The Dame’s supporters have followed this story for years. Particularly in the north of the borough, RBKC has long proved itself incapable of noticing a publicly owned asset, without trying to steal it – for the benefit of private interests. There’s a pattern:
*Years ago, RBKC sold off the Colville School Laundry building plus half their playground, to the owner of a private French nursery. He’d evicted his own business from his property. Parents were not told. The Chair of parent/teachers was married to an RBKC councillor.
*Then RBKC planned to demolish the Portobello Ct. council flats; to build shops & luxury flats. In 1948 the Grosvenor Estate donated the land for public housing. The Estate demanded the return of the land. RBKC’s plan was abandoned.
*Morley College, an institution that’s provided further education for thousands of local people, was sold off to “private educational” interests/flat builders. Hundreds of locals protested. The sale was reversed.
*The N. Kensington public library was declared unsafe for children. RBKC immediately sold it to a local private school. Locals were furious. This ’sale’ was also reversed.
*Twenty years ago RBKC failed to notice that it charged the market £800,000 a year for rubbish. One Saturday 25 metric tonnes of market waste was created. That’s 25,000 kilos a day! £5million was stolen. Residents paid £1 million for the refund. RBKC claimed there had been a “mistake!”
*RBKC apparently also failed to notice that selling off most of the traders’ storage units would eventually damage the market.
*Major local property owners met regularly, to hatch plans.
*’RBKC’s old markets are legally protected and ring-fenced under Parliamentary Legislation. Licensed street traders have lifelong tenure plus inheritance rights. So RBKC refuses to grant new licences. Only casual traders, with no rights. get a stall.
*Pre-Covid, an estate agent exited the Market Bar. He told the street trader outside that RBKC had done a deal to replace traders with tables & chairs. The licensed trader refused to accept expulsion. The agent disappeared.
*During lockdown, RBKC allowed a single, illegal, oversized gazebo in the market. There are now 100. They cause as much obstruction as possible. Other changes negatively affect market traders and local residents.
*Multiple street table & chairs licence applications mysteriously appeared. They even included one for the street immediately outside Tesco!
*A new RBKC market councillor published a detailed report: “Live, Work, Learn – “RBKC’s Local Economy.” It claimed that Portobello Market has 12 million visitors a year; double the decades-long accepted, Met police figure of 6 million. No research or public consultation was undertaken. After a brief career insulting local flood victims, the councillor responsible for the report disappeared.
*More recently, RBKC has further mismanaged the market. Only tourist tat traders are welcome. Regulations to encourage good order and freedom of movement are ignored.
*Meanwhile, waste piled up. Officers studiously ignored every breach of regulation. Chaos had become policy.
*Another market public consultation was announced; the 3rd or 4th in 50 years. Consultants were engaged. Despite all their hard work; they failed to persuade local residents to demand the closure of the now shambolic market.
*Yet another market councillor announced he used to run private markets. RBKC promptly began unpicking Portobello market; including offering a “BIDS” scheme. So only businesses & landlords would control the market. The street traders declined the offer.
*After 70 years without horses & carts, a chorus of shopkeepers suddenly objected to market vans parked outside their premises.
*Market parking is needed due to the loss of storage. Without vans, each trader works 2 extra hours a day. They refused; so RBKC demanded higher rents. NB Market legal protection excludes parking, because there was once plenty of storage.
*During the latest, £500,000 consultation, one Saturday locals walked the length of the market. It was noted that, for that day alone, no oversized gazebos were evident. They all returned the following week.
*The result of the public consultation was published. The public had overwhelmingly demanded that RBKC must protect the market. RBKC ignored this finding. Each response had cost £75. RBKC’s new plans will destroy the market.
*A new Chair of the traders had a list of 6 qualified, new food sellers to enliven the market. They wished to be licensed traders. The market office failed to grant a single licence.
*Unlawfully, RBKC began misusing traders’ funds to pay invisible additional market staff.
*The alleged results of the latest consultation have just been published. The public insists that the market refreshed. RBKC ignores this. Rather than offer alternatives, the consultants offer one plan; a streetscape designed to destroy the market. Doubtless by coincidence, the new design is ideal for hundreds of street tables & chairs!
*The councillor currently responsible for the market and the consultation, was to retire at the end of 2025. But events have not yet gone according to plan. So he will stay on to see it through.
*The project is to “secretly” replace a 160 year old street market and its hundreds of workers with 30+ third-rate, overpriced restaurants & scores of bars trading late into the night in a long and narrow, highly residential street. Tables & chairs will spread across pavements and road in the summer; while local residents are trapped in their homes for the sake of a makeshift “security” system.
*A 20m block of Kensington Park Rd. is shut for 6 to 7 months to lay fancy new granite setts. RBKC’s also plans to lay them along Portobello Rd. The block between Westbourne Grove & Elgin Crescent Is 250m long. So that block will be shut for 5 years! Residents will be trapped. The market and every businesses will disappear; but RBKC apparently believes it’s a price worth (citizens) paying!
*Meanwhile there’s no evidence that without the market, the millions of visitors a year needed to fill all the new restaurants & bars, will leave the West End just to visit other restaurants & bars! Property owners won’t worry; they will already have the businesses tied into hugely overpriced leases; based on RBKC’s, published, faked up visitor numbers. Etc.
Signed
A. Witness
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