The long-anticipated free music weekender in Camden has been given permission to go ahead by the council despite an objection from the Metropolitan Police.
Camden Music Festival is set to go ahead in September following last year’s cancellation amid concerns from police that it would not be safe enough. One year on, the Met were back urging Camden Council to block the event because organisers had not sent over “vital information” despite being given “numerous chances” to do so.
This included plans for where to put first aid stands, crowd control measures and protections in case “hostile vehicles” tried to ram into festivalgoers on the day. Detective Constable Dominic Hallam said the past failures to submit plans meant granting the event licence would leave the police relying “purely on trust”. The Met’s solicitor added that this issue went “right to the heart” of public safety.
“How are you going to make sure that people aren’t crushed to death?” they asked.
But councillors dismissed the Met’s “inappropriate” language. “Respectfully, it’s somewhat irresponsible for things to be framed this way and to talk in such extreme senses about people being crushed to death,” said Cllr Matt Cooper (Labour).
His colleague Sabrina Francis (Labour) had also pointed out that there was still time for teams to submit these documents, and that stopping the festival before the deadline for this would be “frankly unfair”.
However, the Camden Music Festival could still be cancelled for a second year in a row if its organisers do fail to provide safety plans 30 days out from the event, or if their safeguards are not accepted by the council’s safety advisory group.
Since the weekend event launched in 2023, the Met has warned that it would attract pickpockets and other criminals to Camden Town – an area they said is already blighted by antisocial behaviour and sex offences.
When announcing the postponement of last year’s gigs, organiser Lee Bennett said safety was “the most important thing” and that it would not be “worthwhile” to scale back the event while paying further costs.
Cllr Cooper added that although some locals were initially unhappy about the weekender taking over Camden Town streets such as Hawley Crescent and Castlehaven Road, many had withdrawn their objections after receiving assurances from the organisers.
The three-day gala has not yet released a lineup, but 2023 saw performances from folk rock legend Billy Bragg, Buzzcocks, DJ Paul Oakenfold and R&B group, Shalamar. A solicitor for Mr Bennett said the “whole event has support from the council, community, local pubs and shops”.
Alongside the music festival, Mr Bennett has been the force behind the borough’s Music Walk of Fame in 2019, honouring figures like Eddy Grant, Janis Joplin, Buzzcocks, The Kinks, The Who and The Sugarhill Gang with disc-shaped plaques on the Camden High Street’s pavement.
The Met was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.
