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Hackney Council have promised to co-design 55 Morning Lane? But will they share power with residents?

On 24th February we held a public meeting about the Tesco site in Hackney Central, at 55 Morning Lane. Hackney Council have promised to work with the community to create plans for the site. At the meeting Nicola Hudson who is the Council officer in charge said she did not have any experience of co-design and was there to listen. Our key question is:

Are Hackney Council ACTUALLY intending to do real co-design? Or do they intend to do low-level consultation?

The top-level tests of that are:

Is there mutual learning?
Is there making?
Is there (at least some) co-deciding?
Is lived and living experience recognised and valued?

Then, we have these questions about the structure of the planned co-design process:

WHO is running it? And what co-design experience do they have?
WHAT is their process? HOW long is the process? HOW does it fit into the broader development timelines? HOW will the process be managed, iterations evolved, shared and communicated?
WHO is participating from the community? HOW will recruitment and support be managed?
WHEN and WHERE will the workshops be? (They should GO TO the community participants at appropriate times and in appropriate spaces.)
WHAT recompense is being offered for community participant time, effort and expertise?
WHAT resources are being provided and supported by the council (and later by architects and developers) for community participants?
WHAT training is being supported by the council for community participants?

Our Next Public Meeting

We’re having another public meeting – everyone is welcome! Hackney Council officers will be there. But most of all we want local people to be part of finding out what Co-Design can be and how we can influence the development of the Tesco site.
Date: Saturday 24th February 2024,
Time: 11am – 1pm, followed by lunch,
Place: Dan West Community Hall, Trelawney Estate, Paragon Road E9 6PH

Co-Design for the development of the Tesco Site at 55 Morning Lane. What does it mean?

Hackney Council has committed to a Co-Design process for developing the Tesco site on 55 Morning Lane. What is Co-Design and how will it work? Can we be sure local people’s voices are heard? How can we be involved in decision making?

Morning Lane People’s Space has organised a meeting about the Tesco site, to talk about how we can be involved in decision making and to hear what Co-Design could be from those already involved in similar projects. Come along to learn more and join the discussions.

Our questions for the candidates for Mayor of Hackney

A couple of weeks ago we contacted all the candidates in the upcoming byelection for Mayor of Hackney asking them to respond to three questions about 55 Morning Lane, the Tesco site in Hackney Central. Initially only two candidates replied: Annoesjka Valent for TUSC and Zoë Garbett for the Greens. After the deadline, Labour’s Caroline Woodley also replied. Below we publish their responses in full. We always intended to publish in full any responses to our questions that we received by the deadline. So in publishing those from these three candidates without any others, this is not an endorsement of them, but a result of theirs being the only ones that we have.

Zoë introduced her responses by saying that she has “been proud to support the Morning Lane campaign” and that: “For too long the Council has put the interests of large developers over residents”. Caroline introduced her responses with “apologies for the belated submission”. Annoesjka introduced her responses by saying “I wholeheartedly agree with your aims and objectives of your campaign” and outlining her background in the trade unions UNISON and Napo.

Will you make a commitment to at least 50% social-rent council homes on any development on the Tesco site?

Annoesjka’s reply:

As stated in my printed election address, I would commit to 100% council homes at Morning Lane and at the Britannia site. To my knowledge, Hackney Council has £345 million in reserves. I know, not just Hackney Council, but also the Government has got money.

Caroline’s reply:

I will formally recognize in development meetings the value of the resident-led engagement work undertaken by Morning Lane People’s Space and the ambition of 50% social-rent. I commit to meeting with residents as we explore the various options and to ensuring the Council prioritises and pursues every possible route to delivering more social-rent housing in Hackney Central and across the borough.

Zoë’s reply:

If elected Green Mayor, I will commit to doing everything in my power to ensure that the site is designed and shaped around the local community – including to achieve at least 50% social-rent council homes. This commitment aligns with Green Party values and my other commitments regarding housing in the borough which can be found in full here: https://zoe4hackney.co.uk/policy/housing/

I am committed to putting residents first by:

Providing more social housing to meet the needs of local people. Exploring additional investment from pension funds and borrowing to build social housing.
Prioritising council land for council housing.
Investigating how the Council can support community-led and co-operative housing in new developments, prioritising community-led over profit-led developments.

Community must be the guiding ethos for housing in Hackney. We need to make places which foster a sense of safety, lasting relationships and leisure.

Despite mass construction, the promised number of social homes do not materialise due to viability or lack of sale of private sector houses. I have been calling for a review of this approach (cross-subsidy model), where the Council partners with a developer which builds luxury flats for sale so Council properties can be built. This approach is outdated, gentrifies an area and forces out communities. I commit to exploring every possible alternative.

Do you agree with the findings of our reports that we need to maintain a supermarket of the same size as the current Tesco on 55 Morning Lane?

Caroline’s reply:

I have always supported the call from residents in Hackney Central to retain a supermarket of a size that can serve the local area (i.e. not reduced in size to an ‘express’). I will continue to do so if I am elected Mayor and will make sure the Council works with partners to deliver a supermarket that residents consider suitable for the Morning Lane site.

Zoë’s reply:

As Green Mayor, I would welcome community voice at the very centre of decision-making. Your research has shown, and heard this directly from shoppers when I’ve been standing outside Tesco, how important it is to have access to affordable food and a good range of food. I would do everything in my power to maintain a supermarket the same size as the current Tesco – albeit favouring a People’s supermarket as exists in other parts of London, rather than a large profit-led corporation, and/or exploring alternative shopping such as smaller Hackney-run shops over the same footprint. In the development and consideration of these options, I will make sure that affordability is central and residents are consulted.

Currently, developers have too much say over what happens in the borough and their profits are considered more important than the views of people living and working in the borough. At the Tesco site and in other locations around the borough, I will give more power to residents, community groups and local businesses (including artists) to shape the future of their neighbourhoods – specifically in designing how the space is used to ensure a sense of identity and purpose in the heart of Hackney Central.

Annoesjka’s reply:

Yes. Otherwise you will just get this little mini Tesco or whatever appearing only instead where prices are likely higher than in the usual big stores and you can’t get everything you need locally. Where would you go elsewhere? People having to travel longer journeys on buses to get to a bigger cheaper supermarket. I’m thinking local elderly, disabled and vulnerable residents can just do this easily now but will be deprived if this goes, including poorer families.

How will you ensure that Hackney Council shares power with the community in deciding the future of 55 Morning Lane?

Annoesjka’s reply:

No decisions to be made without full local and more importantly, MEANINGFUL consultation. Also, where is the accountability over that failed Hackney Walk project, how much money has been wasted on that and how was the recommissioning done, again it’s a clear case of where I would say, ‘Open up the books!’. Plenty of times I have walked into meetings where I’ve been told, ‘Oh but we consulted you’ when it’s been bits of papers sent to you, you make objections and nothing has been taken into account. That is not meaningful consultation, that is a ‘tick box’ exercise and I would never agree with or condone such.

Zoë’s reply:

One of the big ideas of my mayoral campaign is to bring decision-making of the council back into the service of local communities. The Morning Lane is the perfect example of a campaign that has had to fight – simply to be listened to by the council, and not yet with any guarantees that community voice will be the guiding ethos of any future development on the site.

I commit to valuing and listening to residents and community groups who are passionate about their lives, homes and communities.

If elected Green Mayor, I will insist and ensure that the community is engaged from the start, and throughout, the process for bringing homes and amenities to 55 Morning Lane. I will require transparency in how we design and progress plans. This commitment sits well with my pledges for the Mayor of Hackney campaign to bring People Power to the heart of the council by, for example:

Supporting calls for a referendum, asking residents whether they would like to move from a directly-elected Mayor & cabinet structure, where a few people hold a lot of power, to a committee system where more councillors (representing residents) have a greater say in the decisions the Council makes.
Replacing town plans with people’s plans.
Requiring resident-led planning to be supported from the start of the process for any changes to estates.
Having regular meetings with and listening to unions including workers unions, student unions and independent renters unions.
Regularly sharing information and being transparent so residents are informed of key decisions and updates to make participation in scrutiny as easy as possible.
Holding regular, powerful and wide reaching Citizens’ Assemblies, supported by a network of community panels.

Local residents are experts in what is most needed in their neighbourhoods – so where we need to maintain and update local infrastructure, I will put the people of Hackney at the heart of decision making.

Caroline’s reply:

I will continue the ‘Hackney Central Conversation’ between the Council, local organisations, residents and local businesses and keep the Hackney Central Panel which MOPS is part of, ensuring it shapes plans as they come forward. I will always press the Council to show that residents’ views have been taken on board. It’s been good to see the questions raised through the MOPS surveys and the overall response.

I’ve also, through my current portfolio, been engaged in developing various supplementary planning documents and strategies focused on design and planning guidance, green infrastructure, inclusion and accessibility. I am keen to ensure that ‘child friendly’ design guidance is upheld, with principles (as set out below) that support doorstep play, creating spaces where young people want to be, and including the voices of children and young people as part of the design process, and also that we create places with multi-generational opportunities, where older people can age well.

Design Principles

Shaping my Borough: to ensure children and young people have the power to influence change in Hackney.
Doorstep play: to provide easily accessible and overlooked space for play and social interactions immediately outside the front door.
Play on the way: to provide multi-generational opportunities for informal play, things to see and do around the neighbourhood beyond designated parks and playgrounds.
Streets for people: to ensure that children, young people and their families can safely and easily move through Hackney by sustainable modes of transport such as walking, cycling or public transport.
Contact with nature: to design places which increase everyday opportunities to access and connect with nature.
Destinations for all: to design socially inclusive and accessible public spaces that are welcoming, enjoyable and safe for everyone.
Making spaces where young people want to be: to ensure that public spaces are designed, planned and managed to consider the varied needs of teenagers and young people.

Health and well-being: to ensure the design of outdoor environments supports improved physical health and mental well-being.

Public meeting demands Hackney Council share power in determining the future of 55 Morning Lane

On 20 September 2023, we held a public meeting to discuss the plans for 55 Morning Lane. Three council officers and 4 councillors were among the 50 people who came together to discuss the site, despite the wind and rain that were afflicting Hackney that night.

The meeting heard that our community consultation had shown three clear priorities for housing and shopping: cheapness, localness and spaciousness. The meeting recognised these and the focus on council housing that can provide homes for people on the housing waiting list and for shops and public spaces were everyone can feel like they belong.

Another clear message was that we do not want the usual fake consultation or ‘co-design’ that is just a way to get residents to sign off on another development that gentrifies Hackney. We need consultation that shares power with us including for decision making over the future of 55 Morning Lane.

There will be more about the findings from our consultation and the discussions in the meeting in our next report later this month.

Hackney Council appoints project manager for 55 Morning Lane

Hackney Council has now appointed Nicola Hudson to project manage 55 Morning Lane. Before this, Nicola worked on Woodberry Down Estate in the North of the borough. In 1999, Hackney Council decided that this award-winning council estate must be demolished. Woodberry Down is a ‘regeneration’ project rather than a new build. But it involves three things that must be avoided at 55 Morning Lane:

Inauthentic consultation: Paul Watt’s research about Woodberry Down evidences how often “residents did not feel that they were being asked to engage in a genuinely dialogical and participative process because the key decisions had already been made: ‘We had all of these consultations, but the deal’s done. There will be rows and rows of Woodberry Down flats, every inch of it will be covered because they [council] see money so it’s going to happen. Consultation is just part of the propaganda’”.
Dishonest consultation: The London Tenants Federation documented in 2017 that at Woodberry Down, “there was no ballot of residents. …. Meetings were held on different parts of the estate, conducted by a PR firm. There was no talk of private homes being developed. Everyone thought they would have new council homes on the estate. Everyone was told they would only have to move once”. In reality, none of the new flats are council homes; they are managed by Genesis Housing Association; and some people have had to move three or four times. A lot of other promises did not materialise such as resident representation on the management board.
State-led gentrification: As the timeline has extended to 2032, the number of projected housing units on Woodberry Down has increased from 4,500 to 5,557, with only 1,088 for social rent. Despite delays in building most of the promised social-rent homes, developer Berkeley Homes has built its 23-floor shiny tower blocks of private flats – with a residents-only swimming pool and gym. Overall the regeneration reduces the proportion of public housing on Woodberry Down from 67% to 20%. As Paul Watt says, this is “extensive state-led gentrification masquerading as estate regeneration”.

The discussions between Hackney Council and developer Hackney Walk “are not trivial” but the public has no right to read them

The public have no right to read the discussions between Hackney Council and dodgy developer Hackney Walk about their plans for 55 Morning Lane. This is the disappointing ruling of the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Commissioner has read the information that we can’t see and decided “it is clearly not of a trivial nature”. Yet still he has decided it’s in the public interest for pre-application discussions between Councils and developers to be confidential. This distorted logic assumes that we get better results for the public when we don’t know what’s happening rather than when local residents have the information we need to hold our elected representatives to account.

This shameful decision shows that Freedom of Information law serves to protect private not public interests. You can read the full 15 page ruling here.

Write to your councillors about 55 Morning Lane

Use this letter to ask your local councillors to demand at least 50% social rent council housing on any development on the Tesco site in Hackney Central and to support Morning Lane People’s Space in campaigning for an open transparent process going forward.

You can get the email addresses of your councillors from this site.

Dear Councillor

I am a resident in your ward. I write to you regarding future plans for the Tesco site at 55 Morning Lane.

Morning Lane People’s Space have been running a campaign around the proposed development for over 2 years. Throughout this period, they have held public meetings and regularly leafleted outside the store, on local estates and in local businesses. In the process they have talked with thousands of people. Last year the campaign promoted a survey seeking local people’s priorities for the site and received a huge response compared to most community ‘consultation’ exercises. About 1400 people gave feedback, identifying their top priorities for the site as social housing and a large supermarket. The campaigners, harnessing the expressed wishes of the community, are demanding at least 50% council housing at social rent on the site.

I believe this is a very reasonable ‘ask’ given that we are in the midst of a housing emergency and the land in question was paid for by public money. Hackney Council’s stated aim is a fairer, safer and more sustainable borough. Hackney Labour’s manifesto commits to building significantly more social rent homes in this term of office than in recent years. I am therefore dismayed by Mayor Phillip Glanville’s response to the campaign’s demand that it would be ‘almost impossible’ to ensure that half of the homes built will be social housing. If this is the case on a site owned by the Council, then the possibility of ever securing anything approaching the amount of social housing actually needed in the borough looks very grim indeed. Other sites have achieved more social housing in recent years, the Peabody development in the old Holloway Prison in Islington is creating 42% social rent homes and overall, 60% affordable housing,

As Hackney Council have not made their viability study for the Tesco site public, I am therefore requesting your support in finding the answer as to why they cannot provide 50% social rent housing there, instead suggesting 30% ‘affordable’ which is unaffordable to most Hackney residents. It is vital that they publish their viability study so that it can be subjected to scrutiny and so that the planning process is transparent. I also ask you to join the campaign in demanding at least 50% social housing, exploring all avenues such as funding from the Mayor of London. I am aware that the council is looking for a new partner to develop the site now that Hackney Walk have dropped out. I am anxious that the Morning Lane People’s Space campaign group who have championed the voice of the community thus far will be marginalised in the future. I would urge you to support their continued involvement to maintain a democratic, open and transparent development process.

This development and the opportunity it provides to create social housing is a key issue for myself and many local residents. I hope you will make every effort to take this issue up on our behalf and I look forward to your response.

Our statement following the Mayor of Hackney’s press release on the future plans for the Tesco site at 55 Morning Lane

The Mayor of Hackney’s statement on the future of the Tesco site in Hackney Central shows he takes this development seriously. The statement talks of a “new approach” but contains nothing that is new. Hackney Council will continue strategic control of the development, which we welcome. They also say they will proceed “openly, transparently and alongside the community”. This has not happened so far and Morning Lane People’s Space have consistently challenged them on this. Three Freedom of Information requests from us on details of the previous plan have been rejected (one of these we reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office and is currently under investigation by them). The land purchase and the deal with the original developer were not consulted on by the council. The Mayor attended a meeting with the community in 2020, at our invitation, and the council set up the Hackney Central Community Panel in 2021. This panel is not genuine consultation. It is a test bed for the council’s plans designed to give the illusion not the reality of consultation. The only consultation on the local community’s needs and priorities for the Tesco Morning Lane site has been carried out by us in MOPS. The “feedback we have already received” which the Mayor speaks about is from the MOPS survey which identified public housing and a big supermarket as residents’ top priorities. In the council chamber, answering Green councillor Zoë Garbett, the Mayor said they would not be able meet the MOPS demand for 50% council housing at social rent, nor would the council collaborate with MOPS on our consultation for the future plans. They would try to meet a target of 30% so-called ‘affordable homes’. The mayor is honouring his promise of meeting with Morning Lane People’s Space next month. We will reiterate that 50% council housing at social rent on the site is already a compromise. Hackney needs 100% public housing in new developments on public land. Affordable is a term we no longer use as it includes tenures like shared ownership that are UNaffordable to most Londoners. We do not need more private market housing in Hackney. History will judge; public land must be used for public housing.

Hackney Council’s pro-developer agenda and what that means for the Morning Lane Tesco site

Corporate consultants SEC Newgate describe Hackney Council as “resolutely pro-development in the face of opposing political campaigns in the borough” like us and Save Ridley Road. As a result, “the bulk of housing built in Hackney in at least the last two decades has been for market sale”. Hackney council put developers and their desire for huge profits above the needs of the people of Hackney. As we outline below, this is clear in the manifesto on which Labour won power in last month’s elections. It is something that we in Morning Lane People’s Space resolutely oppose as we campaign for a people’s plan for the Tesco site in Hackney Central.

Hackney Council has been ‘regenerating’ its housing estates. This means demolishing council homes and replacing them chiefly with expensive private housing. For example, Woodberry Down originally had almost 2000 council homes. By the end of the regeneration scheme, with Berkeley Homes as the developer, it is projected to have over 5,500 homes, only 20% of which will be for social rent and they will be managed by Genesis Housing Association, not by the council.

Successive Conservative governments have severely cut funding to local government. In a desperate bid to fund basic services, Hackney Council is increasingly becoming a developer of market housing on sites like 55 Morning Lane which it bought five years ago for £60 million of public money. This is unlikely to be successful, as they’re competing with ruthless profiteers. But even if it were successful, the council would become a ruthless profiteer, and Hackney will be covered with expensive housing aimed at investors, with ordinary people marginalised and pushed out of the borough or forced into an insecure and overpriced private housing.

The manifesto on which Labour was re-elected to run Hackney Council doubles down on this failed agenda.

This manifesto lists 12 projects to be continued or completed including Woodberry Down. Most are controversial and some have been fiercely resisted by residents. At Lincoln Court, the council plans to fill the play decks between the existing tower blocks with yet more high rise housing: 87 units consisting of 29 social rent, 29 shared ownership, and 29 market sale. This will densify the living conditions of existing residents, deprive their children of play space, and gentrify the area. All for the gain of just 29 social-rent homes. The Britannia Project breaches manifesto commitments. For example, we are promised “the right mix of accessible and family housing”. But of the 314 market homes, 30 shared ownership homes and 51 social-rent homes, only 13 will have more than two bedrooms. This disadvantages many families seeking affordable housing, and adds to the problem of overcrowding in London.

Throughout the manifesto, we find statements that hide the reality of what is happening. We are told Hackney Council “have helped a record number of homeless people and families … moving homeless families out of temporary accommodation and into decent homes”. In reality, they’ve removed thousands from the housing waiting list and in just one year, they directed over 400 households into private rented housing. When they tell us that they “will build 1,000 council homes for social rent”, they don’t say that this includes homes promised but not delivered in the previous four years, nor how many shared ownership and market homes will also be built.

It’s not just Hackney’s housing policies that are excluding people and serving the needs of big capital. The manifesto informs us that Hackney is “a council that works to facilitate growth. … We will look to community-led regeneration and place-based to ‘place-shape’ our town centres, high streets, neighbourhoods and estates” to “support good growth”. This is doublespeak. What is ‘good growth’ and who benefits? And what does ‘place shape’ even mean?

What Hackney Council needs to do is to start listening to those of us who live here. We have documented how previous consultations are narrow exercises designed to get the answers the Council wants. In the manifesto, they are oblivious to these problems and to the growing distrust: “We will build on the best practice that has been developed through the Dalston and Hackney Central Conversations”. They promise even more so-called ‘Conversations’: “We will restart … the Clapton and Homerton place-making plans … toward a Clapton Conversation and a Homerton Conversation”.

Finally, what does this mean for 55 Morning Lane? With the Council’s deal with failed developer Hackney Walk collapsing in the middle of the local election campaign, there’s very little about the site in the manifesto. Our new regime promises to develop “the Morning Lane site as an extension of the town centre” and to “explore and plan for a new space for the Hackney Museum and also explore the creation of a Hackney Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice”. We need human rights and social justice in practice, not in a museum. It would be ironic if this Centre ends up alongside a development that increases inequality but quite on brand for a council that ultimately prioritises profit over people.

The pro-developer and market orientation of Hackney Council underlines the need for campaigns for social housing, real consultation and community plans to continue. Email us at morninglanepeoplesspace@gmail.com, if you want to get involved.