'GARBAGEGATE' is more than just a financial scandal

11.33.36pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 22nd Jun 2008

The massive overcharging of street traders who work on Portobello Market is more than simply a financial scandal - it is, for many, the final straw in a battle to preserve and protect the iconic market. Local people are beginning to digest the implications of the revelation that market traders - some of whom have been 'market families' for as long as a century - have been severely over-charged by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea for the last 17 years.

Carol Caruana, a local resident and a Lib Dem campaigner in Portobello said: "The overcharging has threatened their livelihoods and the character of our local area.

"The Council have a contract with SITA to collect the street traders' market waste separately from the rest of the Borough. Unfortunately the Portobello waste collection has been chaotic. Commercial waste, domestic waste, recyclable material and even builders rubble have often been mixed up - and the street traders have ended up paying for all of it.

"This has left them seriously out of pocket and has threatened the very survival of the market."

The Portobello Management Committee, which represents the street traders and other Portobello traders, has fought a long campaign for justice over waste disposal charges. This month, the PMC's hard work finally paid off and led to an unprecedented £750k payout from the Council to the street traders.

But the Lib Dems say this is probably only a fraction of what the traders are really owed, and have raised questions with the Royal Borough over where the money for this compensation is going to come from.

"If Council tax payers have to fund the result of this incompetency on the part of the Council, it really begs the question: why hasn't the Council been able to recoup the cash from their own contractors?" asks Caruana.

Carol with Mr Wakeling, who has manned his fruit & veg store for an incredible 55 years

"Councils are only allowed by law to charge a 'reasonable' amount to street traders for collecting the market waste. The Council did not know how much waste the street market produced, and apparently did not try to find out for a decade, yet carried on overcharging them regardless! So we think they ignored the legal rules.

"Meanwhile, it turns out that the complacent local Labour councillors have actually known about this scandal for at least two years. So why didn't they speak out against the Tory-led council? Where was their campaign? What opposition did they provide? What did they do to draw attention to the plight of the traders?

"Those stall holders may not be voters locally but they still deserved respect because local people and tourists alike depend on them; they are crucial to the character of our area. What value is Labour providing if they could let such an injustice carry on right under their nose?

"The mini-economy we have here in Portobello is really very simple: the independent shops up and down Portobello depend upon a thriving street market in Portobello and Golborne Roads for their own trade and vice versa," says Caruana. "Overcharging the street traders makes the goods they sell on the market more expensive. So, this is not just a financial scandal. It is yet another threat to the very existence of our cherished market.

"We refuse to allow Portobello Market to die so that the street becomes like a normal high street - decades and decades of history is right here on my doorstep. All these years we were told the Council didn't want that either. Yet there they were, grossly overcharging the traders and adding to the woes that rising commercial rents and the congestion charge extension had already caused to the lifeblood of this unique area."

Related Link:

Read an article in The Independent about 'Garbagegate' and the battle for Portobello.