The Friends of Finsbury Park say: WE WANT OUR PARK BACK! 

STOP Krankbrother ruining Finsbury Park’s Northside!

Year on year, the Krankbrother music event is impacting trees, people and wildlife in the most nature-rich area of one of London's oldest Victorian parks, Finsbury Park. We say enough is enough - we need our PARK BACK for Nature Recovery and Residents. 

Please sign and share our petition to demand that Haringey Council STOP SACRIFICING OUR PARK FOR PRIVATE EVENT COMPANY PROFIT. Haringey council are supposed to be custodians of our park but are turning a blind eye to Big Events trashing its beauty. See our Open Letter about Events and what we're asking the Events and Parks teams to do to protect the park's ecology here.

The Northside is not the right place for ANY party event and Krankbrother needs to find an alternative venue. This event is:

BAD FOR TREES! BAD FOR WILDLIFE! BAD FOR PEOPLE!

Every August, armies of HGVS, ton-heavy shipping containers, stages, food vans, generators and 60,000+ people will once again crowd into the ecology-rich northside of Finsbury Park. This event is IMPACTING the health of an avenue of historic plane trees, DISTURBING family groups of birds, HALTING nature recovery, and filling the air with TOXIC POLLUTION and NOISE. 

Shockingly, last year, Haringey council granted Krankbrother permission to make their event even bigger and more disruptive for 5 more years. It will now swell from 5 to 6 days, and from 8,000 attendees to almost 10,000 people each day. The set up lasts a month and spans 2 weekends (2-11th August) at the height of summer when families are most in need of their park.

BAD FOR TREES - Compaction!

 

 

 

 

 

Our 187-year-old historic plane trees are being impacted by Krankbrother’s heavy equipment and the huge footfall/dancing of 60,000 people. Tree Compaction reduces the pore space within soil, resulting in a poor structure that restricts the development of plant roots. The most important tree roots are in the top 2 feet of soil -‘feeding roots’, which need oxygen, water and nutrients. Heavy loads and footfall on this sensitive root zones progressively impacts the health of trees and sends them into early decline. 

The Woodland Trust state that a tree’s root zone (beyond the ‘drip line’) must be protected by 12-15m X the trunk diameter. Haringey’s policy is 3m – not good enough. We know Krankbrother regularly breach even Haringey’s inadequate 3m policy rule. Last year we witnessed branches of these historic trees chopped for vehicle access and soil and grass is still recovering from damage. Arb and Tree Expert Geoff Monck writes, ‘Any moderate level of compaction will kill roots, induce an unnatural decline of the tree and shorten its life, but the more severe the compaction, the quicker the decline and death of the tree.’

BAD FOR WILDLIFE!

 

 

 25 bird species nest in Finsbury Park, including mistle thrush, nuthatch and chaffinch. Many more species visit the park to forage. They are mostly attracted by the woodland aspect, with its wide range of tree species. In August, some birds will still be taking care of fledglings. The more sensitive species can be disturbed by excessive noise. The nearby New River and the Lake are also well-known bat habitats.

BAD FOR PEOPLE!

Private music events from Festival Republic (Wireless) and Krankbrother take over Finsbury Park for a total of over 48 summer days, creating TOXIC diesel POLLUTION from generators and vehicles. Krankbrother makes the northside inaccessible to the community, many of whom have no gardens. The park becomes unsafe for children, families and other park users. Local people are forced to endure repetitive high-volume music and vibrations lasting for days, prolific drug activity and a reduction of access. Children lose their freedom to play safely. 

We are in a climate emergency and the UK is Europe’s most nature-depleted country. Please sign and share our petition to ask that Haringey Council STOP SIGNING OUR PARK AWAY to private events companies. The bar is set too low by our council and while music events teams count their profits, the damage to our trees, wildlife and green spaces park is DEVASTATING. 

Thanks, from stakeholder group: The Friends of Finsbury Park https://www.thefriendsoffinsburypark.org.uk

Twitter: Friends of Finsbury Park
@FinsParkFriends  - our account has been mysteriously suspended just before summer events started but find us on Instagram.

Email us at: thefriendsoffinsburypark@gmail.com Instagram