Stop MSG Sphere campaigners outside a full Council meeting at Newham Town Hall where they gathered petition signatures from a third of councillors. June 2019.
Led by local residents, Stop MSG Sphere campaign halted plans for a 21,500-capacity, Las Vegas-style venue in Stratford, East London.
The Campaign
In March 2018, Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) announced plans to build a Las Vegas-style development in Stratford, East London. The proposed MSG Sphere was a 21,500-capacity entertainment venue (90m high and 120m wide), covered entirely in digital screens and lit up 17 hours every day. It was to be built just 50-75m from hundreds of homes, posing serious risks: unprecedented light and noise pollution, increased air pollution, an overwhelmed transport system, and enormous carbon emissions. Determined not to let this happen, two concerned residents connected on Facebook and set up the Stop MSG Sphere campaign: a grassroots effort that spanned years.
From day one, the campaign faced significant obstacles. The proposal had support from the Secretary of State for Culture, the Mayor of London, and Stratford’s London Assembly member. Worse, decisions sat with an unelected planning body – LLDC, where local councillors on the Planning Decisions Committee were outnumbered by private sector appointees. Undeterred, campaigners knocked on doors, ran street stalls, leafleted around Stratford, and built links with community groups. They created templates for objections, gathered hundreds of handwritten responses, and launched a website with information and statements of support from mayoral candidates. They exposed MSG’s tactics through both national and international media coverage; PR stunts, dubious polls, enticing residents with event tickets and funding, and the insult of offering blackout blinds – and revealed conflicts of interest between LLDC and MSG through Freedom of Information requests.
Stop MSG Sphere campaigners celebrating their final victory – MSG’s withdrawal of their planning application. Stratford Picturehouse, February 2024.
We’re incredibly proud that a small group of local residents was able to achieve something so unlikely. To be recognised by the SMK National Campaigner Awards is a huge honour. It validates the years of hard work, and shows that people power and community really can win.”
-Ceren Sonmez
Stop MSG Sphere founding member
The Change
The core group was never more than 10-15 people, yet it shifted political opinion. Local councillors, the Assembly Member, and eventually Sadiq Khan turned against the plans. Despite the Secretary of State launching a process to override Khan’s rejection, MSG withdrew the application in January 2024. MSG’s CEO later admitted: “We can’t keep banging our heads against the wall in London… We must have modified our plans 100 times to make it acceptable to the local community.”
What’s next?
The campaign’s legacy is community empowerment. Members of the group, and many supporters, now feel more confident researching and challenging vested interests, speaking up in planning matters, and navigating democratic processes. It also showed the wider public that ordinary people can hold global corporations and public authorities to account, and win.
Who else was involved?
Green Councillor Nate Higgins, Newham Cyclists, Focus E15, Fossil Free Newham, Newham Momentum, XR Newham, Newham and Greenwich Green Party members, West Ham Labour Party members, Lyn Brown MP, London Assembly member Unmesh Desai, Newham Council, London Assembly’s Environment Committee.
