Just who on Earth do MAMA & Co (music festival organisers) and the City of London Corporation think they are fooling with this ruse?
A month ago, they announce plans to consult on two massive festivals (each over six nights) bookending next summer on Wanstead Flats. The capacity of these festivals would have been up to 40,000.
It would have rendered the most popular areas of the Flats for our community unusable for much of the summer and would have put into jeopardy the delicate ecology of the Flats, which is home to nesting skylarks and meadow pipits and also comprises a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).
Their plans quickly changed to just one festival next year over six nights on two consecutive weekends but the capacity would have increased to 50,000.
Our residents and wider community have been writing to members of the Corporation's Epping Forest and Commons committee, who will approve or deny these plans when they next meet on November 19. Through this campaign, we have learnt that the plans have been 'scaled back' further. It has been put back to 2020 and the single festival will only occur over three consecutive nights.
This is a common planning ruse to low-ball. Most likely, it was MAMA & Co's plan to always put this plan to the committee. This way, it may seem that they are listening to our criticisms. Please note there has been no attempt by this company to contact the communities surrounding the flats.
We recommend our supporters should continue their campaign to write to committee members of the Epping Forest and Commons committee and persuade them to reject the plans - or at least defer them until the communities surrounding Wanstead Flats can examine them in detail.
More details of our campaign can be found on our website, www.aldersbrookandlakehouse.org
Kris Sangani
Chair, Aldersbrook and Lake House Community Association
www.aldersbrookandlakehouse.org
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