One Big Brockwell Park Festival Has Already Been Axed for 2026
Earlier this year campaign group Protect Brockwell Park launched a legal challenge against Lambeth Council after summer festivals were approved to run in the park without proper planning permission. The High Court ruled in favour of Protect Brockwell Park, finding that events like Mighty Hoopla, Field Day, Cross the Tracks and Wide Awake exceeded the 28-day period allowed for temporary land use. Though the festivals still took place as planned this summer, at the time the Council said it would appeal the ruling.Now the Council has changed its mind; it won’t be contesting the ruling and it will ensure that all major events due to take place in Brockwell Park will go through a full planning process. The 2026 editions of Field Day, Cross the Tracks and Mighty Hoopla are already in the works but one event that won’t be on next year’s calendar is the Lambeth Country Show.The free fair, one of the largest free family festivals in the UK, has been running in Brockwell Park since 1974, with attractions and activities including vegetable sculpture competitions, sheep shearing, horse jousting, and live music. Facing rising costs (it would require over £1million to fund the two-day event) and increasing budget pressures, the Council has decided to axe the Lambeth Country Show for 2026.Speaking about the decision, Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities, said: “When we are reviewing every area of council spending to meet our budget gap, including vital services, we cannot take a decision that would prioritise this event above statutory services for the most vulnerable in our community. Protecting services for those who most need it means difficult but necessary choices like this.“The proposals for next year balances the desire to hold these important events which bring joy to hundreds of thousands of people and celebrates our borough’s diverse culture, with reducing the total number of event days to lessen the impact on local people.”As well as welcoming the Council’s decision not to appeal the High Court ruling and to seek relevant planning permission for large-scale events, Protect Brockwell Park questioned whether “there is a different way ahead for the Lambeth Country Show. A return to its lower-impact, smaller community led format, with a greater share of the private operator’s profits used to fully fund that event.”Line-ups for the other festivals held in Brockwell Park are being put together but the events will be subject to approval, so watch this space to see if they do actually go ahead.Photo credit: Lambeth Country Show Facebook
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