A North London council has resisted campaigners’ calls to permanently outlaw charcoal barbecues in a popular park after it imposed a temporary ban in the spring.
At a Town Hall debate on Monday night (July 14), Camden Council dashed activists’ hopes it would forbid the practice in Highgate’s Waterlow Park despite their warnings over damage to air quality and the surrounding environment.
The local authority had suspended the use of barbecues in the urban haven following two weekends in April when it was overrun with crowds of revellers, leading to complaints of fights, piles of rubbish and people defecating in bushes.
It is yet to lift the ban due to the increased risk of wildfires in dry hot weather. At virtually the same time the council meeting was taking place in Camden, over in East London fire crews were tackling three separate wildfires, in Walthamstow, Dagenham and Hornchurch.
An online petition to put an end to the smoky cookouts in Waterlow Park was launched in April, gaining nearly 1,500 supporters. Volunteers for the park’s trust also joined calls for total prohibition.
“What happened this year shows how Waterlow – the only public open space in London where people can use barbecues of any size – has become a victim of its own success,” said Francis Wilkinson, Chair of the trust’s ‘Barbecue Working Group’ set up in 2024.
The Highgate Village Green Preservation Society (HVGPS), whose petition triggered the debate, said that “scorched earth, mounting rubbish, ash bins smoking like chimneys and a huge increase in road traffic” were hurting the local community, environment and wildlife and that the grass would take at least a year to recover.
“The harmful pollutants emitted by burning charcoal are also well-documented in scientific literature,” said HVGPS spokesperson Lucy Tauber.
Cabinet Member for Planning and Sustainable Camden, Adam Harrison, said the council’s policy was “constantly under review” and stressed the importance of preventing Waterlow from turning into an “events space”. But he also highlighted the need to accommodate families and groups of friends, especially since, according to the council’s report, the borough had the third-highest number of residents in the country without access to a private outdoor area.
He added that this was in the spirit of the 26-acre park’s creation as a “garden for the gardenless”, harking back to the words of Sir Sidney Waterlow who donated its fields to the public in 1889. Ms Tauber, however, argued that during this period – the Industrial Revolution – gardens emerged from the need for “spiritual solace in a space without pollution”.
Officers said the petition, with a “relatively low number of signatories versus residents”, did not provide a full picture of the wider community’s view since only 12 per cent of 1,067 people who had signed by the time it was submitted said they lived in Camden. Others from the Barbecue Working Group also wrote to the local authority to say not all members wanted a permanent ban.
Local councillors added that such a policy was a matter for the park’s charitable trust and not the committee. Cllr Sharon Hardwick, however, said she was worried about “searing hot” tin trays being left in bins, though officers said the majority of park users were bringing their own barbecues.
While acknowledging the need for an updated policy, the council said in the meantime it would continue monitoring the grounds and other green spaces where it had also suspended barbecues. Conversations with the park trust about the “divisive issue” would also continue, they said.
Camden Council remains the only London borough which allows “informal” park barbecues.
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