Queen's Market saved27 May 2009
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has directed Newham Council to refuse planning permission to redevelop Queen's Market.
Food for the community
Queen's Market is a 110-year-old award-winning market in Upton Park, London.
It sells a wide range of affordable, healthy and diverse produce in one of London's poorest boroughs.
The original plans to redevelop it included building a 96 metre high rise block of luxury flats and a major supermarket.
Locals fight to save their market
An impressive campaign group was set up by Friends of Queen's Market.
They are fighting for a better future for the Market.
Through their awareness-raising, the scheme received a record number of objections:
- Over 2,500 individually written objection letters
- Over 12,000 people signed a petition
Rights and Justice Centre gets involved
We worked with Maria, who is a local Mum with two young children.
Maria relies on the market for fresh fruit and vegetables for her family.
Maria and our lawyers brought a legal challenge against the Council, who hadn't done a proper Race Equality Impact Assessment (EIA).
EIAs are used to assess the impact of the proposals, with the Council having a legal requirement to:
- Promote good race relations
- Promote equal opportunities
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination for all racial groups.
Queens Market gets Powered Up!
Saif and Pauline from Friends of Queens Market also came to our Power Up 2008 weekend.
The knowledge and skills from the weekend has really helped their campaign:
It's local community versus big business in the fight to stop Queens Market from being demolished. After Power Up we feel like we have a louder voice - and know how to use it.
Pauline and Saif, Friends of Queens Market
The Rights and Justice team have continued to work closely with the group.
We helped form planning objections and campaign tactics to empower local people to take action.
As Iqbal Chohan, a regular shopper says: Newham Council should now start looking after Queen's Market rather than letting it fall into disrepair, as our markets are an important part of local life and the local economy
© Friends of Queens Market
