A petition has been launched to stop events being held at Higginson Park as works start on restoring the land following the Christmas in Park event.

The petition is calling for Buckinghamshire Council to change the process of deciding on commercial event applications.

It says that the recent events have “exploited and physically damaged” the park environment.

The petition also argues that the events have “restricted” access to the park “over extended periods of time”.

High-profile events such as Pub in the Park and Christmas in the Park have been held at Higginson Park.

Part of the petition reads: “We’re calling on Buckinghamshire Council to change the process, governance, participation and criteria they apply when reviewing, discussing and deciding on commercial event applications.

“We want the Council to ensure broader inclusion and collaboration in the process to include key community groups, park users and residents; whether via regular ‘Friends of Higginson Park’ meetings or another suitable forum.

“We want a new set of event policies and guidelines defined and implemented, which ensure future events are hosted and managed in a manner that aligns with the original objectives and ethos of the Higginson Park Trust, ensuring a lower impact on the park, it’s wildlife, the people that use the park each day.

“Fees charged to commercial event organisers need to be proportional to the inconvenience, disruption and damage that the events bring about, as well as proportional to the gains event organisers are making.

“We want our Council to champion and approve events that are low impact and environmentally sustainable from the outset, as well as beneficial for the vast majority of local people - not only the ticket-paying minority.

“Finally, we want Buckinghamshire Council to pause decision making on any further commercial events until a new model and approach to decision making is implemented.”

Brand Events have responded to the petition by revealing they are spending £20,000 on a major programme of upgrade works to the grass with work starting this week following the Christmas in the Park event.

A statement from Brand Events, who ran Christmas in the Park, said: “Ahead of the event, it was agreed with both Marlow Town and Buckinghamshire Councils that Christmas in the Park would undertake a major programme of upgrade works to the grass which we as an organisation are fully funding.

“We are spending over £20,000 on this work.

“The areas used for the event were those agreed with the council that were already in need of refurbishment.

“We are now embarking on the largest planned improvement to the grass in Higginson Park that will have been seen for many years.

“Our intention is not just to restore the grass to its original condition but to leave it looking better and more robust than ever before.

“Our plans include laying fresh turf, improving the soil and making additional improvements to the land and grass.

“As such, some areas of the park will be cordoned off for a period of time.

“These works will be ongoing in January and regular users of the park can expect to see significant improvement over the next four weeks.

“The rainy conditions of the event break down increased the mud and disruption to the pathways.

“A major programme of path cleaning took place from December 27 to 30.

“We apologise to anyone who was affected by the mud or the clean-up operation.

“As a local business, we care deeply about our local park.

“We have a strong history of providing great days and nights for our customers within the town in many venues and supporting a wide variety of community and charity initiatives.

“We are taking all comments on board and we will be reviewing the locations for our future Christmas events.”