500 signatures reached
To: Kieron Williams, Leader of Southwark Council at [email protected]
Save Bermondsey Carnival
We are shocked to know that Southwark Council has decided to defund the annual Bermondsey Carnival. It seems responsibility for our landmark local event, with origins going back to 1901, is to be put aside, without any communication or consultation with the public. We call upon the Council to urgently reconsider its decision.
Why is this important?
Open Letter from Southwark Park Association 1869
Dear Cllr. Kieron Williams,
We are a well-established, open and democratic voluntary group committed to the promotion of Southwark Park for the benefit of the community.
We are shocked to know that Southwark Council has decided to defund the annual Bermondsey Carnival. It seems responsibility for our landmark local event, with origins going back to 1901, is to be put aside, without any communication or consultation with the public.
For years the free to attend Carnival has bought people of all ages and backgrounds together for a day of enjoyment and relaxation, without interfering with people’s access to their park. It has been especially important to those who live within the immediate area – over 64,000 people, a fifth of the borough’s population, of whom some 14,000 (22%) are economically disadvantaged.
Without a dedicated budget from the Council the future of the Carnival is in doubt. Reinstatement of £35,000 would cost about 54p a head of the local population, or a tiny 0.4% of the Council’s overall Environment and Leisure budget of £88m. As we come out of the pandemic, giving some certainty around funding for the organisers of the much-loved Carnival makes financial and social sense.
We call upon the Council to urgently reconsider its decision.
If you share our concern about the threat to the future of the Bermondsey Carnival please sign this online petition to the Leader of Southwark Council.
