Mighty Hoopla festival given green light to go ahead despite concerns over muddy conditions

A major London music festival set for this weekend has been given the green light, despite earlier concerns over muddy conditions at the venue.

Nelly Furtado and Jessie Ware are among the stars slated to appear at Mighty Hoopla in Brockwell Park on Saturday and Sunday.

The festival, which will also feature En Vogue, Claire Richards and Bananarama, is expected to attract 60,000 people over the two days.

Organisers of the pop festival confirmed on Friday that it will proceed as planned after extensive efforts to manage the muddy conditions.

They wrote on social media site X: “We’ve seen you in the DMs, the inbox and the messages so we wanted to let you know that thanks to our all the incredible hard work from our team on site and working closely with Lambeth Council, Mighty Hoopla 2024 is on :).”

Lambeth Council, which had previously expressed uncertainty in the aftermath of a series of events that turned the park into a mudbath, said the festival was going ahead ”after a big push to protect the event space from damage and make it safe for visitors.”

The family-friendly Brockwell Bounce was cancelled earlier this week due to similar concerns.

Brockwell Park had hosted four events over the Bank Holiday - Project 6, Wide Awake, Cross The Tracks, and City Splash - which local residents said left the ground “churned up”.

The council assured that any necessary repairs to the park would be funded by the event organisers.

Officials had previously confirmed that work had been ongoing to ensure Mighty Hoopla could still take place, and the event has now received final approval.

A Lambeth council spokesperson said: “There has been far less rain this week which has helped ensure the Mighty Hoopla can go ahead and the council remains optimistic that the same will apply for the Lambeth Country Show. That decision will be subject to ongoing review.

“The council has approved extra measures for the events area at Brockwell Park to ensure visitor safety, and to protect areas that had become muddy on the downpours from damage ahead of the weekend. Specialist matting with a thin layer of woodchip on top is being used to achieve this. The technique has been used at a number of other large events, including Radio 1’s Big Weekender in Luton.”

Festival-goers can look forward to a stellar line-up and a weekend of entertainment, despite the challenging weather conditions earlier in the week.

The Lambeth Country Show is scheduled to be held in the park on June 8 and June 9. Council officials said that a new event would be scheduled to take the place of Brockwell Bounce later in the year.

The Friends of Brockwell Park charity has raised concerns about private festivals damaging the park, saying it was "not the best Brockwell Park can be but the worst".

Chair Peter Bradley said major events can ruin the grass and "inflict noise on local people for miles around."