Lib Dems back traders' Save Portobello Market campaign: thousands of signatures delivered to town hall

3.38.00pm GMT Mon 1st Feb 2010

Some light reading for the Cabinet Member for Planning

1800 letters and almost 2000 petitions have been hand-delivered to the Town Hall from an estimated more than 2500 people who are deeply concerned about the future of Portobello Market.

Robin Meltzer, the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Kensington, was asked by Portobello Road antiques traders, who organised the campaign, to deliver the signed letters and petitions to the Cabinet Member responsible for Planning Policy.

Robin said: "I am proud to support the antique traders' campaign. The letters and petitions have been signed by people from across the political divide - by supporters of all three main parties in the Borough and by people who don't define themselves as party-political at all. It is very much a grass-roots effort organised by the traders and supported by local residents.

"The traders want to bring greater public and Cabinet attention to the plight of the Portobello Road and Market which many now fear is heading towards extinction, symbolised by the incongruous appearance of the All Saints chain store at the end of last year.

"These small businesses are part of our local heritage. They not only put us on the tourist map; they also make our Borough a more diverse and fascinating place to live. As many of 200 them lost their pitch when the famous Lipka's arcade was closed down to make room for a branch of All Saints.

Robin Meltzer collecting the letters and petitions from the antiques market

"Real leadership is sorely needed from the Council now, to turn around the sad state of affairs we are witnessing in Portobello."

Lib Dem Colville Councillor Carol Caruana said:

"I was elected in a by-election in July on a promise to help safeguard our independent shops and the market, and so I had been cheered by the improvements regarding Portobello Road which appeared in the final version of the Council's Core Strategy document at the end of last year. In that document, the Council said that the Antiques shops and street market were the centre point of Portobello, and indeed a new policy specifically stated that the Council will protect all existing markets. Now that document does not appear to be worth the paper it was written on.

"Without doubt, the market traders feed off the small shops and antique stalls and vice versa - it's a mini-economy. If you destroy one bit of it, the other bits start to fade away."

The Liberal Democrats argue that planning applications like the one for All Saints should not be waved through in a Conservation Area, particularly with such very little public consultation. They point out that if the All Saints planning permission had not been waved through, there would have been a greater chance of whatever replaced Lipka's being more in keeping with the historic function of the street as a haven for small and independent businesses and traders.

Related Link:

Sign the antique traders' petition.