Timeline: Lambeth Country Show fiasco

Friday 3 February

• Urban75 website reports that council officers were told Lambeth Country Show was cancelled. Lambeth council issues press release in the evening saying the event will “take a break” in 2012 due to security risks from the London Olympic Games.

Sunday 5 February

• Brixton Blog starts a petition online calling on the council to consider holding the show later in the year, after the Olympics. Within hours hundreds of people had signed.

Monday 6 February

• Liberal Democrat leader Ashley Lumsden asks for decision to cancel the show to be scrutinized further, saying there had been no consultation. 1000 people have signed the online petition.

Tuesday 7 February

• 

  Lambeth cabinet member for communities, Rachel Heywood, calls on the public to sign the petition to reinstate the show.

• Borough commander Matt Bell denies that police advised the council to cancel the show.

Wednesday 8 February

• Cllr Florence Nosegbe, cabinet member for culture, writes on the Brixton Blog that a “scaled down” country show could in fact go ahead. Cllr Heywood clarifies her comments on the Blog.

Thursday February 9

• Council leader Steve Reed tells the Streatham Guardian that the decision to cancel was, in fact, only a “recommendation” adding to the confusion over the show.

Monday 13 February

• Lambeth safety advisory group meets to discuss possibility of holding show in September.

Wednesday 15 February

• Streatham MP Chuka Umunna says council is “sound in its judgement” to cancel show.

Friday 17 February 

• Brixton Blog editor Zoe Jewell goes on BBC London radio to talk about the community campaign to save the show. The Blog is quoted in the Evening Standard.
• Cllr Reed and police boss Matt Bell release joint statement saying they now agreed about the show being cancelled.
• Council officers propose the weekend 15 and 16 September for the country show, with a budget of £275,000, pending final decision on March 19.

Thursday 29 February

• Revised dates and £400,000 budget confirmed by lead council officer and cabinet member.
• Event manager appointed to oversee the Lambeth Country Show.

Tuesday 3 April 

• Lambeth council announce the decision and that a public community meeting will go ahead in April.