Where Lambeth’s parties stand on Brockwell Park – a voter’s guide ahead of May 7th

With Protect Brockwell Park’s third judicial review heading to the High Court the day before polling day, several readers have asked where the parties stand on the park, the festivals, …

May 6, 2026 - 07:33

Where Lambeth’s parties stand on Brockwell Park – a voter’s guide ahead of May 7th

With Protect Brockwell Park’s third judicial review heading to the High Court the day before polling day, several readers have asked where the parties stand on the park, the festivals, the Lido and the Country Show.

While the borough basked in the runaway success of Bank Holiday Monday’s Brockwell Bark, the community dog show, we rounded up where each party stands.

Drawn from manifestos, hustings, and our previous reporting, the results may be surprising:

The Lido

Brockwell Lido transferred to emergency council control on 1st April after long-term operator Fusion Lifestyle entered administration. The facility moves fully into the council’s in-house leisure service Active Lambeth on 1st July, leaving the question of who runs the Lido beyond that point open.

At a recent Herne Hill hustings, the parties set out four different positions:

Labour candidate Stephen Clark said his party would seek a partnership with the private sector.
The Greens’ Paul Valentine pledged to campaign for community ownership.
The Lib Dems also pledged to campaign for community ownership.
The Conservatives proposed ringfencing income from the private festivals in Brockwell Park to fund Lido improvements.
TUSC’s Steve Nally told Brixton Buzz it would support the Lido being council- or community-owned and run.
Laura Graham, Your Party-back independent for St Martin’s, a member of the Crystal Palace Park Trust Advisory Board, told the Buzz she would “absolutely support the lido becoming community led.”
The Shake It Up alliance, which sets policy through community assemblies, has not formally adopted a Lido position but its general direction implies support for community ownership.
The SPGB opposes commercial use of public property in principle.
Reform has not published a position.

The Lambeth Country Show

Lambeth Council announced the cancellation of the 2026 Lambeth Country Show in December 2025, citing a £1m subsidy cost and an £84m savings target across four years. It is the first year in over fifty without the free, council-run festival.

Labour cancelled the show, citing a £1m subsidy cost – while approving in the same month a £1.07m increase to its parking enforcement contract. The party’s five-page manifesto does not mention Brockwell Park or the Country Show.
The Greens’ 28-page manifesto pledges to ‘bring back the Lambeth Country Show and reverse the creeping privatisation of public space.’
The Lib Dems’ campaign to save the show is one of their flagship local policies. Their petition page argues the show costs around 0.1% of the council’s £440m budget and is affordable, and notes that they successfully fought a Labour attempt to cancel it in 2012.
The Conservatives’ green spaces section pledges to “resist the loss of free facilities” – language that points back towards the show without naming it.
TUSC’s Nally told Brixton Buzz it wants the show reinstated “by whatever means necessary,” recalling the festival’s role as a free borough-wide gathering.
Laura Graham, independent, St Martin’s told us she would “definitely vote to return the country show.”
The Shake It Up alliance, which sets policy through community assemblies, has not formally adopted a Country Show position, though its general direction implies support for reinstatement.
The SPGB has not given a specific position on the Country Show but opposes the commercial pressures driving its cancellation.
Reform has not published a position.

Brockwell Live

*[Irish artist CMAT at Wideawake Festival, 23.05.25]*

Brockwell Live is possibly the most divisive issue in this election, where a series of commercial festivals has split the borough.

On one side are residents who value the music, the diversity and the boost to the local economy.

On the other, those opposed on grounds of ecological damage, noise, the commercialisation of public space, and the festival operators’ connections to the global private equity firm KKR, which holds investments linked to Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.

The dispute has produced two successful judicial reviews against Lambeth, with the High Court ruling in 2025 that the council had acted unlawfully – and ‘irrationally” – in granting permission for the festivals under permitted development rights.

A third judicial review is due to be heard at the High Court today 6th May, the day before polling day. Despite all of this, Labour’s planning committee unanimously approved Brockwell Live’s 2026 festival programme – four festivals across two weekends – in February.

Labour approved the 2026 programme.
The Greens oppose the current model and took the Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction by-election from Labour in May 2025 on that platform.
The Lib Dems want ‘some festivals’ which should subsidise the Country Show.
The Conservatives pledge to “limit excessive commercial use” of the borough’s parks.
TUSC is “100% opposed to the naked commercialisation of parks and public spaces.”
Laura Graham, endorsed by Your Party, told the Buzz: “Public parks must stay public, with residents leading decisions on use.”
The Shake It Up alliance’s policy-by-assembly approach implies opposition to large-scale commercial use of the park.
The SPGB opposes commercial use of public assets in principle.
Reform has not published a position.

Green Spaces

The wider question of how Lambeth treats public land – beyond Brockwell Park alone – is on the ballot too.

There is consensus between the Greens, Lib Dems and Conservatives, who are broadly critical of the erosion of free facilities in favour of private operators without meaningful resident agreement, and united on the protection and restoration of Lambeth’s parks and public spaces.

St Martin’s independent candidate Laura Graham told the Buzz: “Public parks must stay public, with residents leading decisions on use. They are our shared spaces.”

Labour‘s manifesto does not mention Brockwell Park, Brockwell Live, the Country Show, the Lido or the festivals.

TUSC and the SPGB oppose the commercial use of public assets.

Reform has not published a position.

A community response

Brockwell Bark on Bank Holiday Monday, a dog-themed event organised by local residents, underscores the borough-wide sense of loss at the cancellation of this year’s Lambeth Country Show.

It was a reminder of what the park has long been used for, and what residents want back.