Place shaping

Strengthening Portobello Road

Portobello is a world-renowned market street that is rich in heritage, character and community.

We support the thoughts, wishes and experience of residents, traders, and businesses to ensure Portobello remains a place people are proud to live, trade and work and continues to be a cleaner, safer and fairer destination. A place to protect and celebrate for generations to come.

We have been working with the local community for over 18 months to develop draft ideas for improving the infrastructure of Portobello Road from Pembridge Road to Bonchurch Road.

Together, we have developed focused infrastructure improvements for the ‘Antiques Gateway’ section from Chepstow Villas to Westbourne Grove, including the junction with Denbigh Terrace. This is intended to be the first phase of the delivery process, with details for each section of the street subject to additional consultation and governance.

We have also developed proposals for specific elements such as lamp posts and power supply for traders that are guiding principles for the whole length of the project area, from Pembridge Road and Bonchurch Road. The elements are:

• road safety: traffic barriers, safer junctions, pavement and road surfaces
• infrastructure: reducing flooding, improving lighting, power supply
• experience: signage and wayfinding, greening, seating

You can find out more about the draft proposals on our consultation webpage.

Get involved

Consultation on the draft proposals is open until Sunday 13 October 2024; the best way to respond is online. Please review the draft proposals and fill in the feedback form on our consultation webpage.

Paper copies of the consultation material are available from:

• North Kensington Library
• the Street Trading Office on Tavistock Square, open Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 1.00pm
• Westway Trust

Weekly drop-ins

You can also speak to the project team at weekly consultation drop-ins on the Portobello Road market. See schedule on the consultation webpage in the Events section.

Contact the team

If you need additional support to take part in this consultation, including translations, please contact the project team on [email protected], telephone 020 7361 3012 (Planning line).

Next steps

Results from the current consultation will be used to inform further detailed designs for the Antiques Gateway (from Chepstow Villas to Westbourne Grove), as well as refining the guiding elements for improving the infrastructure of Portobello Road. If there is support to continue the project, construction works on the Antiques Gateway could begin in autumn 2025.

Whilst this project focuses on infrastructure improvements, the council is working to ensure that improvements to the area are addressed in a holistic way, including a focus on market operational elements.

The Street Trading Office will launch a separate consultation in the autumn 2024 with a series of questions that will help inform how best to support the market and street traders. Please email [email protected], to sign up for updates on the future street trading consultation.

How we got here

Creating an oversight panel

The first step in the long-term conversation about potential improvements to the street was to recruit an oversight panel of community members to help shape and deliver the community participatory process.

The Portobello Engagement Oversight Panel was set up in July 2023 to help shape a thorough and transparent process for discussing improvements to Portobello Road with the community.

Over 20 members joined, reflecting traders, shop owners, residents, and organisations in the area from diverse backgrounds. The panel meetings do not focus on proposals. The panel is about making sure that the involvement of the community is genuine, robust and that all work is transparent throughout this project.

Holding in-depth workshops

The second step was to run a series of in-depth deliberative workshops involving a sample of about 40 independently recruited residents, traders and businesses. The purpose of these workshops, called 'Portobello Conversations', was to bring together community members to discuss differing views on the road and market and find common ground. This took place in February 2024 and was run by independent facilitators.

You can find the full 'Portobello Conversations' report in the FAQs below.

After the 'Portobello Conversations', technical consultants used the citizens’ recommendations to draft a series of proposals that seek to deliver positive changes while respecting the heritage and character of the road.

Frequently asked questions

Why are the infrastructure improvements needed?

Past feedback from previous engagement and consultation has repeatedly flagged the need to address flooding, greening and road infrastructure to ensure that Portobello Road Market remains successful and resilient in the future.

How does this involve the market?

We want to ensure that the market’s magic remains while addressing what improvements can be made to keep Portobello Road a unique place to explore, shop, eat and spend time in.

We recognise that the Portobello Road Market is a world-renowned market with a 150-year history. We will nurture a market street that is resilient, healthy, and safe, serving both the local community as well as attracting visitors from further afield.

The scale and scope of the infrastructure improvements will be determined by the consultation results. Whatever works take place to the road, every effort will be taken to minimise disruption to the market while these take place. We are also committed to communicating regularly with market traders about planned activity and to proactively address outstanding concerns through building works.

When will any work start?

No work on Portobello Road will start until the proposals have been consulted on. Discussions with the community to shape the proposals started in mid-2023 and are expected to continue until summer 2024, with many opportunities for the community to have their say. Discussions are focused on finding a balance between improving the infrastructure of the area while celebrating Portobello Road’s iconic character and culture.

What is the purpose of the Engagement Oversight Panel? How were they chosen?

The purpose of the Portobello Engagement Oversight Panel is to oversee the engagement process, allowing council officers and community members to work closely together. The panel have an advisory role to help inform decision made by the Council and lead members.

Residents, businesses and traders were invited to apply if they met a series of preferences. The Council Growth and Delivery Team, and Street Trading Office shortlisted applicants, overseen by lead members. People with previous sustained involvement with Portobello Road Market matters were a recruitment priority, such as members of MSAG (Market Streets Action Group) and PGMC (Portobello and Golborne Management Committee).

Key preferences were:

• previous involvement
• representation
• ethnicity and other protected characteristics
• geography

The members selected are representative of North Kensington communities and are based across the entirety of Portobello Road. There is balanced representation from street traders, businesses and shops, charities and community groups, residents’ associations and forums, and landowners.

Each panel member is expected to act as a conduit of information between the panel and the people that they represent.

Who is on the Engagement Oversight Panel?

The panel membership will remain under review so that if individuals wish to step down or can no longer attend others on the longlist will be invited to join. This is to ensure the panel remains representative and a valuable conduit to the wider community:

• 375 Portobello Road Residents Compact
• ADKC (Action Disability Kensington and Chelsea)
• Atlam Portobello
• Colville Forum
• Dilip Shah Portobello
• Ebony Steel Band Trust
• Golborne Forum
• Ladbroke Association
• Landowner and member of PGMC/MSAG
• Morley College North Kensington Centre
• Pembridge Association
• Portobello Business Centre
• Portobello Radio CIC
• Street Trader - Antiques
• Street trader - Groceries
• Street Trader - Groceries (PGMC chair)
• Street Trader - New Goods (member of PGMC/MSAG)
• Street Trader (PGMC Committee Member)
• The Hirst Collection
• Volunteer Centre Kensington & Chelsea
• Ward councillors for Colville, Golborne and Pembridge
• Westway Trust
• Wildash London
• Yaya Clothing London
• Youth Action Alliance

In attendance in an advisory capacity and to help organise the meetings will also be representatives from the Council Growth and Delivery Team and, in some cases, the Street Trading Office, as well as consultants who may be supporting the engagement programme.

Who else is involved in the project?

In partnership with the Engagement Oversight Panel, independent facilitators Thinks Insight and PlusFour have been commissioned to deliver community involvement sessions: the 'Portobello Conversations'.

A technical company called WSP have also been appointed to build infrastructure evidence such as road collisions, road use, lighting requirements, storage use, and utilities mapping to inform the engagement process.

WSP will also be responsible for drafting proposals based on community recommendations to sensitively improve the infrastructure of the road.

What were the 'Portobello Conversations'?

They were a series of workshops that took place in February 2024. The conversations aimed to bring together members of the community with different views to find common ground and:

• understand the residents, traders and businesses’ perceptions of Portobello Market, including its identity, character and heritage
• share information about the issues facing Portobello Road and why improvements are needed
• understand residents, traders and businesses’ views on potential solutions to improve issues and capture their recommendations for change

Considerations for participants recruitment included gender, age, ethnicity, disability, longevity in the area, and tenancy - homeowner, private, or social rent - to ensure a broad and representative range of views and backgrounds.

In addition to the workshops, the independent facilitators spent two days at the market speaking to visitors, traders and businesses who were not taking part on the 'Portobello Conversations'. This happened on Saturday 24 February and Friday 1 March 2024.

You can read a full account of the 'Portobello Conversations' including how the citizen recommendations were created on the report available below. Portobello Conversations participants and the engagement oversight panel have reviewed the draft report to check that information accurately reflects what was discussed at the workshops.

What are the citizen recommendations for improving the infrastructure of Portobello Road?

The participants of Portobello Conversations worked together to develop a series of recommendations. They are grouped by broad topic areas which reflected the scope for potential change proposed by the Council, adapted to reflect the views of the community. Behind these recommendations was a strong sense from participants that any improvements should respect the identity of Portobello as a street market, busy, lively, with a mix of traders and businesses, serving the community as well as being a tourist destination.

There were certain topics where there was more consensus between participants and there were topics where there was more disagreement. In all cases, participants worked together to find possible solutions. If agreement was not reached, the recommendations have noted this clearly.

These recommendations are a starting point for improvements to Portobello Road and to continued conversations with the local community. The Council and its contractors are considering carefully how to implement these recommendations and communicate clearly how they have been considered. If it isn’t possible to implement a particular recommendation, this will be clearly explained.

The citizen recommendations are as follows:

Hostile vehicle mitigation

• Not all residents felt hostile vehicle mitigation was necessary. If the Council feel it is necessary, then it should not interfere with the functioning of Portobello Market. For example, it should allow access for emergency vehicles, traders’ vehicles, and not obstruct the flow of pedestrians.
• Following a vote, most agreed that hostile vehicle mitigation should be minimal rather than offer co-benefits. For example, there was a preference for retractable bollards or gates, rather than creating seating out of barriers.
• It was emphasised that hostile vehicle mitigation measures should be well maintained.

Seating

• The placement of seating:
  • should not restrict the flow of people through the market
  • should not limit the accessibility of the market (e.g. take up space on pavements)
  • should be sympathetic to residents. There was a preference to use already available public spaces, e.g. Tavistock Gardens.
• Seating on Portobello Road itself should be temporary, for example, removed at the close of trading.

Power and water infrastructure

• All trading pitches should have access to electricity.
• The provision of electricity should be modernised to allow for sharing between different traders.

Movement through the market

• Participants acknowledged that some traders need their van close to their pitch but also felt that parking arrangements could be improved. Any change should be optional and incentivised. Suggestions included:
  • a trader and business permit to allow parking on nearby roads. This would be cheaper than the cost to park vans on Portobello Road /li>
  • changing the layout of parking so vans and pitches are in a single row. The side of the road can be swapped each week to mitigate the obstruction to businesses.
  • increasing the availability of storage for traders to reduce the need for vans on the market itself.
• There was no agreement on further pedestrianisation of the market, but participants were generally supportive of measures to improve safety, for example matching the temporary road closures more closely with the operating hours of the market.

Surfaces

• The surface of the road and pavements need to be improved. The surfaces should be high quality, ‘grippy’, level, accessible and well maintained.
• Following a vote, most wanted to keep kerbs and avoid a single level (reflecting the nature of Portobello as a street market)
• Kerbs should be an appropriate height (at the moment some are very high) and dropped kerbs on opposite sides of the road should match
• Aesthetically, the surfaces should still look like a road to be in-keeping with the identity of the market. This means largely avoiding ‘funky designs’, however, subtle design to promote wayfinding is permitted.

Security

• More needs to be done to protect against day to day crimes and dangers. This includes theft and dangerous driving (e.g. from mopeds). Suggestions included:
  • increased CCTV
  • a visible enforcement presence
  • a lost-property hub should be created.

Lighting

• Lights should be used:
  • all the way through the market and work all year.
  • to create an atmosphere and promote wayfinding.
  • to make the market seem open and inviting, particularly at the north end and in winter
  • to celebrate different festivals, e.g. Christmas, Diwali

• Lighting should be sympathetic to residents
• Lighting should be in-keeping with the current style of the market and street

Signage

• The market needs better signage. Participants recommended signage to cover:
  • functional signage: to facilities, points of interest, access arrangements, etc.
  • signage to promote a welcoming environment:
    • ‘Welcome to Portobello Market’
    • ‘Market Open’ rather than road closed
    • signs to encourage footfall to the north end of the market by the Spanish School.

Greening

• Greening should not interfere with the function of the market, for example, the movement of people.
• No consensus was reached on specific greening interventions.

Flooding

• It is essential work should be done to mitigate flooding and improve drainage. (NB: There was no consensus on sustainable urban drainage systems or the detailed design).
• Speed bumps should be revised to avoid making flooding worse.
• There should be better cleaning around areas prone to flooding.

How can I get involved?

From 22 July to 13 October, we are consulting on the draft proposals to improve the infrastructure of Portobello Road. Please visit our consultation webpage for more information and share your views.

Sign up for updates by contacting the project team at [email protected] .