After months of collecting signatures and hearing views on why the market is important to local people, Friends of Queen’s Market (FoQM) handed in a public petition that had reached over 6,000+ to Newham Council.
Latest statistics show Newham as the most diverse borough in the United Kingdom and the popular historic street market, Queen’s Market in Upton Park is again under threat.
“The devil is in the detail” says a member of FoQM, “Newham are making plans behind closed doors while they say something very different to our faces. The misinformation is clear. We have had sitting Councillors not knowing what their own Council officers are planning behind the scenes.”
Newham Council is accused of digitally excluding huge swathes of the local diverse community who rely on the market for cheap, affordable and culturally-appropriate food, cloth and clothes. The Council have been accused by locals of ‘managed decline’ of the market, of exercising a hardline gentrification agenda and for privatisation of public land with minimal scrutiny.
During the global Covid-19 pandemic Newham Council launched an online “Co-create” engagement platform that made many claims and promises, but has now offered local people just two options on the future of Queen’s Market: both options include demolition of the market in some form. Decisions were made behind closed doors with minimal “co-creation” taking place.
On Monday 18th September 2023 a 6,000+ petition was handed into Newham Council during a Council meeting. During the demonstration held outside East Ham Town Hall campaigners shouted “Hands off Queen’s Market”, with support from London-wide campaigns like the refuse workers and Right to Food.
The majority of the Council meeting consisted of hours of discussion about rubbish and fly-tipping.
Video above [10:26]: A short video from a local campaigner who attended the public demonstration on Monday 18th September
Gallery (above): FoQM arrive in force at Newham Town Hall in East Hall with the signed petitions at hand.
Incidentally, the location of the Council meeting changed last minute from Stratford to East Ham with little warning to us. And on Monday 18th September when we entered East Ham Town Hall we had to literally beg to be let into the public gallery to witness democracy in action The door guy was suggesting that we sit in a room with a TV screen (na, we can do that at ‘ome). We we kept waiting and eventually told “four, or possibly five” further seats could be made available to the public.
Photo (above): view of the public gallery (foreground: 3 rows of 5 seats) with what looks like lots of s p a c e.
Photos above (x 3): The Council meeting was almost solely discussing rubbish and fly-tipping, with some very strange conclusions being made, as if Newham residents themselves were to blame (!) Not that bulky waste collection use to be free for Newham residents not too long ago. Local people even voted to reinstate the free collections during Newham’s own Citizens Assemblies a few years back (complete u-turn). Maps (showing red blotches) above appear to show that fly-tipping has worsen within one year in Newham.
To promote and preserve a thriving publicly-owned historic street market 