The annual Notting Hill Carnival must have a cap on numbers and be run by the Greater London Authority (GLA) to avoid a Hillsborough-style public safety disaster in future, the City Hall Conservatives claim.
The London Assembly group warned that increasing crime at the event and the cost to the taxpayer means the Carnival, in its current form, is “unsustainable”.
In a report released less than a fortnight before the festivities are set to begin in West London, Susan Hall, who leads the Conservative group on the Greater London Authority (GLA), said officials “cannot simply ignore what has taken place at Carnival in recent years or the growing level of concern surrounding the event”.
The document, entitled ‘On The Brink: Notting Hill Carnival’, proposes taking power away from the current organisers, Notting Hill Carnival Ltd (NHCL), and recognising the GLA as the official organiser. NHCL would instead be part of a new advisory board which would be scrutinised at City Hall by the London Assembly, under the suggested plan. It also suggests relocating it to Hyde Park.
But NHCL has suggested Ms Hall needs to “better understand” the operation which they say is already a collaborative effort between them, the GLA and other public bodies. The Mayor’s Office has rejected the suggestion outright, citing its importance to the Caribbean community in North Kensington.
Rising crime linked to the Carnival
First organised in 1959 by Claudia Jones, the Notting Hill Carnival attracts around two million attendees per year, with public safety concerns growing in recent years.
Ms Hall said the total number of offences have gone up by 203 per cent since 2000. Last year, 837 crimes were reported at the event, compared to just 276 in 2000. Around 6,000 Met Police officers are deployed on Sunday at Notting Hill Carnival, with 7,000 on the August Bank Holiday Monday.
Since 2016, nearly 500 officers have been injured on Carnival duty, with a 2024 survey by the Metropolitan Police Federation finding that 89 per cent of respondents felt unsafe working during the event.
Ms Hall also raised concerns around deploying thousands of officers to the area at a time when the force is shrinking.
“While the Met attempts to mitigate this as best it can, there are obvious safety and response time implications arising from local communities missing so many of their officers,” the report says.
“Concentrating so many officers in a very small part of a city as large as London also raises questions around the Met’s ability to deal with a major incident should one occur outside of Notting Hill over the Bank Holiday Weekend.”
An NHCL spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Notting Hill Carnival was founded and remains a community led event which is its heart beat and should remain that way.
“But it is important to understand that through NHCL and its organisational partners in the councils, GLA and the emergency services, we work collaboratively and pull on the expertise from each agency for the betterment of the event.
“Many of the points raised in this report have been addressed and actioned by NHCL and its strategic partners. An independent review commissioned by NHCL earlier this year has led to numerous changes this year and beyond.
“We would formally like to invite Susan Hall to visit the Event Liaison Team (ELT) headquarters during this year’s Carnival to witness the operation in action and meet the people who run it for her to better understand the operation.”
What does the report suggest should change?
The report suggests several major changes for the event, including setting a maximum capacity and requiring pre-registration for attendees, and claims a new ticketing system could, along with sponsorship, help raise the £20million needed to cover the cost of policing and running the event.
The cost of the carnival has increased from £3.4 million in 2000 to £15.4 million last year – an increase of 380 per cent.
Last month it was announced that City Hall, Kensington and Chelsea Council and Westminster City Council together provided £958,000 to help run the event after Ian Comfort, Chairman of the NHCL, said the festival was in “jeopardy” without urgent funding.
Ms Hall also puts forward that, should the current location not prove safe, Notting Hill Carnival could move to an alternative site, such as Hyde Park.
“The occurrence of a major public safety disaster at Notting Hill Carnival has only been avoided by chance – not by effective governance,” she wrote. “The organisers of the event have been consistently unwilling to acknowledge the very real possibility of a mass crush event and take tangible steps to prevent this.”
Ms Hall said: “Notting Hill Carnival is a hugely important event and deserves to succeed – my report is designed to raise awareness of the serious safety issues the event faces in its current form, and put forward recommendations to give the event.
“As my report shows, crime has increased substantially at the event since 2000, alongside a huge increase in the cost to the taxpayer. We must find another way – no other event would be allowed to continue like this.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London told the LDRS: “The Notting Hill Carnival was born out of the Caribbean community in North Kensington and Notting Hill. It ultimately belongs to the community who decide where it is held and organise the event.
“The Carnival is not organised by the Mayor, but he continues to work with partners to help ensure everyone can enjoy Carnival safely and honour its cultural importance.
“Following an independent review of Carnival, the Mayor stepped forward with partners to provide additional funding this year, however he believes that national funding will be needed to ensure the long-term safety and success of what is a nationally-significant event over the years ahead.”
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