Councillor Florence Nosegbe, cabinet member for culture, Lambeth Council, said: "While we have known about the Olympics for several years it is only in the last few months that the police, the Mayor and the Olympics organisers have been clear about what London can manage on top of the Games, as well as all the other cultural events that are taking place during July and August."
The event, which is held annually in South London's Brockwell Park, is one of the biggest free festivals in London.
Nosegbe said the police still don’t know how many of Lambeth’s officers will be needed to work at the Games. "As a result we have been advised that holding an event on the scale of the Country Show just before the start of the London Olympics would be a significant security risk. This is for one year only because of the unique circumstances caused by the Olympics. Next year the Country Show will be back bigger and better than ever."
Lambeth Council is putting the money earmarked for the festival into a special fund so that community groups across the borough can run local events of their own.
The festival attracts thousands of Londoners every year, many of whom are angry about the event’s cancellation. Some have already started to organise a mass picnic in the park when the Country Show would have taken place.
As reported by Event last month, the .
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