Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Tree down in Finsbury Park Krankbrother event area
For years the Friends of Finsbury Park and Haringey Tree Protectors have been warning that allowing Krankbrother to use the wooded area in Finsbury Park (down the hill from the nursery) for an event venue for thousands of people will cause damage to the tree roots and possible loss of trees.
Well, in the last week a Horse Chestnut has fallen over in the event area, as can be seen in the attached photo.
Horse Chestnuts have a shallow root system and the compaction of the surrounding soil caused by thousands of event goers leads to damage to the roots and so weakens the tree.
How long before the Green controlled Haringey Council puts a stop to these events? It will be interesting to see how Councillor Bethany Anderson (ex co-chair of the Friends of FP) and Councillor Gio Iozzi (founder o Haringey Tree Protectors and Council Cabinet member) respond.
Tags for Forum Posts: finsbury park, krankbrother, tree damage
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
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How long before the Green controlled Haringey Council puts a stop to these events?
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Indeed; thanks for this Konrad.
The previous crew and their employees in their—out-of-control—Events Team simply did not care.
While some of our park's trees in the Krankbrother quarter are steadily weakened through the indirect effects of local New Labour's commercial exploitation policy, others are managed on behalf of the Event customer:
Trees felled in Finsbury Park to protect Krankbrother ravers
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Permalink Reply by Giovanna iozzi
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Hi Konrad, thanks for your message. I have been on the case! As soon as I saw this, I sent an email to the parks team and have asked for a number of things: as well as expressing my deep concern for the trees and the area and why an event is still being held here, what the tree surveys and ecology reports tell us from Krank and the council and whether myself and cabinet member for parks can have a meeting and walk about with the teams to look at the soil and compaction which clearly, as I have been raising the alarm on for a number of years through HTP, is having an awful effect. Thanks Cllr Gio iozzi
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Permalink Reply by Konrad B
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As I write, Krankbrother are moving into the site for their events which start in 11 days time on Saturday 1 August. Are Krankbrother and Haringey Council confident that the wooded area is a safe place for thousands of people? Imagine if the tree had of come down during the events how many would have been killed?
The whole wooded area should be cordoned off and independent tree experts (not Council and Krankbrother people) and the Health and Safety Executive brought in to assess the situation. If this disrupts Krankbrother plans - tough.
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To illustrate the potential danger from another falling tree here is a picture taken from the Krankbrother web site of the 2023 event. Thousands of people crowded round the trees, how many would be killed if one came down.
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FATALITIES from crowd-crushing have long been a risk with the council's biggest FP customer Festival Republic /Live Nation (below); fatalities through tree collapses are a risk from the smaller Krankbrother gigs.
Drug deaths at a previous Live Nation /Festival Republic Wireless event were not enough to cause the previous New Labour council to eview of their Events policy. I hope it will not take any form of fatalities on council land for the new (Green) Administration to kill these damaging hires.
The trees in the Premises hired to Krankbrother are among the oldest in our park; the compaction by stamping ticketholders is weakening them. The risk may be for more fatalities than occurred at Live Nation's infamous AstroWorld crushing event.
Do the Landlord and the Licensing Authority not turn a blind eye to some of these risks?
Our park "premises" that the council licences and hires out to the promoter are simply unsuitable. And yet, the Events Team bend over backwards to facilitate and accommodate the council's over-valued customer.
IMO the council's secret contract should not be renewed and the entire Major Events policy—inherited from the previous New Labour Administration—should be reviewed with a view to termination.
#NatureThugs
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Permalink Reply by wanttoremainanon
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long time lurker and watcher of these threads and now i have joined to provide some balance as many of these hysterical comments need challenge.
Yes i am staying anonymous (thank you Hugh) as the pile on i would receive from some on here quite frankly is not worth my effort.
Firstly 'our park' also belongs to thousands of Haringey residents that attend these concerts. Do i like them all, no, but do i want our area to be synonymous with some the biggest artists in the world and when i turn on radio x in the morning them talking about our area in the positive rather than the usual negative...unequivocally yes. I attended Kasabian at it was absolutely brilliant. When was the first gig in the park anyway? suspect it was long before most of you ney sayers moved to the area.
To draw any equivalence to the tragedy at astro world is incredibly naive and disrespectful to those who died there. Completely different show and safety regime.
Drugs deaths again another complete red herring... This is a problem in society and every large show has its issues with drugs... the key is how they are dealt with/prepared for.
The UK entertainment industry is a absolute world leader in safety ( yes I do work in the industry, no i don't work for LN/FR/Krank or the council before you throw that at me which is what you do to anyone who supports the concerts)
What i can tell you in the industry is FR and co are world leaders in these kind of things. Will it always go perfectly no..Wembley doesn't, Spurs definitely doesn't nor does every other major event in the country so the unexpected will happen but they do have the benefit of tremendous resource to fix problems.
You need to have some perspective here. Bottom line is parks are non statutory.. the council does not have to provide a park. Every local authority in the land lucky enough to have a park suitable to events is using them to generate income to keep the parks alive..In 'our park' as you keep alluding to the vollyball/basketball courts, the new lighting, the sunken garden improvements, the new gym equipment and other things are all as i understand it funded by at least partly the income from these events. Whatever the council receive and ii suspect its in excess of £1m a year would be a massive massive gap to fill. The alternative of course is to put all our council tax up to cover the difference... fancy that?
I don't know them but your vilification of the council events team is in my opinion also unwarranted and unbecoming of you as a former councilor. It is literally their job to promote the park, generate income from it that allows all the good stuff to happen. Your personal attacks on them and encouragement of pile on's is out of order and needs to be called out.
I m sure that a review of all the trees us being done as we speak... the collapse of that one is more likely to be due to years of drought conditions/disease not because there is a gig in there. From memory krank have used it for at lease 7 years and i walk through there most days.... still trees, still birds still rats, still foxes... your predictions of doom are not true.
Is everything rosy no...clearly having 45000 people leave a concert at once after a long day of enjoying themselves is always going to be associated with some disturbance an antisocial behavior. It comes with the territory. I m not going to sit here and say it wont happen nor diminish any perceived/experienced impact it has on anyone directly affected but i would also wager that if you engage positively with the organizers and with a bit of acceptance that for 6 nights of 365 you are going to experience some disruption in the evening between 2100 and 0030 maybe you will find that they would do their best (within reasonable limits) to help.
I would point out that for 9 months of the year every other Saturday/Sunday and midweek evenings i experience far worse ASB, violent and disgusting behaviour from football fans. But it seems that is 'ok' because its football.
The whole of Tottenham is similarly affected.
So in conclusion for me.. keep coming with the fantastic artists. Its worth it. Thank you Haringey council..... (can't believe i have said that)
now where is the LTN thread....different view!_
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Permalink Reply by Grand Parader
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Completely agree with you wanttoremainanon. Thanks for writing that
I think next year or the year after will be 40 years of concerts in the park (in the contemporary era).
Long may they continue - maybe in better formats, more likeable promoters (we used to complain about Vince Power, but he's now looking more like an angel)
These concerts are rites of passage for many.
Madstock's a bit of a memory - but that's showing my age
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haha... Did all the Madstocks! those were the days....
a quick google and it seems the park has been used for mass participation large music concerts on and off since 1948!
whatever you say about Vince Power he and other mega promoters are responsible for much of the culture in this country. No doubt rough round the edges!
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Permalink Reply by Cathy
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I agree.
Chestnut trees are suffering everywhere.
Concerts are a nuisance for some and a great experience for others. It is a source of income for the Council. I'm all for the Council not having to depend on that source of income, but where is the campaign for more government spending and more generosity towards Councils?
Where is the campaign to discourage drug use generally? Where is the campaign for human size concerts where enjoyment does not depend on extreme levels of sound and drug use? Sort all that out first.
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Drugs have bene associated with music since time immemorial.
modern society is no different and its true to say the variety and potency of modern drugs is arguably more dangerous however the medical providers employed at today's events are very experienced in dealing with the consequences of their use. sadly however people will always die taking them illicitly... you can just be unlucky.
No drugs at all at any large music event is an unachievable utopia sadly.
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Not really. I've never seen any drugs at the Proms, Glyndebourne, or Aldeburgh.
I suspect a classical or folk festival in Finsbury Park would cause far less offence, inconvenience, crime, anti-social behaviour, and environmental damage.
It cannot be denied that the additional precautions needed as a result of the demographic attracted to the festivals in Finsbury Park are what cause most of the problems (eg. Massive fences to stop people sneaking in without tickets, additional space needed for security staff to check for drugs and weapons).
Young people do stupid and inconsiderate things (they also attract older people who prey on them). So in order for them to enjoy their music, which is fair enough, such events should be held in suitable locations (eg. Drumsheds or fields in the countryside away from houses).
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I live far enough away from the park for the incessant bass thrum generated by most of the concerts to be only a minor irritant, though it’s easy enough to empathise with those living right on top of the events. But, wanttoremainanon — leaving aside attacks on the council team apparently responsible for contracting Live Nation and others — the debate centres on the regular exclusion of people from enjoyment of an area designed to enable recreation and give access to nature, an open space in the midst of a dense urban area which was not intended as a music venue. The scale of the events means that their physical footprint is enormous, the get-in, set-up and get-out timing extends the exclusion periods well beyond the actual duration of the concerts themselves, and the damage caused to the park itself takes months to be repaired. Regularly excluding from a substantial area of parkland those who want to enjoy fresh air and green space is the antithesis of what a park was created for.
There may well be world-class artists performing and they’re doubtless enjoyed by many; yes, huge numbers of people leaving a venue may well cause anti-social incidents wherever it is, but the main question remains: in comparison with a purpose-built indoor venue, or a stadium set up to cope with 45,000 people, provide catering outlets, lavatories, first-aid and permanent seating, standing room and access, is Finsbury Park the appropriate place for major music festivals at all?
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