As I publish my comprehensive new report on the future of Notting Hill Carnival this week, I am compelled to speak out about the growing risk of a major public safety disaster.
The last twenty-five years of data from the Carnival, which I have compiled, paints an alarming picture: we are sleepwalking toward a mass crushing event that could be as serious as the Hillsborough disaster, which killed 97 Liverpool fans in 1987.
The leadership of the Metropolitan Police have repeatedly raised concerns about dangerous overcrowding at Europe's largest street festival.
With two million people now cramming into the narrow streets of Notting Hill each August bank holiday weekend, we have created the conditions under which there is a serious risk to life.
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I want everyone attending the Carnival - public and police alike - to not only feel safe, but actually be safe when celebrating the vibrant culture of the event.
Statistics cannot capture the terror of being trapped in a human crush. Ask any officer who has worked the carnival in recent years, and they will tell you the same thing: it is not a question of if a tragedy will occur, but when.
The narrow Victorian streets that once accommodated thousands now struggle with millions. Emergency services report increasing difficulty accessing incidents through the dense crowds, while escape routes become choked with revellers.
The Met's warnings have grown increasingly urgent: senior officers privately acknowledge that current crowd management strategies are inadequate for an event of this scale. Yet year after year, we watch attendance swell while safety infrastructure remains virtually unchanged.
Sadiq Khan is sleepwalking us into a mass crushing event. I have the alarming data to prove it - Susan Hall
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Importantly, these concerns are not new. In fact, they have been raised consistently and repeatedly over the last 25 years, with little in the way of action, change or reform. We cannot go on in this way, and no other event would be allowed to go on in this way.
The current Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, acknowledges there are “frightening” scenes when it comes to crowd control, but not only does he refuse to act, my report finds he has given the event an enormous increase in taxpayer funding, with no reform or change required.
Having both chaired and sat on the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee, having spoken to senior leadership in the Met and officers on the ground who have to police Carnival, and having been there myself with the police regularly, the thought of two million people descending onto the streets, with no change at all to how the event is run, is a terrifying one.
At the same time, violent crime at the event is increasing substantially, and the number of police officers assaulted is not only totally unacceptable, but it is also disproportionately higher than any comparable event in London.
While policing carnival, officers have been stabbed, spat at, punched, kicked, sexually assaulted, bitten and threatened. Officer and emergency worker assaults continue to rise at every event.
The recommendations I have set out this week are designed to help give Notting Hill Carnival the security, stability and structure it needs to thrive, while maintaining its legacy, history and proud celebration of Caribbean culture.