Beth Anderson in the park with the Tough Mudder trail behind

NEIGHBOURS and users of Finsbury Park say they want all major events cancelled after an obstacle course event turned the green space to mud.

The call comes with Britpop band Pulp planning one of its reunion gigs in the park this summer, and the annual Wireless music festival also on the schedule.

Organisers of last weekend’s Tough Mudder challenge have already been told it will not be able to return to the park due to the damage caused.

Tom Graham, co-chair of Friends of Finsbury Park (FOFP), representing more than 500 regular users, said: “I think Jarvis Cocker is a great guy, and I would love to see him in a suitable venue, like the O2 or something. But this is about how we treat our green spaces. It’s not about singling out Pulp, we don’t support any major events in Finsbury Park.”

Pulp, who scored chart hits with Common People and Disco 2000, have sold out the park for a date in July.

The state of Finsbury Park after the Tough Mudder event

Beth Anderson, FOFP’s other co-chair, said: “We’re in a climate emergency. We live in a really populated, busy, polluted city and most people don’t have gardens. This is all they’ve got. It’s so upsetting.”

“The park becomes a hostile environment when events are on. Tough Mudder took over the whole park – you come in here and you’ve got hundreds of people covered in mud running past you,” said Ms Anderson.

She added: “This is a choice [by Haringey Council] to use this as a cash cow and to treat its natural environment crappily, and to treat the residents who use it crapply because most of them aren’t Haringey voters, and most of them are poor.

“A million quid a year from events, and where does it go? We’ve still not got streetlights in the park. We’ve managed to get some CCTV, but this is hard-earned stuff through lobbying and pushing the council and it shouldn’t have to be.

“We’ve got an extremely high instance of sexual assault in Finsbury Park and for these basic things [that would help prevent or prosecute those crimes] you shouldn’t have to have Friends groups working that hard.”

Tom Graham

When the Tribune went to visit the park on Monday after the Tough Mudder run, large swathes of grass around the whole perimeter of the park were churned up and turned to mud, and tyre marks had been left in the grass from the event’s set-up and take-down. Saplings had been accidentally knocked over by Tough Mudder participants, which had been straightened by community garden volunteers.

Andrea Purval, who lives in Finsbury Park, was shocked by the damage done to the park by Tough Mudder. “I think it’s awful. Nature is going to need months to recover. It makes me sad,” she said.

Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn, who was previously a Haringey councillor, agreed with the Friends.

“This constant letting out of the park for commercial interests has got to be seriously looked at and reviewed.

“I would like an undertaking from Haringey that they’re not underfunding the normal spending in the park and allowing this income from events to compensate for it because that should not be the case. Parks are for all; they should not be privatised.”

Andreea Purval

A spokesperson for Tough Mudder said: “We recognise the damage to the park and the impact it has had on the surrounding community. We are working with all relevant stakeholders to restore and repair the damaged areas of the park.”

The park is run by Haringey Council. Its deputy leader and climate chief, Labour councillor Mike Hakata, said: “We take our role as custodians of Finsbury Park extremely seriously, and that includes ensuring that the park is adequately funded. Events are an important part of that, with all income generated getting invested back into the park.

“This has enabled us to make a range of improvements including new permanent lighting which is set to be installed in the next couple of months.

“We manage the park so that it can be enjoyed by everyone who lives in and visits the area, regardless of their background or their income.

“While the park is entirely within Haringey, we recognise that it lies on the intersection of three boroughs, and always seek to involve residents from all three boroughs when making decisions about the park.”