About 2 million people are expected to attend the annual Notting Hill Carnival, which mixes music, food and Caribbean culture. Ian Comfort, chair of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, reported relief that the event is taking place after a year of funding disputes, public disagreements with the Met police and negative press following last year's violence. The event was nearly cancelled but received almost £1m of emergency funding to cover extra safety and infrastructure. Carnival costs more than £11m a year to police yet generates about £400m for the local economy. Comfort is calling for guaranteed five-year core funding.
The chair of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, Ian Comfort, told the Guardian that the event needed to secure a sustainable future after a year of funding rows, public disagreements with the Met police, and negative press after violence last year. This year's event was saved only a few weeks ago after almost 1m of funding was raised to provide extra safety and infrastructure measures, with Comfort admitting it came very close to not happening.
Comfort, who usually stays in the background and rarely gives interviews, says that cannot continue. He says the whole conversation around carnival, which costs more than 11m a year to police but is worth about 400m to the local economy, needs to change. Ian Comfort wants the carnival, which is worth about 400m to the local economy, to receive guaranteed funding for five years.
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