An electronic music festival in east London has been cancelled due to record levels of rainfall.
We Are Fstvl was due to bring acts like Groove Armada and Chase & Status to Central Park in Dagenham on May 25 and 26, but health and safety concerns were raised about the site.
Festival organisers said they were heartbroken that the festival was unable to go ahead due to “reasons beyond our control”.
In a statement posted on X they said: “Last year, when we were looking for a new home, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham offered us the beautiful Central Park and we worked with them to create detailed plans for how the festival would work this year and be better than ever before.
“We had invested time and money into the new site, new stages and brought in a new creative team to bring the weekend to life with immersive experiences and large art installations, alongside the already fantastic lineup, which we couldn’t wait to share with you.
“Sadly, and just days before we were due to attend on site to start the build, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham accepted that they could not deliver a safe event space that was fit for the purpose of allowing us to stage We Are FSTVL 2024.”
Barking and Dagenham Council said it did not believe the park could safely host the festival’s equipment and visitors.
The council announced on Monday: “We are sorry to announce that the We Are FSTVL event organised by Rebelia Ltd and scheduled to take place in Central Park, Dagenham on the weekend of 25-26 May has had to be cancelled.
“This difficult decision has been made due to health and safety concerns.
“LBBD's recent assessment of Central Park, after record levels of rainfall this year, has found the site cannot safely host the physical demands of We Are FSTVL’s equipment and audience.
“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”
The festival previously had issues in 2019 when party goers “collapsed” after long queues led to crowds pushing through security gates.
