PREMISES LICENCE APPLICATION
What are we applying for?
Following the successful staging of the Country on the Common festival in July 2025, Enable is applying for a one-year time-limited Premises Licence to host the event in its current form on Tooting Commons in 2026.
What is Country on the Common?
Country on the Common is a family-friendly, country themed two-day festival that was staged in July 2025 on Tooting Commons, as part of Wandsworth’s year as London Borough of Culture.
The 2026 edition of the event would be based on this event format, with some limited room for growth in capacity, up to a maximum of 7,500 attendees. Every event will have a maximum capacity, but this is not always met, as was the case with the 2025 event. The event would retain the family-friendly atmosphere, fun live music stages (featuring country, blues and folk music), interactive family activities, food & drink, all presented within a fun country theme. Any growth will be subject to the framework and limits set out in the recently adopted Events in Parks, Commons, and Open Spaces Policy.
We are applying for a licence to stage the event again after receiving positive feedback from residents and to build on the legacy of Wandsworth’s London Borough of Culture programme.
Attendees told us they were delighted to have a country music event right on their doorstep in London. We also heard praise for its accessibility and welcoming atmosphere for people with disabilities. The event had a strong turn out from the local community, with 44.3% of attendees hailing from Wandsworth and 31.8% of event attendees living within 1.5 miles of the event. Parents enjoyed attending the event with their children, with positive feedback on the child-friendly activities such as storytelling, crafts and theatre, plus positive comments on the facilities provided for babies.
Country on the Common was a standout moment in Wandsworth Council’s London Borough of Culture ‘Welcome to Wandsworth’ programme, which celebrates how culture can spark joy and make us feel happier, healthier, and more connected. Local residents expressed a strong desire for more family-friendly events in the borough’s parks, commons, and open spaces, and this event was created in direct response to that demand.
As part of the programme’s legacy, we aim to continue offering enriching, family-friendly cultural experiences that bring communities together. We also want to build on last year’s success and learn from it to make the 2026 event even better.
As with last year’s event, it will have a discounted Access for All ticketing offer for eligible residents, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, can enjoy opportunities for entertainment.
What would the Premises Licence allow for, and what commitments are we making in it?
Duration: A time-limited one-year Premises Licence for the 2026 event, after which the licence will lapse.
Number of event days: Limited to a maximum of two live event days. A single Saturday & Sunday weekend event, not falling on the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Licensed hours:
Saturday: 12 noon – 10.30pm (same times as 2025)
Sunday: 12 noon – 9.30pm (30 minute earlier finish than 2025)
Event-specific licence: The licence will be conditional for the staging of Country on the Common festival only, the nature of which is described above. If granted, the licence will not be used to stage any other style of festival or event.
Noise: The Licence will not seek any increases to permitted noise limits for the event. Therefore the licence application will be conditional on a Noise Management Plan that would adhere to the same off-site noise limits set by Wandsworth’s Environmental Health Noise & Nuisance team for the 2025 event. Some sound testing may take place outside licensed hours.
Limited capacity increases: The licence application allows for a managed and limited growth of no more than 1,500 additional people:
2025: 6,000 maximum per day
2026: 7,500 maximum per day
Every event will have a maximum capacity, but this is not always met, as was the case with the 2025 event.
On-site period: We commit to keeping our complete on-site period to a maximum of 12 days inclusive of the live event, i.e. 12 days from first day of physical build to final day of load-out.
Footprint: The licensed event area will remain the same as that of 2025, see map right.
How will we safely manage the licensed events?
As with 2025, our event management plans will be developed by Enable’s events team in collaboration with our trusted specialist contractors. These plans will be scrutinised and advised upon by Wandsworth Council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG).
Key elements of our plans will include:
• Increased capacity: As noted, the application allows for an increase of up to 1,500 up to a maximum of 7,500. Every event will have a maximum capacity, but this is not always met, as was the case with the 2025 event. If / when anticipated attendance at the event increases (with regular reviews of ticket sales and projections) we will adapt our on and off site plans and arrangements accordingly. This will include increases in our facilities and infrastructure provision, and increased security and medical staffing and arrangements, appropriate to the expected attendance numbers both on and off-site. Our plans of how we manage this increase in attendance will be subject to the scrutiny of the Wandsworth Safety Advisory Group. To reiterate, the actual footprint of the event site will not increase in 2026 – our licensed area will remain the same as that of 2025.
• Noise: A Noise Management Plan for the event has been submitted as part of the licence application that adhere’s to the off-site noise levels agreed for the event in 2025 with Wandsworth Environmental Health. To ensure we do not exceed these noise limits, an independent noise consultancy team will be on-site throughout the live event to ensure it is adhered to. A resident hotline and email address will be operational throughout the event phases. Pre-event letter drops with resident information and organiser hotline / email details will be distributed to properties around the Common based on mapping agreed with Wandsworth Environmental Health.. The resident pre-information letter will outline both the live event times, during which licenced performances of live and recorded music will take place, along with the PA testing and soundcheck times before each event that fall outside of this licensable scope.
• Outside the event: As with 2025’s event, security, egress, waste and toilet arrangements will be in place to ensure that arriving and departing customers safely reach local transport hubs and to minimise impact on our neighbours or local traffic.
• Security & stewarding: A professional crowd management contractor, with extensive experience of managing large events, will be engaged to provide security and stewarding to the event. In 2025 a security and stewards to attendees ratio of 1:100 was agreed with the Met Police and proved an appropriate baseline for the event, therefore this has been adopted as a condition of the licence application.
• Commons access: The footpaths around the Commons will remain open and throughout the event phases. The event site will not expand and will remain contained on the single Lido field area with footpath access maintained around it. There will be no direct impact to business-as-usual operations at the Lido swimming facilities.
• Parking: A customer survey undertaken after the 2025 event showed that 92% of attendees that completed the survey either walked, cycled, taxied or used public transport to travel to the event. There was no measurable or noted impact on parking in the area. The festival will continue to be advertised as a walking and public transport-only event. Parking in the Lido carpark will be controlled on event days to prioritise Lido users and a managed “Pick Up / Drop Off” point for both taxis and personal cars will again be instigated in the Dr Johnson Carpark.
• Litter Control: A waste management plan, including recycling, will be enacted for this event. This will include the deployment of bins and post-event litter sweeping off-site along egress routes to Tooting Bec Road and Bedford Hill. There was only one received complaint regarding event litter received in 2025, this was later found to be likely left by general park users but was remedied in any case. No other negative feedback regarding litter from the 2025 event has been received.
• Ecology: In 2025, the Common greenspace management team created a specific report and action plan based on the event. The ecology report has ascertained the format of the event, footprint and production do not have a detrimental impact on wildlife populations (including bats) or the protected acid grass around the event event site. This plan will be reviewed annually and any additional action points implemented by the organisers where required.
• Ground Protection & Post-Event Maintenance: Ground protection systems will be installed to vehicle routes around the event site. After the event, organisers will ensure thorough cleanup and any necessary repairs to the event site. There were minimal impacts from the 2025 event to the grass and grounds, limited to some small exacerbated grass balding from the hot summer weather, and imprints left by the ground protection systems from which the grass recovered quickly after the 2025 event.
• Accessibility: The event management team will provide a site as accessible as practicable, with arrangements in place for those with access requirements. These will include an accessible viewing platform, companion tickets, Blue Badge parking and additional support where required.
• Communications: Pre-event communications will again include a local area letter drop with pre-event information, including the resident hotline telephone number and email address. The area mapping for the letter drop will again be agreed with Wandsworth Environmental Health team, and last year included 5,922 residential & business addresses.
Where can I find out more and how can feedback be given?
Feedback and conversations during the consultation period are welcomed by Enable from residents and stakeholders.
Email: You can contact us via country@enablelc.org with feedback and questions. We will aim to respond within three working days.
In-person consultation & FAQs: An in-person consultation meeting will take place on Saturday 13th December at 9.30am - 10.30am on Tooting Commons, at the Lido Field, SW16 1RU – this link may assist with finding the location: https://w3w.co/grant.ahead.rises