Another day, another launch of a new commercial website from our friends at Lambeth Council.

The site says:

“We are Event Lambeth, which is part of Lambeth Council. Our aim is simple. To produce, organise and help others create culturally diverse events across the whole borough which everyone can enjoy.”

Not if you aren’t prepared to pay £7 for the fireworks…

The service being offered by the Council is more than a listings page. There is no mention of prices, but we don’t think that a cash-strapped local authority that keeps on blaming the Coalition for the cuts will carry out this type of local service for free.

“If you want all the hassle taken out of organising your own event, we can do it all for you. All you need to do is tell us as much detail about the event you want and we’ll do the rest.”

And so it seems that Event Lambeth is similar to Lambeth Communications. A public serving arm of the council is now being pimped out to the community as a commercial enterprise.

But is the service really worth it? Is there actually anything of interest on the Event Lambeth website?

The current events are… events all organised by Lambeth Council.

See what they have done there?

This isn’t Event Lambeth, but events organised by Lambeth Council being used as a shop front to try and tempt others to cough up for a service that you don’t really need.

The exclusive Lambeth fireworks display is currently being flogged heavily on the home page. Plus there’s a plea asking for sponsorship.

And so apart from the Fireworks and the Country Show, what ‘other’ events can we find?

Event Lambeth breaks all rules of the modern interweb by then directing any user away from the original site and over to… the Lambeth Council website.

The ‘other’ events that appear here are… Lambeth Council events, with few genuine grass roots community events with no council involvement.

Local groups have told Brixton Buzz how they have found it almost impossible to get their events plugged by the council, either online or through Weekender Life, the council propaganda sheet.

The website then rather arrogantly boasts:

“Any event in Lambeth needs to be given the go ahead by us at Event Lambeth.”

You sure?

This may be the case for an event involving public space or council property, but if we want to stage an independent gathering do we really need the permission of Event Lambeth?

Of course we don’t.

Plus we don’t need to pay the premium price just to have the event listed on a website that has yet to become established, and one that can only dream of the site traffic that even some other hyperlocals are able to achieve.

Do you want to list your event in Lambeth? Brixton Buzz can do that. Plus it’s FREE and it doesn’t require any prior approval from people who want to justify their own employment status.

Like the best things involving the modern interweb and Brixton, you just Do It Yourself.

And so it turns out that eventlambeth.co.uk is simply a website set up by the Council that tells you how they will organise your events, plus serving the purpose of pimping out the idea that the Council wants sponsorship for the Country Show and the fireworks.

Events dear boy, events…

Related posts:

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Lambeth Council expecting 50% reduction in number of residents prepared to pay for Brockwell fireworks

Lambeth Council blames budget cuts as plans announced to charge £7 for annual Brockwell Park fireworks display

Lambeth Council cashes in on Town Hall PR skills with launch of Lambeth Communications