THE WEIRD PLAN to turn Clapham Common into a giant campsite for Royal Wedding fans has run into trouble from local campaigners and politicians.


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The idea from a company called Camp Royale is to house 10,000 celebrants of Kate Middleton and Prince William’s wedding in tents at £75 per person for the three-day weekend that includes 29 April.

“I can’t say I’m overly keen on the idea of a new 10,000 place campsite on my doorstep,” said Councillor James Cousins.

“It could cause huge disruption to residents who don’t seem to have been consulted at all.”

Cousins is a councillor for the borough of Wandsworth, which covers only part of Clapham Common. The rest is controlled by Lambeth Council. There’s nothing official from Lambeth yet, but the council appears warm to the plan.

“Clapham Common has staged a number of large scale events so this isn’t a one off,” said a spokesperson.

“We would ensure that council representatives are present to monitor the event.”

But the local Friends of Clapham Common group, which has raised millions of pounds over the years to help improve the common, looks like lining up with Wandsworth over the issue.

“We don’t think the common can take 10,000 campers for three days,” said Melanie Oxley, FCC chair.

The wider context is that Lambeth Council has recently announced huge cuts to its services, including cuts to its parks budget. Renting out the common to private companies more often could be one way of raising some cash.

Hotels rooms far nearer than Clapham Common to the events of 29 April are still available; we’ve collected some of them together for those who fancy a special weekend in town.

But if a night under canvas at the Camp Royale still grabs your fancy you can always do it in style with a 18ft tipi. Labelled ‘Camp Royale Glamping’ the tipis sleep six and are yours for a cool £2,000.