Lambeth attempts to cancel Cannabis Festival

[editor]

Just got this sent to me.
Apparently there are still several avenues of appeal for the Coalition to explore.

Lambeth Council Communications Centre

Date: 23 February 2005
Ref:

Press Statement

Cannabis Festival

While Lambeth Council supports freedom of speech and the right to take part
in a legitimate campaign, the council cannot condone illegal activities
such as cannabis use and drug pushing - both of which have taken place at a
previous festival held by the Cannabis Coalition. Indeed council officers
monitoring the event in the past were approached by drug dealers who
offered them drugs.

Brockwell Park is one of our best-used and well-loved parks and is popular
with families. When the festival has taken place before we have received
numerous complaints from local people who have been harassed by drug
dealers and we have received many reports of people taking drugs. These
issued have been raised with the event organisers. We do not feel confident
that the Cannabis Coalition will be able to prevent such incidents occuring
again.

We have a duty to ensure that any event taking place in the borough is not
being used to support illegal activity - which drug dealing and drug use
clearly is. Similarly we have a duty to do all we can to make sure that
residents can go about their daily lives safe in the knowledge that they
will not suffer undue harassment. It is for these reasons that we have
refused the Cannabis Coalition permission to hold their event in Brockwell
Park.


Ends

Issued by the Communications Centre
London Borough of Lambeth
Lambeth Town Hall
Brixton Hill
Brixton SW2 1RW
Tel 0207 926 1000
Fax 0207 926 2839
www.lambeth.gov.uk

Funny thing is, I've been unable to walk down my road for many years without suffering "undue harassment" from drug dealers.

Perhaps they intend to close down Coldharbour Lane too and the town centre too?

 

[tarannau]

Buggeration. Fingers crossed for the appeals...

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Perhaps they intend to close down Coldharbour Lane too and the town centre too?

Maybe you should point that out to them

 

[gaijingirl]

I think one problem is that "drug pushing" and "harrassment" don't really describe the actions of drug dealers. At least I don't ever feel I have been "pushed" into buying drugs or "harrassed", usually I ignore them or just say no thanks.

However, clearly, not everyone is going to see it that way. I don't think that using this kind of language in official press releases really helps the situation though.

I have to admit, that I do get a bit fed up with having to navigate my way through the dealers on Coldharbour Lane.. but no more than having to navigate the crowds waiting for buses/the preachers etc etc... I certainly don't feel harrassed.

My flat backs onto the park and so for that day it will be a very noisy place to live. It really will be in my back yard. But one of the reasons I wanted to live there was to have access to such a great public space. I'm no longer a smoker myself but then neither am I a fairground user or an enthusiast of religious gatherings (which also take place in Brockwell Park).. but I love the idea of having a space where people can gather publically for various reasons. Plus I like having a party in my garden!!

On the other hand I can also understand why some of my neighbours would rather it wasn't in their back yard and perhaps I would feel differently if my children were hanging out there for the day, I know the sort of thing I used to get up to, luckily I was sensible enough and lucky enough to stop myself getting into anything too heavy, but not everyone I know was.....

Either way, I think that it could all be handled a bit more sensitively.

....That was remarkably on the fence wasn't it!!

 

[corporate whore]

Oh for fucks sake...

Picture the scene.

"Darling, it's such a lovely day, shall we go to the park with the kids?"

"A smashing idea darling, but there's that cannabis festival on today. If we go, there's a good possibility we'll be exposed to drug stuff."

"Never mind, dear, lets go anyway, THEN WE CAN BITCH ABOUT IT LATER."



I din't see any aggressive drug dealing in the park last year. I was the, erm, victim of some extremely passive dealing. I was the target of some aggressive dealing under the railway bridge on Brixton Road this week, however.

what's all that 'numerous complaints' bollocks about? At the license hearing last year, the commitee made it crystal clear that they only received one - that's one - complaint from a resident about the previous year.

For fucks sake, as I may already have said...

 

[William of Walworth]

I am remarkably confused about this ....

ONLY JUST HEARD ABOUT IT (right niow, 11:30, today)



Are we to assume for the time being that Saturday May 7th is not happening??????????

 

[gaijingirl]

I am remarkably confused about this ....

ONLY JUST HEARD ABOUT IT (right niow, 11:30, today)



Are we to assume for the time being that Saturday May 7th is not happening??????????

Yes.. I think that's a fair assumption .. they say : "It is for these reasons that we have refused the Cannabis Coalition permission to hold their event in Brockwell Park."

 

[hendo]

For the record - have the Cannabis festival people always cleared up the park following the event?

 

[corporate whore]

Last year it was fine. Not spotless, but the Monday after Lambeth Country Show's not great either.

 

[editor]

Are we to assume for the time being that Saturday May 7th is not happening???

It's not over till the fat lady spliffs.

Watch this space for developments!

 

[aurora green]

this is baaaad news.

But, they do try and cancel it every year, or at least as long as I can remember, so perhaps it's not over yet....

 

[Brixton Hatter]

fucking wankers. They've been trying to get rid of it for years.

IIRC they can't stop the march - just the festy in the park. So we should do the march, end up in the park, and have our own party with beers, picnics, drums, flags etc etc - fuck em.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Interesting bit from the Herne Hill forum

Check this shit out

An entertainments license was recently granted to Field Textild for a 3 day music event 10th to 12th june , finishing about 9pm each evening. The expected numbers are 10,000 each day
and the fee for the hir of the park is we understand about £25,000 now this seems to differ from the scale of charges which is about 1.80 per head for a single day event. So there seems to be a generous discount given by the poeple of Lambeth to stage this event.

A large churches Youth Rally pulled out last year as they were going to be charged
£70,000. So preference seems to be going to commerecial organisations.

MEANWHILE THE CANNABIS COALTION who each year have provided a free festival
have had their request for another festival turned down. We have heard off the record that its on account of the aggressive drug dealing that took place last year.
There was a subversive attempt to derail this by persuading one group to shift a booking from August to June but this didnt quite work.

So can they guarantee that there will be no drugs at this Field Textild event? (whatever it is) And remember the mess the park was left in after the last commercial event held there (purple radio - a couple of years ago)!!!

Hypocrites.

 

[corporate whore]

The guy that runs the HH Forum site spoke in favour of the CF at last year's licensing committee meeting..

Think he has some sway, although he lives in Southwark..

 

[Brixton Hatter]

I've just phoned the council press office and they deny all knowledge of releasing a press statement!! Although they admitted that they've had a lot of enquiries already.

020 7926 2841 or 020 7926 2739 if you want to phone them.

Then they tried to pass me to the parks department.

I am trying to find the email address or name of someone we can write to to complain. Any ideas? Best done through local councillors perhaps?

One of the councillors for my ward (Tulse Hill, which borders on the park) is Toren Smith (Lab) and he's been helpful before. His email is tjsmith@lambeth.gov.uk
The leader of the council is Peter Truesdale libdem@lambeth.gov.uk who cunningly doesn't seem to have a personal email address. But I bet it's something like ptruesdale@lambeth.gov.uk
The deputy leader of the council is jwhelan@lambeth.gov.uk (tory)
The executive member for the environment (covering parks) is Clare Whelen - who IIRC is none other than Mr Whelan's wife, no? Her email is cwhelan@lambeth.gov.uk I wouldn;t be surprised if all this had come from her.

Email them all.

 

[lang rabbie]

So who took any decision?

AFAIK, only the three day commerical event in Brockwell Park was considered at the last meeting of the licensing committtee: Minutes of 8 Feb licensing meeting

The only application currently showing on the Lambeth website for the next meeting on 1 March is Seamus's entertainment license for the Windmill.

 

[gaijingirl]

eh?

Hang on a minute... what the blazes is this field textile thingy with their searching of bags, only allowing in ticket holders and only allowing alcohol sold on site to be drunk? Does this mean I can't hop over the fence outside my window into the park as I do most days or use the park without buying a ticket (??) or bringing my own drink? ...but I will have to put up with queues of people outside my flat having their blinkin' bags searched........ What if I want a game of tennis ...I usually get a game in at the weekend... what with it being a public park an' all!

Even blinkin' Pilton residents get free tickets ffs!

Does anyone know what this is all about???

 

[gaijingirl]

Ok....read it properly and realised it's not the whole park and I can play tennis... phew!

But does anyone know what this is all about?

 

[Brixton Hatter]

well it looks like the council are simply trying to pre-empt an application by saying "no" in advance!

That's not usual is it?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

I imagine that in the run-up to the General Election (and isn't that a tiresome phrase) all the major parties will be running a mile from anything that could be presented in the media as "being soft on drugs".

 

[Streathamite]

fucking wankers. They've been trying to get rid of it for years.

IIRC they can't stop the march - just the festy in the park. So we should do the march, end up in the park, and have our own party with beers, picnics, drums, flags etc etc - fuck em.

remember all the hassle from last year? they so badly want this festy gone, but they also know it's popular.
WANKERS!!!

 

[denialworks4me]

DAMN ! Our House backs right onto the park and i was looking forward to jumping over my back fence to join in on the festivities, we even had plans to have some mates back that night and put some tunes out and party thru the night !!!

 

[Streathamite]

shall we put Mr BC on the spot here?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Ever tried to put a lawyer on the spot?

 

[T & P]

Well if the event does get cancelled we should simply show up on May 7th and do a sit-in, roll-up protest. In our thousands.

Fuck those cunts.

 

[Streathamite]

Ever tried to put a lawyer on the spot?

watch this space....

 

[girasol]

I had a lovely time last year and the huge amount of cannabis on offer was most defininetely part of the festival's charm!

Maybe a petition would help? Or is it pointless these days?

 

[Mr Retro]

Ever tried to put a lawyer on the spot?

Reminds me of an e-mail going around a while back:

Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
A: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
Q: And Mr.. Dennington was dead at the time?
A: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy.
Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the
autopsy?
A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practising
law somewhere.

 

[Mr BC]

shall we put Mr BC on the spot here?

No need to put me on the spot, only too happy to give my opinion.

I, presonally, don't have a problem with the festival going ahead, so long as the organisers pay the same commercial fee any similar event would warrant.

If the festival were to restrict itself to campaigning for a change in the law, there wouldn't be a problem for most other councillors either. The difficulty is that the festival effectively results in wholesale breaches of the existing law, which makes many feel uncomfortable.

Given that the council now seems to have taken a policy decision, I don't imagine there will be any backing down though, no doubt, a torrent of e-mails will be making its way towards those responsible.

 

[Streathamite]

bearing in mind it's a not-for profit, campaigning event, why should it be lumbered with the commercial fee?
and there has been 'this problem' for as many jaydays as I can remember-so why has it only become a problem now?