All Points East, or Superstruct, the KKR-backed global festival company, which is part-owner of Brockwell Live.
Southwark councillor Portia Mwangangye told the FT that outdoor festivals provided cultural benefits for the growing number of young people in the borough, as well as a boost to the local economy, but agreed that negotiations over park rental fees was a delicate issue.
“If costs are too high, festivals will go elsewhere — or not happen at all.”
Cartography by Steven Bernard
