Leaked letter reveals Notting Hill Carnival needs “urgent funding” to continue
Notting Hill Carnival, a vibrant celebration of Caribbean culture in London, is “in jeopardy” without increased government funding, a leaked letter has revealed.
According to the BBC News, who obtained the letter, Carnival chair, Ian Comfort, addressed Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to request the funding. He said this would be “essential to safeguarding the future and public safety of this iconic event.”
Comfort requested additional funding to provide stewards and crowd management professionals, though he drew up no exact sum. He claims that one of the reasons for this new need is cuts to the Metropolitan Police. These measures have “restricted the police service’s ability to respond to growing operational pressures,” and that extra staffing is “now essential to allow the police to focus on their primary role of crime prevention and public protection”.
Other polemic documentation focused on the carnival, after the Metropolitan Police’s Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist previously raised concerns of a “mass casualty event” due to the festival’s crowd density.
The celebration is Europe’s largest street festival, attended annually by approximately two million people. At the 2024 event, the Met had about 7,000 officers on duty, with a total of around 14,000 officer shifts across the whole event.
The worries over danger to civilian life were stated in an independent safety review. The carnival’s organisers commissioned this. It was paid for at a cost of £100,000 by the Greater London Authority (GLA), Kensington and Chelsea Council and Westminster Council.
In 2024, Far Out revealed that the festival was facing economic challenges for other reasons. The piece stated that, “Many carnival bands are in financial crisis with falling numbers of masqueraders resulting in skyrocketing costs to between £15,000-£20,000 to put a float on the road. This is further exacerbated by continued cuts to Arts Council grants.”
Founded in 1966, the street party is the second largest event globally, behind Rio Carnival. This year’s edition is set to take place on August 25th and 26th.
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