Notting Hill carnival will go ahead this year as planned after almost £1m of funding was raised to provide extra safety and infrastructure measures for the event.
City Hall, Kensington & Chelsea Council and Westminster City Council jointly provided £958,000 for the event following recent pleas from organisers for further financial support, after an independent review recommended several changes to make the event safe amid its ever-rising popularity.
The chair of the organising company, Ian Comfort, said 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 told press. "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."
Appealing last month for more funding to address critical safety concerns, Comfort sent a letter to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. In the letter, he referenced an April report by the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee about carnival's crowd numbers needing a review "before 'mass casualty event' occurs".
He continued: "Limited resourcing has restricted the police service's ability to respond to growing operational pressures," adding that the funding would go to "stewarding and crowd management [that] was 'now essential to allow the police to focus on their primary role of crime prevention and public protection'".
Speaking after Notting Hill Carnival secured its necessary funding through City Hall and the two councils involved, 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.
Notting Hill Carnival will take place on the streets of West London from Saturday, 23rd until Monday, 25th August.
Back in 2023, a photobook documenting Notting Hill Carnival 2023 was published. Revisit Olivia Stock's 2023 interview with Carnival regulars Rampage Sound System here and read DJ Mag's history of UK sound system culture here.