A controversial Christmas event that damaged parkland in a Buckinghamshire town will not return this winter, the Bucks Free Press can confirm.

Christmas in the Park, a festive event organised by Tom Kerridge and the team behind Pub in the Park, was held for the first time last year, with a lights trail, mistletoe market and winter village, complete with gourmet food trucks and a fairground, descending upon Higginson Park in Marlow from December 1 to December 9. 

The celebration garnered backlash, however, after a petition was launched in late December calling for Higginson Park to no longer be used as an event space due to the "exploitation and physical damage" sustained during the Christmas event.

A spokesperson for Brand Events, the company behind the weeklong festivities, has now confirmed that Christmas in the Park will not be held again this winter, after both Buckinghamshire Council and Marlow Town Council, who supported last year's event, said they had not been advised of its return. 

They said: "We have no plans to repeat Christmas in the Park. We plan to focus all our efforts on the annual Pub in the Park in May."

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Brand Events previously committed to spending over £20,000 on a programme of upgrade works to Higginson Park in response to environmental concerns, including "the largest planned improvement to the grass in years". 

While the event's social media pages are still up, they have been inactive since January 2023, with a final post promising to "take all comments on board" and "review the locations for future Christmas events".