Notting Hill carnival will go ahead as planned this year after almost £1 million of funding was raised to finance extra safety and infrastructure measures for the event.
City Hall, Kensington & Chelsea Council and Westminster City Council have jointly provided £958,000 for the event after pleas from organisers last month for further financial support. It was deemed that more funding was needed after an independent review recommended several security changes be put in place to make the event safer.
The chair of the organising company, Ian Comfort, told press that the additional financial support to secure the event’s future was gained just in time.
“Although this support comes just weeks before the event, it is a much-needed and welcome commitment,” he said. “This support reinforces the importance of Notting Hill carnival as a cultural institution – central to London’s identity and to the nation’s creative and economic life.”
The news comes after it was revealed that the future of Notting Hill Carnival was “in jeopardy” without “urgent funding”, with carnival organising chair Ian Comfort saying as such in a leaked letter addressed to Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
“Limited resourcing has restricted the police service’s ability to respond to growing operational pressures,” the letter to government said, with Comfort stating that additional funding for stewarding and crowd management is “now essential to allow the police to focus on their primary role of crime prevention and public protection”.
The government didn’t ultimately directly produce the necessary money for the event, but City Hall and the councils involved have come to a joint agreement to help the event go ahead this year.
Speaking after Notting Hill Carnival secured its funding, Comfort said: “The essential operational funding required to ensure participants can perform and engage safely has historically not been provided directly by either Arts Council England or central government. This is despite carnival’s significant cultural importance and its substantial contribution to the UK economy.”
Kim Taylor-Smith, deputy leader of Kensington & Chelsea Council said that the additional fundung it was providing would be for 2025 only because of an £80m budget gap the council is facing.
