Hackney Council break their promise to work with residents to co-design the Tesco site in Hackney Central

Posted byheathermorninglanePosted inUncategorizedTags:, , , , ,

As Morning Lane People’s Space, we are campaigning for a community voice in the Council’s plans to build on 55 Morning Lane in Hackney Central – currently the site of a big Tesco store and car park.

For years our message to Hackney Council has been that working with residents needs 3 things from them:

  1. Being OPEN
  2. TRUSTING us
  3. SHARING their knowledge

Hackney Council has failed again and again at these.

At our public meeting on 21 September, Nicola Hudson (the council officer responsible for 55 Morning Lane) said that Hackney Council will design the site with the local community. She said we’re starting from a blank slate and we’ll decide the architects together.

This is dishonest because our Council has already shortlisted architects and asked them to submit ideas for the site that include replacing the current Tesco with a much smaller store.

We welcome the Council appointing co-design consultants to work with residents. But these consultants cannot do their job if Hackney Council is not truthful with our community and if they refuse to share information and decisions with us.

Below are 3 conditions which must be met by Hackney Council before they can expect residents to give our time and share our knowledge and skills with them:

  1. MAKE KEY INFORMATION PUBLIC, including:
  • The architects who’ve been selected, their brief, and any responses to it.
  • All restrictions on what can be built on the site.
  • The provisional timeline for the development.
  1. EXPLAIN HOW THE COMMUNITY WILL BE INVOLVED, specifically:
  • Building is not set to start until 2027, what will happen after the consultants leave in a few months time?
  • What support will be given to residents who take part in co-design? This must include money – it shouldn’t just be architects, consultants and council workers whose time is paid.
  1. TELL US HOW DECISIONS WILL BE MADE, specifically:
  • Which decisions will be made by the Council, which by the community and which will be joint?
  • What are the mechanisms for those decisions? e.g. an online vote, consensus at a public meeting, two elected residents to join a procurement panel.


Currently Hackney Council say they’re doing ‘co-design’ but their approach is top-down. We urge them to do bottom-up planning for real. That’s the only way we can create an inspiring development on 55 Morning Lane which serves the people of Hackney and in which we all have a stake.

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