A political row has erupted after the Liberal Democrats accused Southwark Council of ignoring residents’ opinions over a music festival planned for Southwark Park.
The council is asking residents to share their opinions on Rally Festival, set to be held on Saturday, August 5.
But the Southwark Liberal Democrats say Rally Festival has been offering pre-sale tickets since March 31.
The group argues this shows that “the council views consultation as merely a formality”.
But Southwark Council has hit back, saying organisers “often sell tickets before the licensing” to ensure good attendance.
GALA Festival set to hold mammoth six-day event on Peckham Rye Park
It has added that the festival “would be expected to refund all tickets if the event did not secure the relevant licences to take place”.
The 10,000-capacity festival, organised by GALA and promoters Bird On The Wire, will feature live music and visual performance art.
Bermondsey Carnival will benefit from it by using the event’s infrastructure the next day, which carnival organisers say has been a huge financial boost.
Local Lib Dem Cllr Rachel Bentley said: “We are thrilled that Bermondsey Carnival looks likely to be back on this year. However, Southwark has once again delivered an inadequate consultation process. If residents were uniformly against this proposal, would Southwark have ordered Rally Festival to refund all sold tickets? I think this is unlikely.”
“The council is supposed to use consultations to engage with residents and listen to their concerns but it seems that they are merely a formality that precedes a foregone conclusion.
“If residents were uniformly against this proposal, would Southwark have ordered Rally Festival to refund all sold tickets? I think this is unlikely. Residents deserve better with truly meaningful community engagement.”
But Cllr Catherine Rose, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Parks, Streets & Clean Air, said: “Organisers often sell tickets before the licensing process has finished to try and ensure that their event is well attended.
“They do this at their own risk and would be expected to refund all tickets if the event did not secure the relevant licences to take place. We ask any organiser to make it clear that the sale of tickets is ‘subject to licence’, which Rally festival is doing on their website.
“The decision as to whether the council grants either a premises licence or an event licence is always based on the outcome of consultation, where we seek the views and concerns of residents and businesses.
“This is our legal duty under the Licensing Act 2003 in the case of a premises licence. We also have our own Outdoor Events Policy, which includes clear guidance to further ensure meaningful and fair consultation with the community.”
The council said it had also posted 2,800 letters to local addresses, erected twenty A3 public notices and held a stakeholder engagement consultation from March 17 to April 14.