This follows planning applications by the festival organisers
After facing a major legal challenge over last summer’s Brockwell Park festivals, like Mighty Hoopla, Cross The Tracks, Wide Awake and Field Day, organisers Summer Events Ltd (which runs the Brockwell Live series) could be in for another fight this year. Campaign group Protect Brockwell Park took Lambeth Council to court over the fact that the events hadn’t gone through proper planning permission and won the ruling, meaning that all major events held in the park have to go through a full planning process.
At the end of last year, Lambeth Council announced it was cancelling the Lambeth Country Fair, the free family festival that had been running in Brockwell Park since 1974, citing increased budget pressures. Brockwell Live also submitted a planning application to use the park for 32 days between 9th May and 9th June for its 2026 festivals, including set-up, event days, de-rigs and wet weather buffer days, with these proposals going under public consultation. This closed on 31st December but comments are still being added and, at the time of writing, there were 343 in objection and 119 in support.
Protect Brockwell Park is still opposing the festivals, saying that following the cancellation of the Lambeth Country Fair, “we are now faced with a situation where Brockwell Park could be fenced off in spring exclusively for private events for longer than ever before, with substantial profits going to the private operators”, also arguing that the events will do harm to the parkland.
Though the planning applications have yet to be approved, tickets for the 2026 festivals are already on sale.
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