AN Olympic celebration on Blackheath will take the place of Lewisham’s traditional People’s Day festival this year, the council has confirmed.

Lewisham Council has promised “the greatest show on earth” in Blackheath.

But it has been less forthcoming about the cancellation of its Catford event which each year is billed as one of the biggest community festivals in London. This year would have been the 28th event.

Continental Drifts, on behalf of the council, has applied for a premises licence to run Blackheath Live from July 27 to August 12.

Plans include a screen 7.6m by 4.8m backing onto Royal Parade, which is expected to show the BBC’s coverage until around 11pm.

Nearby will be a food and drink area with a capacity of around 5,000 people, while sports events, fairground rides, live music and stalls are all expected to feature.

But Councillor Duwayne Brooks said: “The importance of Peoples’ Day for local community groups cannot be underestimated.

“It annually attracts in excess of 25,000 people, and provides many voluntary groups with their main fund raising opportunity and their chance to promote their activities to residents of Lewisham.

He added: “It will impact dramatically on the budgets of many local groups whose activities do much to support the work of the Council.

“Will the mayor be increasing grants to these groups to make up for their shortfall?”

A Lewisham Council spokesman said: “A detailed programme for the Community Live site will be put together over the next couple of weeks and it is our intention to have a community day as part of the timetable.

“There will certainly be opportunities for local organisations to have a presence and local artistes to perform.”