Rumble in the jumble: residents let down as council bins community sale

Clapton Jumble Trail Credit: Megan Davis

The organisers of a community jumble sale initiative say they are disappointed at Hackney Council’s “short notice” decision to cancel its Stoke Newington event.

Jumble Trail runs through an innovative crowd-sourcing model whereby ‘champions’ in any area can register a proposed event online, with the local community then invited to sign up their stalls.

The North London Waste Authority (NLWA) has supported the jumble sales across seven London boroughs, offering stall holders a chance to get their registration fee back and covering the cost of promotion in the interests of waste reduction.

Hackney Council approved the Jumble Trail event planned for September 13 back in July, but on August 28 announced it would be cancelling it because of “several factors”.

The council said while it was not “ruling out” further jumble trail events, the previous event in Clapton which saw over 300 stalls set up by local residents caused “problems” such as pathways being blocked, people trading on public highways and litter.

A council spokesperson said they could not spare extra waste crew as the date coincides with the council’s own Hackney One Carnival event, and the United Festival in Finsbury Park.

‘Huge shame’

But founder Martina Randles, who started the project in Hackney three years ago, told the Hackney Citizen that the council said its waste operations team had experienced “no major issues” following the Clapton event and said the decision was “a huge shame”.

“If Hackney decides they do not want to officially support it, it is their choice, but the real issue is that we were given the all clear and this late decision has made it difficult to manage and left a lot of disappointed people.”

The fact the council had not engaged with the organisers directly was “disappointing”, said Ms Randles, especially as it is supporting the Garage Sale initiative franchised from Australia, which uses a “more corporate based system” that lacks the “magic ingredient” of the resident-led and homegrown Jumble Trail project.

Jumble Trail supporters such expressed their surprise at the cancellation. Stoke Newington resident Linda Marric accused the Town Hall of having “no sense of community” on Twitter.

Update: The Stoke Newington Jumble Trail is now going ahead without sponsorship. Go to http://www.jumbletrail.com/event/Stokey for more information.