Ruskin Park: south London park between Brixton, Camberwell and Denmark Hill
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editor
hiraethified
Today's walk
www.brixtonbuzz.com
In photos: a walk around Ruskin Park on a cold, snowy February afternoon
The snow wasn’t as thick on the ground as when 2018’s Beast Of The East visited south London’s Ruskin Park, but there were plenty of wintry scenes today as temperatures fell below…
www.brixtonbuzz.com
teuchter
je suis teuchter
There's a proposal for a pop-up thing, at the bandstand, over the summer.
www.friendsofruskinpark.org.uk
NB that this is for 5 days a week for more than 4 months.
As far as I can make out this is a commercial proposal. Stands selling food and drink. The performers don't get paid. The bandstand is there anyway and it is frequently used, either informally by small groups doing various activities, or for low key musical events, sometimes organised and sometimes not really.
The bandstand and the area around it are part of the public park. It's not there for Lambeth to sweat revenue from. Also, Ruskin Park is already under quite heavy pressure from the increased use its seen through the pandemic.
I don't really get why a stage for local performance in the midst of rapid venue closures is presented as a positive. Once summer arrives, and maybe some of the restrictions are lifted, and venues are struggling but might have outdoor spaces that are already licenced for this kind of thing, why encourage people to go to pop-up events in a public park instead?
Application for a pop-up on and around the bandstand this summer – have your say to Event Lambeth – Friends of Ruskin Park
www.friendsofruskinpark.org.uk
NB that this is for 5 days a week for more than 4 months.
As far as I can make out this is a commercial proposal. Stands selling food and drink. The performers don't get paid. The bandstand is there anyway and it is frequently used, either informally by small groups doing various activities, or for low key musical events, sometimes organised and sometimes not really.
The bandstand and the area around it are part of the public park. It's not there for Lambeth to sweat revenue from. Also, Ruskin Park is already under quite heavy pressure from the increased use its seen through the pandemic.
I don't really get why a stage for local performance in the midst of rapid venue closures is presented as a positive. Once summer arrives, and maybe some of the restrictions are lifted, and venues are struggling but might have outdoor spaces that are already licenced for this kind of thing, why encourage people to go to pop-up events in a public park instead?
mrchristopher
Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing this here. Please do send in your comments to Lambeth events@lambeth.gov.uk and copy the Friends info@friendsofruskinpark.org.uk.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Sign the Petition
STOP ‘Open Arms’ in Ruskin Park; 5 months/5 days a week disruption for residents and users
www.change.org
teuchter
je suis teuchter
I think folks should take heed of what's happened in Brockwell park where we end up with steel walls and things. It's an important matter of principle that public parks aren't assets to be sweated for (probably minimal) cash. The past year has made clear how valuable public open spaces are.
I think it might be an appropriate circumstance to talk about the "thin end of the wedge".
editor
hiraethified
hungry_squirrel
Well-Known Member
Open Arms event will not go ahead – Friends of Ruskin Park
www.friendsofruskinpark.org.uk
Open Arms not going ahead now. I'm a bit disappointed the NIMBYs stopped this going ahead, I think it could have been fun.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Which part, the music bit or the pub-in-the-park bit?I think it could have been fun.Open Arms event will not go ahead – Friends of Ruskin Park
I think there will still be some music events like there usually are, but they won't be encircled by a commercial drinking operation which is not really what public parks are supposed to be for. And presumably any pubs that have outdoor areas will be looking to get as much custom as they can this summer, in an attempt to survive.
hungry_squirrel
Well-Known Member
Both the music and the pub in the park bits. As a soon-to-be father, it would have been really nice to be able to get my friends over to Ruskin and be able to sit outside with our baby and have a few drinks and listen to some music. It's exactly what public parks are for, it would only have been a tiny part of the park. What do you think public parks are for?
And I don't think the pubs with gardens are going to be struggling to pull in punters this summer.
editor
hiraethified
I really liked the idea of people being able to watch live music in the park - after all, it's what bandstands were built for - but I think 5 days a week for five months was really too much.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
You'll still be able to do all of that won't you? No one is going to stop you bringing picnics and drinks in.
There might be a less intensive programme of music on offer but there's quite often stuff going on at the bandstand, some of it formally organised and some of it impromptu. Sat around there having picnics several times last summer with various bands doing stuff in the bandstand.
The proposal was for something that would have set up a load of food and drink huts, portaloos and so on, on the grassy areas around the bandstand. And it would inevitably have attracted an additional load of people who might otherwise be spending their time in a pub garden. That is, additional to the people who regularly use the park and live in the surrounding area. Like most parks it's already suffering from unusually intensive use. I think we'd have ended up with a large area of completely trampled ground around the bandstand which would then take a long time to recover.
Something that just went on for one weekend or so would have been different. But this was proposed to be there for months on end. It's basically handing over public space for someone to build a temporary pub on and make a load of cash from it. The park, including the existing life around the bandstand, is already enjoyed by lots of people. This wasn't bringing anything of benefit to people that use the park regularly and for whom it provides local amenity space.
ChrisSouth
Well-Known Member
I agree. There's nothing to stop the new dads going to the park now that this is not going ahead.
This was going to be for 5 months, for 5 days from 12 noon to 9.30pm at night. The area requested by the organizers was not a 'tiny bit of the park' but a fair whack of the area around the bandstand, taking in the former works area, right up to the nature pond and stretching beyond the close proximity of the bandstand. It was also going to be fenced off and ticketed, so was privatizing public space. Ruskin Park, by Lambeth council's admission, is a difficult space to access for removal of waste, with very few ingress and egress areas and this was a key concern.
editor
hiraethified
I never realised that part.
hungry_squirrel
Well-Known Member
No it wasn't going to be ticketed, of course anyone would be against it if that was the case.
And you're being dramatic about the amount of space:
And you're being dramatic about the amount of space:
ChrisSouth
Well-Known Member
ChrisSouth
Well-Known Member
You may want to use the plan that was submitted by the Open Arms on 26 February for permission, rather than the one dated 16 Feb which you've pasted from above. It's a bigger foot print and therefore begins to encroach further into the park.
hungry_squirrel
Well-Known Member
That's just a move of the food and drinks kiosk in response to initial concerns, wasn't it? And I still don't see anything about it being ticketed. Either way, what's done is done but I still think it's a pity.
Tron Cruise
Active Member
I’d like to hear all kinds of music coming from that bandstand for the next 5 months all day long but don’t think I could be arsed with the food stalls and craft beer dealers. Can’t musicians just rock up and start playing? It’s mostly used by personal trainers and their clients at the moment, which is not a pleasant sight.
cresconius
Member
What a stupid post by Jonathon. Let’s just shit on the friends group because you couldn’t use the park for your pet project.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
But it was a battle to create culture!
Shippou-Sensei
4:1:2.5
The kind you find on a petri dish
Tron Cruise
Active Member
Smells like Brixton Project-style victimhood - you won’t get involved because you don’t understand the good that we are doing.
Torpid Scorpion
Basket case
so was the eventual up in arms plan to replace the bandstand with a giant fuck you tower blaring ai-generated housekeeping collective beats 24x7 for some bijou placemaking?
