Megan Thee Stallion performs for thousands in the park at Wireless last summer

A NEW five-year deal for live events in Finsbury Park has been signed by Haringey Council – but opponents say the move will wreck the green space.

The arrangement with Festival Republic will secure the future of events like Wireless, which draws in thousands of music fans every summer, and concerts like the comeback gig being staged by Pulp tomorrow (Saturday).

In the new deal, there is also allocation for a second weekend of major events the park.

Haringey is adding in two events of its own: Finsbury Fest, a community festival that will see local artists perform, and Haringey Schools Music Festival showcasing the borough’s young musicians.

While the park is bordered by three boroughs, Haringey is responsible for its management. Leader of the Liberal Democrats opposition, Councillor Luke Cawley-Harrison, said: “We don’t think that a deal for five years should happen. It should continue on an annual basis, and decisions should be made by a trust made up of key representatives, not the council who are just looking out for their own bottom line.”

He added: “What’s worse, when we attempted to ‘call in’ the decision last week, requesting it goes back to the council’s scrutiny committee to be reviewed, the council determined the decision was ‘non key’ using a technicality – so the committee isn’t allowed to look at it.

“And this was a decision originally taken by the leader behind closed doors with no opportunity for councillors or residents to attend, and no public consultation.”

The council’s scrutiny committee would have the power to make recommendations on the decision, but the council still has the ultimate power on whether or not to accept those recommendations.

Friends of Finsbury Park (FOFP) say these events take away the only green space many people have access to.

“There won’t be any positives for the ecology of the park,” said Beth Anderson, co-chair of FOFP. “And we won’t be able to rewild the south side for at least five years, so when we talk about making our parks climate resilient, Finsbury Park won’t be part of that for five years.”

She added: “After last year’s Wireless, it took eight months for them to fix the pavements and carriageways that had been damaged. So, we’ve now got five years of the park not looking great, and stuck in a cycle of them fixing things just in time for them to be broken again.”

Financially, the new five-year deal sees the council agreeing to getting less money from these events in exchange for a guarantee that the events will always be held in the park.

Ms Anderson said: “If they can’t improve the park on events money they’ve gotten over the last 10 years – our toilets don’t work properly and they’re often closed and in need of repair, and  large parts of park are unusable because of dilapidated buildings that are rat infested – if you couldn’t give us a park on that money, how is less money going to affect us?”

Haringey Council leader Peray Ahmet said: “This new contract will help to bring in significant funds to help us manage and improve the park. Wireless has been there since 2014 and events are an important opportunity for residents, especially our young people, to access world-class music and culture in an affordable and sustainable way.

“In line with our Outdoor Events Policy, we consulted with recognised stakeholders ahead of taking this decision, with feedback received being evaluated as part of the decision-making process. This included the Friends of Finsbury Park group who responded with a detailed letter and had specific questions that were fully considered and directly responded to in our decision report. The decision to make this non-key is in line with our constitution.

“We receive around £1.2m a year from events and that is put directly back into the park. As well as paying for a dedicated park manager and team, these funds have enabled the council to make significant improvements to the park.”

Festival Republic did not respond to a request for comment.