A third of Victoria Park is out of bounds after Field Day festival-goers churned it up in the wet weather, and will stay fenced off until the end of July.

Tower Hamlets Council says to prevent further ground damage it has banned heavy vehicles from the park. These would have been used to remove the fencing, so it will be kept in place until Lovebox festival ends on July 22.

Angry park users questioned “whether it is worth holding festivals”, if it means that they are not able to then use the park themselves.

Rosemary Doyle said: “When you look between the fences it looks like a bomb had gone off – there is no grass and there are huge welts from lorries.

“The council say it’s the “people’s park” but it looks like that is some people’s park only if they are coming for festivals to ruin it for everyone else.

“They completely regenerated it with lottery funding and I just wonder why, if we are not allowed to enjoy it.

“You can’t get to the cafe which must be really suffering, and it will still be fenced off at the beginning of the school holidays.”

A spokesman for the council said it accepted the plan would inconvenience people. He added: “If the fence-line remains then we can really reduce the damage to the ground, which is our absolute priority.”