Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Once again there is damage inflicted on Finsbury Park by event organisers.  Krankbrother had events over the first two weekends in August, the perimeter wall has now been removed allowing park users to see the damage to the ground - principally damage to large areas of grass and vehicle tracks - as in the attached photo.

When will Haringey councillors (mainly Labour) dare to question the the wisdom of continuing to host these events?

Tags for Forum Posts: finsbury park, krankbrother

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Sadly Konrad, as they have yet to restore all of the damage created by the infamous Tough Mudder, the likelihood is that the fresh scars may still be there to greet the Krankbrother's punters next year. Wandering around the fresh devastation yesterday I also noticed a pair of trees had also had a pair of limbs amputated as well. As the cuts have exposed fresh good tissue, I can only presume the 'surgeons' hadn't managed to find any disease and therefore conclude that they were removed for the appeasement of temporary structures.
The 'Rebel' borough is beginning to look as though it is also in revolt. Judging by the large number of crows picking through the debris, it felt as though a medieval battle had recently taken place. I half expected to come upon 3 witches on my stroll muttering "double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble".

I have just received am email from Haringey's Tree & Nature Conservation Manager, Alex Fraser. He wrote,

The Horse chestnut tree referred to in this thread has been colonised by HC Bleeding canker and has been in decline for a few years. The image clearly shows a thinning crown with smaller than usual leaves. Canker lesions can also be seen on the trunk and main branches.

The two pruning wounds were from the removal of two large branches that were completely dead. I inspected the tree and issued the job to one of our contractors.

Other tree works were carried out in and around the KB event area by us at the same time, which was mostly the removal of dead and diseased branches.

It's unfortunate that damage was caused. However I don't think it's permanent and holding the concerts brings in much needed income for the council that has paid for other improvements to the park.

This is permanent damage.   

But why would they have to cut trees like that for tough mudder

See Hugh's post above - in fact it was legitimate conservation work by Haringey. I'm glad to be corrected.

Me too.

The Wireless and other event in July brings in more than enough money to run the park.  It's awful to see both sides of the park trashed like this during the summer months.  Reports by the Woodland Trust show that there is on-going damage to trees due to soil compaction from such a high footfall, and heavy vehicles from such events, which may not be immediately visible, but will weaken the trees over time.  The council should value and protect the fantastic trees in Finsbury Park, once they are gone it's too late.   There should be a more reasonable limit on the number and duration and siting of large events like this.

I agree that the chopping of the trees is inexplicable. Can’t think why it was done. On the subject of the concerts, young people do enjoy them and Okay some of the park is affected, but I think it recovers and it pays for jobs in Haringey Parks dept.

The trees are the permanent occupiers of the park. I fail to understand why they should be asked to pay the price for young people to enjoy themselves for a few weeknds each year. Obviously the disastrous 'Tough Mudder' took place more than 12 months ago. These ruts, (photos), caused by heavy vehicle movements at the time have yet to be mitigated.

Commercial events in the park should restore the park to the original condition in which they found it  when they arrived, surely?

I'm also confident that the bulk of the paying guests, young and old disapprove of the environmental cost their activities create.

One further note, the High Court has stipulated that all revenues raised through commercial events in FP must be invested in Finsbury Park, not Haringey's Parks dept.

Don't we need to ask ourselves, to what degree these events affect the long-term sustainability of our parks for the benefit of future generations? Where are the environmental impact assessments?

On a positive note, the park looks amazing generally these years. With so many active groups using it. A very far cry from the ugly state it was in back 15-20y. So clearly plenty of the money acquired is plowed back in. And interestingly, came across this last week. Can't all be total rubbish. Although possibly a bit exagerated Shame there is the usual negativity which happens every single year. Yet a bit of rain etc and it all grows back after some weeks.

So you think that the park looks amazing - really?  Have you been down to the other end of the park where Live Nation had their stage, there is a huge area where the grass looks as if it has been completely killed off - see the attached photos taken yesterday.  It is nearly eight weeks since the last event and no sign that the grass is recovering.  Not surprising given that 300,000 people were trampling over it over two weekends (50,000 per day x 6 days).  I have never seen it so bad, I don’t see anything positive.


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