Met police call on Carnival route

The police want the route changed to combat overcrowding

The Met Police Commissioner is to ask Home Secretary Charles Clarke what powers the force has to impose a change to the Notting Hill Carnival route.

Last week Sir Ian Blair revealed the course would stay unchanged from 2004.

Despite the Met agreeing in November to the route being changed to start in Hyde Park, a final decision on the path it will take was never made.

Three possible routes from Hyde Park to Notting Hill in west London are being considered to help cut overcrowding.

Police agreed to the extended route after a report was published in May by the Carnival Review Group.

'No blame'

Organisers and the Met said the route change would improve safety in the carnival's usual west London home where the parade would still end.

Sir Ian expressed his frustration at the failure of a new route being agreed but said there was no single organisation to blame.

In a statement Kensington and Chelsea Council told BBC News that with just 13 weeks to go, "the route will follow the pattern of recent years".

Chair of the Carnival Review Group Lee Jasper said: "We have got to take the issue of public safety seriously."

Debi Gardner, chair of the London Notting Hill Carnival Ltd said residents were being consulted over the move and safety at the street festival was "paramount".