Hackney Council are excluding residents from a key decision for the future of the Tesco site in Hackney Central (55 Morning Lane)

After years of campaigning, Hackney Council have finally shared a timetable with us in MOPS (Morning Lane People’s Space) for the future of the Tesco site at 55 Morning Lane. Although Council officers talk about the importance of involving residents, what they’re suggesting is more PR than community engagement. Although they talk about co-design, they are refusing to share key decisions with people who live locally.

We understand that co-design is something new for Hackney Council’s staff and councillors, who are used to top-down development. From the failed Fashion Hub to the ‘regeneration’ of Bridport, Woodberry Down and other housing estates, we know that top down doesn’t work. We hope that they take this opportunity to learn about co-design with the community as we shape the future of 55 Morning Lane together.

This statement is in response to the appointment of community engagement consultants next week. We told Hackney Council officers that there must be some public involvement in this. The officers refused to do this citing lack of time, not being able to assess candidates fairly within their rules of procurement, and it being unreasonable to expect candidates to attend a public meeting before they are appointed. Instead, officers suggested inviting their preferred candidate “to attend a meet and greet public session to give the local community the opportunity to meet them prior to confirmation of their appointment”. This is not co-design, it is not even consultation, it is PR, and an insult to the community. Hackney Council bought the Tesco site in Hackney Central in 2017. The years of delays since then are due to bad decision making by the Council as a direct result of not consulting the community. Yet, they are refusing to extend their timetable by the few weeks needed to involve the community in this first key appointment. If the Council’s rules of procurement block community involvement in appointments then this needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Other institutional blocks on sharing decisions with the public must also be identified and changed, otherwise talk of co-design is just rhetoric. Finally, any consultant who is committed to co-design would be happy to meet local residents and would understand why this is part of the appointment process.

Co-design means involving all parties in all stages, all the way through the project, even if the Council has the final decision making role. The community on the Alton estate in Southwark drew up a community proposal, but the Council was not involved. The Council has taken the bits it likes from their proposal and gone ahead with the project. This is not co-design. Co-design involves a commitment that the community be heard and felt by being part of the process from the start to the end. Now is the time for Hackney to show how it can be done, setting an example for others and for future projects. The Tesco site at 55 Morning Lane site is not only ‘central’ to Hackney Town Centre, but also to the local and wider community’s everyday experience. It represents a huge opportunity for Hackney Council to pioneer an inclusive regeneration project at the very heart of our borough.

We organised a public meeting on co-design and set out what it means for us. But what are Hackney Council’s ideas on co-design? How do they envision the community being involved? We invite them to put these answers into the public domain at a public meeting in September.