Two festivals due to take place in Southwark Park this summer have been called off, Southwark Council has confirmed.
The organisers behind the events submitted a licensing application to hold Cloud X and Reggaeton festivals in Southwark Park on the first weekend of July, but have since rescinded the request.
It is understood that RALLY festival, scheduled for August 23, will still be going ahead.
Southwark Council had been due to make a decision in May about whether to grant an events license to Cloud X Sound Ltd, the organisers behined Cloud X and Reggaeton.
The festivals would have seen the southern side of the park closed off for ten days.
A consultation was carried out by the council earlier this year, with letters sent out to residents of 3,572 properties around the park.
The use of public parks for commercial festivals are a bone of contention across the capital as residents complain that the lack of access during the events and on the days before and after are unacceptable.
Some residents shared their concerns with the News about the closure of sections of the park to locals, with others claiming it would damage the Southwark Park Cricket Club Oval which recently benefited from a £25,000 investment.
However, Cloud X festival and Reggaeton had received more responses in favour of it going ahead than against, making the decision by organisers to withdraw the application for event particularly suprising. Of forty-four responses received online, 15 indicated they did not want the event to go ahead with 22 saying that they did.
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It marked a contrast with Brockwell Park, where furious residents crowdfunded a successful legal challenge to get the fetivals cancelled.
Cloud X had not responded to our request for comment by the time we went to press.
