Avoid Nigel the gardener at all costs. He is untrustworthy and leaves very shoddy work.
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By Kipper_1972 · Posted
it's the only FB Group I was a member of where scam messages would sit for days unmanaged -
There is no question that the events team makes exceptions to the promoted ethos of Southwark Council on green and ecological standards. This is part of the frustration when challenging the decision to allow an event of this kind in that part of the park. It's hypocrisy, and it's entirely commercially led. Other events have always been held on the common, be that the circus, fun fairs, even the two day Irish festival (back in the day). None of those events have ever caused anything like the level of disurbance or damage to the park and common. Local councillors will tell you that every year, the GALA organisers demand more and more and every year they have to be opposed by those same local councillors. It's exhausting. The consultaions are nothing to do with questioning of the event itself, but are designed to make tweaks and allay fears, because the deal is already done with the council events team by the time things get to that. It's so disrespectful to the idea of consultation and what that should mean. -
Thank you very much for taking the time to clarify, Admin. -
There are many negative aspects to the Gala festival, those that I am most concerned about include the residual litter & damage to the park and the impact on wildlife. The latter is supposedly absolved by the "Wildlife Survey" which is carried of each year, but has a sadly limited scope purely to tick a box, rather than actually investigate the effects to wildlife in the park as a whole. The survey document is available on the council website, but this summary from it is a good indication of the level of consideration Gala really have: "The 2025 pre-show nesting bird survey found no evidence of active bird nests within the designated event footprint, and therefore no additional mitigation is required within the working area." This clearly shows that all they are bothered about is whether there are nests onsite, which would prevent them from their construction activities, nothing more. The impact of 24/7 lighting, flashing lights, construction noise, loud music on wildlife outside of the site is of zero interest to them. Here's a map from the survey, showing nests onsite, and possible nests outside the site, and yet it makes no difference to their activities. Crack on, nothing onsite, don't care about anything else? PS I've just noticed that this map references the site footprint from 2022, yet is from the latest 2025 survey. And this is supposed to be a survey from a professional body?? PPS I've just noticed a bat survey on the council website by the same company, which states: "To minimise potential disturbances to local bat populations during the festival, it is recommended to limit artificial lighting and reduce noise levels starting at least 20 minutes before sunset throughout the event period in May 2025." So which part of this did Gala adhere to?!?
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