Krankbrother events update October 2021
The music events organised by Krankbrother in Beckenham Place Park in September 2021 generated much interest. As common practice, Lewisham Council and the event organisers conducted a debrief process to look at what went well and what could be improved.
This is the first of a number of updates related to these events to be published in the next 12 months to update local residents on plans for the future.
2021 Events’ Review
The events of September welcomed between 6500 and 7500 people a day to the park. The events were on the whole very positive and welcomed by both the attendees and many residents who, even though they could not attend, enjoyed the music or seeing others enjoying it after what was a very difficult year.
Naked City Festival first took place in Beckenham Place Park in 2019. The debrief process at the time informed the plan for 2021, which included enhanced measures to minimise disruption to local residents during the period. Measures included larger human resources dedicated to stewarding and security, improved ingress/egress procedures and improved lighting on external routes, as well as more trackway to minimise damage to the ground.
The enhanced plans had a positive effect and the organiser was responsive to the challenges as they arose, but we still believe some aspects can be improved on. On balance, the event organiser delivered a safe event that received many compliments.
Lewisham Council and the event organisers received a number of complaints, each of which was carefully considered as part of the debrief process. Many of the issues raised can be mitigated in future and we’re working with the event organiser and Bromley Council representatives on enhanced plans for next year.
These are the largest events that have taken place in Beckenham Place Park, which had historically been underused many years, and this step-change may take some getting used to. Also, other, larger events - Wireless in Crystal Palace with 30,000 attendees and Soul Festival in Croydon Road Recreation Ground took place nearby around the same time adding to the sense of disturbance for some residents.
The clean-up in the park post-event received excellent feedback and the reinstatement work is currently underway
Main concerns expressed by local residents in 2021
Number of events
Some local residents expressed concern over Beckenham Place Park becoming a regular large -scale music festival venue. Lewisham Council is not planning to have any large scale events in the park. The current plan is to have two weekends of mid-level music festivals and smaller, less disruptive events throughout the year. Naturally, most events fall between May and September due to weather conditions. The full programme over the course of the year is varied to cater to different groups and needs. This is part of our effort to encourage a diverse community of park users and to make the park an outstanding and well used public space.
Noise
This will be considered and included in the next update in the New Year.
Traffic
Lewisham Council and the event organiser are working with Bromley Council to minimise impact on Bromley residents, including traffic and parking during the events.
Anti-social behaviour
This will be reviewed, with possible enhanced measures including pre-event messaging and stewarding. A clear plan of action will be published in the New Year.
Litter outside the park
Littering inside the park was dealt with promptly and effectively. Littering outside the park is being considered by the event organiser and an update will be provided in the New Year.
Communication
Whilst some communication including consultation and a letter drop to the closest residents took place in 2021, it appears some were unaware of the planned events, we believe that this can be improved on for next year. Some of the actions that will take place include:
· Regular updates on progress. These will be published on Beckenham Place Park’s website
· More notice signs on-site posted earlier.
· A wider distribution of the resident letter.
· More comprehensive details provided on the Krankbrother events community website leading up to the event date
· A public debrief meeting on Wednesday 17th November 6pm to 7.30pm. This will be online with full details and a link to join posted on the Krankbrother events community website the week prior to the meeting. EDIT: please note, this meeting was rescheduled to 30th November due to illness. Please follow the link above for details and the link to join online.
Contribution to the local community
The event organiser made commitments to the park and local community, some of which were listed in this update.
There were at least 15 local businesses contracted, including a number in Lewisham, Bromley and Lambeth.
The events employed around 1,600 over that period. A large percentage of these staff were from South London.
Many acts were South London based, with at least 15 artists from London Borough of Lewisham across the event days.
VIP and complimentary ticket holders were asked to contribute with charity donations. This came to a total of just over £3,000, £545.05 of which will be donated to the charity Black Minds Matter. The remainder will go to local charities:
-Whitefoot & Downham Food Project Plus, the most local longstanding local food bank in the area
-Lewisham Music who are based in Bellingham Lewisham Music | Lewisham Local
-The Front Room Club -provides a drop-in for people experiencing mental health difficulties and social isolation The Front Room Club - St Luke's Church, Downham (stlukesdownham.org.uk)
-Downham Gleaning Pantry - a social supermarket which formed out of Downham Mutual Aid to support people experiencing food poverty in the local community of Downham.
Outdoor space hire fees at Beckenham Place Park include an environmental fee. In the case of the Krankbrother events this year, the levy came to £3,000. and the organiser also donated a supplementary £1,500. A number of environmental projects in the park are being considered for this fund. Update to follow in the new year,
Plans for 2022
The organiser would like to bring both events to Beckenham Place Park again next year. The proposal, supported by Lewisham Council is to do so over two weekends: 11 and 12, followed by 18 and 19 September 2022.
This proposal is supported by the Council because, on the whole, it creates less disruption than having a weekend in July, with the associated set-up and removal and then the same process again in September. The proposed option of two consecutive weekends has various advantages:
· The total period of time that the infrastructure is on-site is two weeks shorter than the alternative.
· Only one set up and removal generates fewer carbon emissions and less disruption caused by large vehicles entering the park
· It also enables other smaller events to take part over the summer and for the park and woodland to be enjoyed all year round.
The future
Large parks such as Greenwich Park, Crystal Palace, Finsbury Park, Victoria Park and Brockwell Park pay host to multiple major events in any given year. These parks have similar characteristics to Beckenham Place Park and many of the events are larger than the 8,000/day people seen in September. Lewisham Council opted to keep large events to a minimum and instead bring a few mid-scale and multiple smaller events to the park.
As mentioned above there are no plans to add multiple large-scale events to the calendar. Currently, two weekends of music festivals are the most Beckenham Place Park will see in terms of major scale events, plus other smaller events such as markets, etc. The vast majority of the park remains open for all to enjoy year-round.
Krankbrother is an event producing company with an excellent reputation in their industry and their track record in Lewisham speaks for itself. The council and the event organisers are committed to working together to build on previous successes and bring value to the park and its community.
The event organiser said, “We look forward to engaging with the council and local residents on any improvements we can make to the events in future, and endeavouring to make sure the events are a harmonious experience for customers and the local community.”