Oops… They Did It Again: High Court rules Lambeth Council acted unlawfully over Brockwell Live 2025 – for the second time

For the second time in less than a year, the High Court has ruled that Lambeth Council acted unlawfully in its handling of Brockwell Live 2025.

A sealed High Court Order approved on 2 March 2026 has quashed two key decisions the Council relied on last year to allow the festival to proceed and has formally declared that Lambeth failed to properly direct itself in its role as statutory trustee of Brockwell Park.

The Council and Summer Events Ltd confirmed to the Court that they would not defend the claim, and the Order was made by consent.

This marks the second time the Court has removed the legal footing Lambeth relied upon for the 2025 events.

To understand why this matters, it helps to rewind to last spring. In March 2025, Lambeth granted a Certificate of Lawfulness of Proposed Use, known as a CLOPUD, effectively certifying that Brockwell Live could proceed under temporary permitted development rules.

That decision was challenged in judicial review proceedings and was quashed by the High Court in May 2025. Despite that ruling, the events went ahead.

In the days following the first High Court judgment, a second legal route was pursued. On 19 May 2025, Summer Events Ltd applied for a different type of certificate — a Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development, or CLEUD — covering a temporary change of use of parts of Brockwell Park between 13 May and 5 June 2025, including the installation and removal of temporary stages and infrastructure. Lambeth granted that certificate on 22 May 2025.

According to the agreed Statement of Reasons now before the Court, the Council fell into the same legal error as before. It attempted to certify as lawful a temporary change of use that extended beyond the 28 days allowed under permitted development rules, relying on a later planning permission to cover the remaining period.

The High Court had already rejected that reasoning in the earlier proceedings. Once Lambeth withdrew its appeal in December 2025, it followed that the CLEUD rested on the same flawed interpretation of the law. The Court has now quashed that certificate.

In practical terms, the legal basis the Council relied on for Brockwell Live 2025 has been set aside for a second time.

The new ruling goes further than planning technicalities. Brockwell Park is not simply Council-owned land; Lambeth holds it as statutory trustee for the public. That role carries separate legal responsibilities.

On 16 May 2025 — the same day the first certificate was quashed — the Council granted an Event Permit for Brockwell Live. Paragraph 15.1 of that permit stated that if the Hirer did not obtain the required planning permission, “the event will be cancelled”.

When the High Court quashed the original certificate, that amounted to what the Statement of Reasons describes as a “material change of circumstances” which the Council was required to consider when deciding whether the event should proceed.

Instead, the Council relied on the newly granted CLEUD, or the anticipated grant of it, and did not take action under the Event Permit.

With the CLEUD now accepted to be unlawful, the Court has formally declared that Lambeth failed to properly direct itself in exercising its obligations as statutory trustee of Brockwell Park.

The High Court has also quashed a separate decision relating to environmental safeguards. Planning permission for the Lambeth Country Show was granted on 7 May 2025 subject to conditions requiring ecological and biodiversity assessments to be submitted and approved by 11 May 2025, before the change of use began Those conditions were not fully complied with.

On 20 May 2025, Lambeth applied to itself for a “non-material amendment” to alter the deadline for compliance, pushing it back to 5 June 2025. That amendment was approved the following day.

The agreed Statement of Reasons accepts that in granting that amendment the Council failed properly to consider why those ecological safeguards had been required before the event in the first place. The amendment has therefore been quashed.

The original planning permission itself remains in place, but the legal move that allowed environmental protections to be delayed has been removed.

There are financial consequences as well. Under the Consent Order, Lambeth must pay the claimant’s costs of the proceedings, subject to the Aarhus cap of £35,000, and make an interim payment of £10,000 within 15 working days.

This follows earlier proceedings in which legal costs were reported to have reached approximately £185,000 before the Council withdrew its appeal. The new Order adds further exposure to the public purse.

The Court’s decision does not affect the planning permission recently granted for Brockwell Live 2026, which is legally separate.

However, it concerns the same trust land and was granted only days before the High Court confirmed that Lambeth had misdirected itself in its role as statutory trustee and had unlawfully altered the timing of ecological safeguards in 2025.

The 2026 approval again relies heavily on planning conditions and safeguards to manage environmental impacts. Protect Brockwell Park have indicated they are taking legal advice.

This latest ruling is not political commentary or campaign rhetoric. It is the High Court record. For the second time in relation to Brockwell Live 2025, Lambeth Council’s decisions have been quashed as unlawful, and the Court has formally declared that the Council failed properly to direct itself in its duties as trustee of Brockwell Park.

As the borough moves toward local elections and another summer of events in the park, that legal history now sits firmly in the public domain.