You’ll know if you live in or around East London that the area is full of large green ‘lungs’ – forest and woodland that allows you to leave the busy city behind, if only for a short time. One of these spots is the Hackney Marshes – today the area is particularly well known for the eighty-eight football and rugby pitches that it contains, which are quiet during the week but come alive at weekends when the Sunday league teams are out in force.
The peace and tranquility of Hackney Marshes has been disturbed in the recent past however, and not just by the shouting of goalies – a highly controversial decision was made to concrete over the East Marsh for the London Olympics, turning it into a coach park for the duration of the games. Although it is now being returned to the state in which it was found before the bulldozers and diggers moved in (you can see the ongoing remedial work in one of the photographs below), there’s more tension on the horizon for this particular part of the green space.
As local activists feared, the coachpark decision has inevitably led to Hackney Council considering how they might make more intense use of the site in future. A consultation has just been launched to ask local residents’ views on the possibility of using Hackney Marshes to host live music festivals on a regular basis from May to August each year – if you’re a Hackney resident or concerned about how London’s open space is used can I encourage you to respond to the consultation, which you’ll find here. You can send in your thoughts up until the closing date of 23 April.
My personal take on the issue? Given that Victoria Park is well-known for hosting events throughout the summer months, I’m not convinced that London really needs another open-air concert venue so close by…
About Pete Stean
