Large Scale events on Clapham Common again in 2022 and beyond
UPDATE May 2022:
Public inquiry POSTPONED
The Public Inquiry into events on the Common will not be proceeding as previously advised.
Update position from Planning Inspectorate, notified on 29 April 2022:-
“Further to the below you will have noted that the deadline for Lambeth Council to submit its Applicant Inquiry bundle was Friday 15 April.
The bundle has not been submitted and it will not now be possible to hold the public inquiry as planned.I write to advise you that the Public Inquiry has therefore been POSTPONED. No new date has yet been set.
We will post updates when more is known.”
UPDATE April 2022:
Public inquiry into events on the Common
Regarding Lambeth Council’s recent application for Festival Republic to return to Clapham Common this summer, a Public Enquiry is scheduled commencing at 10am on 24 May 2022, and closing on 9 June.
Additional days have been set aside in the event they are needed for 13-15 June.
Please find Details in the May Newsletter, Number 446.
A copy of the The Clapham Society objection can be obtained by email from Mark Leffler (Chairman) or Gill White, (Secretary). Please see the Contact page for their email addresses.
Assistance with legal funds are welcome via the ‘Donate’ button on the Home Page
Please choose ‘Campaign Funding‘ on the donation form.
This is the original post:
The society does not object to events of a charitable or small scale nature or those held, within reason, on the hard standing ‘circus’ site. We also appreciate that some society members or attendees may welcome large scale events on the Common.
However, it is clear that many of our members considered recent events on Clapham Common to be too large, too long and of an insufficiently broad appeal to justify the disruption, anti-social behaviour, noise pollution, littering and strain on local services that such events create.
The March Newsletter is appearing earlier than usual because of the urgent issue raised in the chairman’s article on the last page – namely the application for permission to hold major events on Clapham Common taking place again this summer… and possibly for five years in the future..
In the article, Mark Leffler explains concerns and considerations surrounding the 2022 planning application. You can read a copy of the article here:
2022 Feb. Major Events Clapham Common
Email to comment
If you object to large summer events on the Common and all the disruption they cause, please send your comments to the Planning Inspectorate before 4th March 2022, referencing ‘Clapham Common Article 12 Application’, to: commonlandcasework@planninginspectorate.gov.uk
Concerns and Information
The deeper concern for local residents is that it is understood that Lambeth Council have entered into a conditional contract with events promoter Festival Republic to organise and mount multiple events over several years into the future. Should the planning application be successful, it will be a long time before the public can have a say in the way events held on open spaces of the common are managed.
The Clapham Society, working with our CCMAC partners, the Friends of Clapham Common and the Open Spaces Society, has been successful in reducing the impact of Lambeth Council’s events in recent years, and it is hoped that continued support for our efforts will be forthcoming from residents and friends of Clapham. Support is welcome in principle and financially, and some of you may also be prepared to come and express your views at the May/June Public Local Inquiry.
Mark appealed to readers of our newsletter in October 2021 – No 440, in his article ‘Help us to protect the Common‘ (read a copy here).
On Friday 18 2022 Andrew Summers, Committee member for Clapham Common and Open Spaces, sent an email letter to members on behalf of The Clapham Society with details of our concerns.
If you did not receive it, a copy of the letter is available here:
Letter, Events on Clapham Common in 2022
For more information and documents for the Planning application, click here:
eventlambeth.co.uk/festival-republic-common-land-consent-application
The application form and documents will be available on that page only until Friday 4 March 2022, which is also the closing date for comments.
To help fund Legal Advice
With FCC, the Clapham Society is keen to raise funds to help us hold Lambeth to account for the way they have overridden local concerns for this space, flouted the legislation designed to protect the Common, and for repeatedly making the Common available for such large commercial events. FCC has arranged a campaign page, ourcommon.co.uk , and if you would like to donate to the Society’s fighting fund our bank details are:
The Clapham Society, Account 22217045, Sort Code 60-05-34, reference: Campaign Funding.
Photo: Mark Leffler