Hackney Independent Autumn 2001

4 Pages·2001·1.6 MB·English

by  Hackney IWCA

NewsletteLr of the HEackney InFdependeTnt Working Class Association - Autumn 2001
TO
ROT !
ABANDONED 1
Cars vandalised and dumped on our estates
while the council carry out less and less
repairs and cleaning. Will the council ever fulfil
its responsibilities?
Councillors abandon Hoxton and Haggerston
Do you know who your local councillors have effectively abandoned a major source
are? When was the last time they asked of support to families struggling to stay in
you what you thought about anything? work.
Do they know - or even care - what most
Hackney IWCA have launched a survey
people in Hackney think are the impor-
across seventeen estates in the area.
tant issues affecting our lives?
When we ask people what concerns they
Haggerston Pool lies decaying with an have about their local area crime and anti-
undecided future because Hackney coun- social behaviour and lack of facilities are
cillors voted for its closure. Local people the top of the list. Do our elected councillors
fought to keep it open and the fight contin- know this? And if so, do they care? They
ues. Meanwhile new private gyms open up do nothing about crime and are actively ABANDONED 2
for those who can afford them. involved in making sure the facilities we do
HIT LIST have are closed down or sold off. Aban- Haggerston Pool closed down for over a year
while new Stoke Newington leisure complex
Across the Borough public buildings and doned and burnt out cars, muggings and
goes massively over budget. Will the pool ever
spaces are being closed and left to rot or vandalism are common-place. Quality of
re-open?
sold off to the private sector. As we reported life on our estates is not a priority for them.
in our last issue a hit-list has been drawn They think that a new café society for the
up by councillors. Those who depend most Town Hall square is much more deserving
on these resources - Hackney’s working of regeneration funding.
class majority- are being asked to sacri- OUT OF TOUCH
fice them to bail out the middle-class coun- Councillors are out of touch with the major-
cillors and chief officers who created the ity of us. As far as they are concerned, we
mess in the first place. In fact we are not can be left to rot. Instead of asking us what
even being “asked”. we need, the people we vote for just go
ahead and do what they want - with our
We can’t afford the rents on the new flats
money. Labour, Lib Dem and Tory council-
being built around here - like the £200 a
lors do not represent working class inter-
week flats on Cremer Street. But the Coun-
ests. We need our own independent repre-
cil prefers to let these flats be built rather
sentation.
than build flats at rents we can afford.
Want to see the council’s hitlist of buildings and
ABANDONED 3
We can’t afford the fees charged by private open space that they plan to sell?
nurseries, but the Council closes down the
Apples and Pears playground - first funding
council nurseries and jacks up the fees Phone us on 07000 752 752, leave your details
cut and now proposals for flats built on it. Will
and we’ll send you a copy.
at the ones they keep open. The council
our kids have any facilities left?
Hit the council where it hurts! See back page.
“GETTING RESULTS” A Bridge Too Far?
Local Activists Expose
Developers’ Plans
Carl Taylor lives in Haggerston and is a leading member of the IWCA.
The Hackney Independent asked him about his involvement. Fast work by community leaders in Haggerston has
stopped the New Deal plan to put a bridge through
Why did you join the IWCA? make a profit out of it. And when it all went wrong, Laburnum estate. But why would a new bridge be built
Because the IWCA is trying to improve the area they tried to pass the buck and say it’s not the over the canal in Haggerston that no-one wants?

where I live, which has been consistently neglected Council’s fault, it’s all down to ITNet. This could only happen in the mad world of the
Shoreditch New Deal, in partnership with the Canal-
by the authorities. I couldn’t see anyone else doing
Why didn’t they sort the problem out sooner? side Developers who have taken over Whitmore, parts
anything about it.
For two reasons. First they believe in privatisation of Haggerston estate and want to expand further.

There’s a real ideological push to privatise and and so wanted to prove that it works. And secondly The New Deal is meant to be “community-led.” In real-
basically redistribute resources in this area from because our middle class councillors and senior ity it is and has always been consultant led. The people
who get the most benefit out of the New Deal are
the working class to the middle officers are so out of touch with
the architects and consultants who are taking huge
and business classes. The IWCA “It’s not what I think how the majority of us live that chunks out of the New Deal money to pursue their
understands this. The main politi- they didn’t understand how big own projects. The worst offender is Levitt Bernstein,
is important, it’s the
who last year targeted 822 homes in Shoreditch and
cal parties understand it as well, a problem it was. In the end
produced estate agent style brochures describing their
of course, because they’re either views of the local they only took the contact back “attractive location” and called for most to be knocked
actively encouraging it - like because it was costing them down and some to have luxury penthouses on top!
community that
And for this they received over £600,000 of our money!
Labour and the Tories - or cannot money – not because people
This year they came back calling for a footbridge to
be trusted to put up a fight - like count. And apart were suffering. run over the canal between the Laburnum and Stone-
the Lib Dems. bridge estates. No one wanted this apart from Levitt
from the IWCA What do you think are the
Bernstein and Carolyn Clark, a New Deal Project Man-
What kind of things have you major issues in Haggerston? ager.
no-one else seems
done in the IWCA? It’s not what I think is important,
As Laburnum estate tenant Eugene Francis, an elected
The best activities have been to be trying to find it’s the views of the local com- New Deal Board member told the Hackney Independ-
ent “this is supposed to be a community led initiative.
talking to people and trying to munity that count. And apart
the views out.” The New Deal Project Managers and the Master Plan-
get improvements on our estates. from the IWCA no-one else
ners Levitt Bernstein, work for and on behalf of our
This has been through things like seems to be trying to find the communities. This seems to have been forgotten. None
going door-to-door with surveys, lobbying the New views out. of our communities have asked for this work to be
undertaken.”
Deal for money to make blocks safer and doing the
The people I talk to mostly complain about lack of
surgeries to help people get their benefits. Either
repairs and cleaning, anti-social behaviour - aban-
way you can see that it is possible to make a dif-
doned cars, mugging, drug dealing on our estates.
ference – getting results. Most of the time deci-
But also housing privatisation – the service Pinna-
sions are being made behind closed doors over
cle provides to tenants where they have taken over
which we think we have no control. If you can dem-
and where estates have been sold to Canalside.
onstrate that ordinary people can influence those
There are always rumours around about what is
decisions in our own interests it sets a good exam-
going to happen to this estate or that block but
ple.
there’s no real consultation. So accountability is
You were a leading campaigner against ITNet. also a big issue. All the big discussions about
Tenant activist Eugene Francis and
Why did you get involved in that campaign? housing and the local environment should be out IWCA’s Peter Sutton look at the
Because the Housing Benefit problem was affect- in the open. planned route for the bridge

ing so many people in our community. People were
What do you think the role of a councillor The bridge would have turned Laburnum estate from
being evicted or harassed or worried about rent
should be? a quiet cul de sac into a mugger’s paradise and bring
arrears. As well as getting involved with Whose noise and disruption through the estate, particularly if
To listen to and represent the interests of
Benefit? – which did a lot of good work publicis- the Haggerston tube station opens in a few years time,
their voters. Unfortu- the estate would be a cut through for everyone south
ing the real extent of
nately, Town Hall and of the canal.

the crisis and organ-
national party manifes- Originally the plans showed the bridge being built
ised some very good
tos seem to take priority through Laburnum Boat Club. Tenants opposed it,
public meetings – the and Laburnum Boat Club chair Patrick Hammill per-
when it comes to most
IWCA published a suaded Levitt Bernstein to move the bridge to Labur-
councillors. That’s why num estate. This would have been quite easy for him
help-line and set up
they can’t be trusted as he is a senior partner in Levitt Bernstein!

some local Benefit
to do what they say Tenant leader Eugene Francis lead community oppo-
surgeries to give
when they’re standing sition to the bridge and got the plans withdrawn. But
people advice and for him the real issue is why this came up in the first
for election.
reassurance. place “Why are Levitts looking at proposals, which
have already been dismissed, and putting them for-
They might say they
Why did the Coun- ward as New Deal initiatives? And, how much are
want to keep the local
they charging us for this useless piece of work? Who
cil give the contract
nursery, school or commissioned it and why? Also if this is supposed to
to ITNet? be a consultation on what local people would like to
swimming pool open
Because all the par- see happen along the canal, why have they not asked
but once they get into
local people first? Why, if this is an English Waterways
ties on the Council
the Town Hall they’ll project, was £100,000 of our New Deal money going to
- Labour, Lib Dems
Carl Taylor finding out what local people think. follow the party line. be spent on it?” More questions than the hapless New
and the Tories - Deal Director Michael Pyner can answer. After all he’s
One of the benefits of
only on £60,000 a year to run the whole show.
support privatisation.
the IWCA is that we haven’t got an inflexible mani-
The housing benefit system wasn’t working very IWCA co-ordinator Peter Sutton added “this really was
festo – we’re committed to listening to the views
a bridge too far”. But it is just one of many schemes
well. They could have put more resources into it,
of the working class majority. The middle-class put forward by New Deal officers, with no support in
made it more efficient and got the staff working minority are already over-represented in Hackney the community. The New Deal Officers have pushed
better. Instead they privatised it. They believe that for the closure of Burbage school, the demolition of
– who is going to represent the rest of us?
Harwood Court, building a supermarket on Hoxton
a private company can do the job cheaper and still
Gardens, and building a sixth from centre on Colville
Congestion Charges - ¨ Anyone who has to visit relatives or has any estate. All of these schemes were dreamt up behind
other business in Finsbury or anywhere else closed doors and plans were being made until commu-
who’s gaining?
nity activists found out and put a stop to them. Every-
in the charging area will have to pay £5 a day.
one should keep an eye on what the New Deal officers
Ken Livingstone and the Labour-run Greater Even if you drive in by accident you still have to are up to.
London Assembly plan to charge £5 to anyone pay! So after paying your road tax and any park- It goes to show that it is the consultants who call the
who crosses Old Street or City Road in their car. ing fees to Hackney Council you still can’t drive shots on the New Deal. The community is not in con-
Because we are just outside the area: a few minutes from your house without getting trol. The best that we can do is to put a block on their
crazy schemes, stop them from wasting our money
¨ More cars will be parked in Shoreditch . another charge – and then you will still have to
and selling off our homes whilst continually pushing
¨ There will be more traffic in Shoreditch as cars pay on a meter when you reach where you are the issue of a complete refurbishment of every council
try to avoid the charging area. going! (continued on page 4) home in the New Deal area. Now that’s a way to spend
New Deal money that we can all agree on.
WHERE’S THE
EDITORIAL
Labour Doesn’t
MONEY GONE?
Part one: Clissold Leisure Centre
Represent Us
How could the Council have got us into such a
mess? The Hackney Independent plans to look
at a series of areas where the Council have –
through incompetence or by pursuing their priva-
tisation agenda at any cost – wasted our money
and run up a huge debt. In this issue we look at the
Clissold Leisure Centre.
The majority of Hackney voters did not take part lowed the same policy as Labour - cutting repairs,
in the general election in June. This is no surprise privatising services and selling off our estates. The Leisure Centre is being built on Clissold Road,
because there was nothing for the majority of us Stoke Newington by Clissold Park. It was meant to
to vote for. Nationally the Labour Government was Labour has the most councillors in Haggerston, cost £7 million, but has so far cost the Council at
elected with another huge majority - but only 25% Hoxton and De Beauvoir. What have they done
least £16 million more than this. This £16 million
of the electorate voted for them. And that was on for the area since they were elected three years
could have been used to keep Haggerston Pool
the lowest turnout ever recorded. As new middle ago? We have seen estates privatised, Hagger-
open, refurbish the Britannia, keep the Apples and
class voters have been attracted by Labour’s pro ston Pool closed, all our local facilities threatened
big business policies - paid for by cuts in public or closed down. Instead they have prioritised build- Pears playground open and pay for a whole load
spending - working ing flats for rich more things.
class voters have people and pro- PROBLEMS
stayed at home. moting the “night- Writing in Stoke Newington’s N16 magazine, Ken
time economy” - Worpole reported that “although most of the build-
Labour pushes the more trendy bars ing work is now completed, there are apparently
same agenda and restaurants
still problems in controlling the quality of water –
locally as nationally. in Hoxton Square
black algae has been seen on test runs and a
The Labour Party and Curtain
large glass screen in the entrance foyer is caus-
that privatises hous- Road. Did you
ing problems in getting a fire rating. But even
ing benefit and the vote for that?
when these details are solved – and the taxi meter
dustbins in Hack- There was a time
ney is the same when Labour was keeps ticking away, clocking up tens of thousands
Labour Party that criticised for only of pounds every month – final decisions have still
won’t take control of coming round at to be made about the running of the centre, and
Railtrack and now elections. Now what pricing and programming policies are to be
wants to privatise they and the
adopted.”
the tube. Labour other parties
have announced don’t even do
that they want to that. Labour can
see the end of coun- no longer claim to
cil housing in ten represent work-
Two Labour MP’s and two new Labour councillors were
years, and Hackney ing class inter-
Labour have done elected on June 7th. Let’s try and wipe the smug smiles off ests - in fact it has
their faces in next May’s local elections.
everything they can not even tried to
to sell-off our do so for years.
estates, with the Borough’s biggest estate, Wood-
berry Down in Stamford Hill, being their next And what was the result of June’s election in
target. Hackney? We are left with a Labour Council, two
Labour MP’s and no representation for the working
Labour are looking for the middle class vote. class. Labour used to take the working class vote
Twenty years ago our estates were covered in for granted - now they take it for granted that we The new Clissold Leisure Centre
Labour posters during elec- won’t vote, but that Hackney’s
tions. Now there are hardly “There was a time when middle class minority will turn
The Council won’t manage the Leisure Centre, a
any posters up - but in out enough votes for Labour
Labour was criticised for private company will. Like with all Labour Party
private streets the bigger to get them back in. We have
schemes, we put public money in and private
the house the more chance a chance to elect new council-
only coming round at
sector managers come in and make a profit out of
there is of a Labour poster. lors next May. Lets make sure
elections. Now they and there are no Labour councillors it. Ken Worpole calls it “the much-loved Railtrack
There are reasons why so in Shoreditch or Haggerston model” although he could just as well call it the
many new yuppie flats are the other parties don’t after the local elections next ITNet model.
being built around here. year. Labour doesn’t repre-
even do that”
The trendy design of the Leisure Centre – which
Look at the “glass-house” sent us.
on Murray Grove, the yellow will no doubt win awards for the architect – means
flats on Cremer Street or the that it will cost a fortune to maintain the building.
Government to take over Hackney?
new £220 a week flats in Haggerston Library. And who will pick up the bill? The architects? The
They are not for us. They are for the City workers Because of how bad things have got, the private sector managers? As usual it will be us –
and lawyers. Labour wants them to live in Hack-
Government is thinking of taking over Hack- both through high ticket prices and through further
ney because they will turn out and vote for New
ney Council. At first this might seem like a Council subsidies.
Labour. These people aren’t affected by the lack
good idea – to stop the incompetent coun- PAY-OFFS
of repairs and cleaning on our estates, the lack of
cillors and senior officers making more of So who is to blame? As usual all the top Council
facilities for young people. They don’t use the local
a mess. But when you think about what officers who drew up the plans have now left –
buses, nurseries or advice centres. Labour wants
them for two reasons. Because they will still vote the national Labour government policies mainly with big pay-offs. The councillors will all
Labour and because they don’t mind the Council are – privatising the tube, PFI for hospitals, blame each other – as Labour, Lib Dem and Tory
cutting all the local facilities. Because Labour rep- giving public services to private managers councillors have run the Council at some point
resents them, we need independent working class – then letting them run Hackney would only during the building work. You could say that the
candidates to represent working class interests. be a recipe for further privatisation here. blame lies with all of us who have let them get
away with it for so long.
We can’t look to the Tories or Lib Dems to help us. Instead the answer has to be to vote out all
The Tories have three councillors in Haggerston the sitting councillors in the local elections And, seven years after the plans were drawn up,
and Shoreditch and the Lib Dems have two. When next May. The IWCA will be putting our own the Leisure Centre is still not open, and nor is
did you see them and what have they done for candidates forward and supporting other Haggerston Pool. And the Council are still collect-
you? Although they can both make some sense
independent pro-working class candidates. ing our ever increasing rents and council tax every
when they are in opposition, they have both had a
week and providing less and less for it.
go at running the Town Hall in recent years and fol-
Hit the council where
The Diary
with “The Green Man”
it hurts
You Heard It Here First!
Front covers of Spring
The case for a rent freeze.
How does it work? edition of Hackney Inde-
For years the Council have been charging us pendent & Hackney
1. We are trying to get 1000 tenants to register
more and giving us less. Think of your council tax, Gazette June 14th
with the rent freeze campaign that they will
garage, home help, car space or rent and you
not pay any rent increase next year. No-one
know what I mean. But it is with the rent that we
should stop paying until they are informed
have a new weapon to hit the Council where it
that there are 1000 people registered.
hurts – starting next April. If at least 1000 tenants
say now that they will not pay any rent increase 2. Put the money you are not paying the Coun-
then we will get the Council worried. The council- cil into a bank account. If you do not have
lors will all be up for election just five weeks after one, you can set up a credit union account
next year’s increase come in. How many of them
by walking into the Credit Union office on
will want to put our rent up when they know that
Hoxton Market.
not only are we preparing not to pay it – but also
3. If the rent increase is £2, it would take at
that there are candidates standing in the elec-
least a year for you to get two weeks behind
tions who oppose all rent increases until we get a
The last edition of the Hackney Independent told
with the rent and so for the Council to send
decent service?
you all about the sell-offs of council facilities
you the first warning letter. By then we would
caused by the council’s massive debts three
Normal protests against the Council are things hope to have thousands more tenants sup-
months before the local Hackney Gazette ran the
that they can ignore like petitions and lobbies of porting the campaign.
same story.
the Town Hall. Even when the Council workers go
How can you help the rent freeze campaign?
on strike it saves the Council a day’s wages and
gives them an excuse for having a disrupted serv- •Get in touch to register your support A blue car and a red car were abandoned next
ice. The difference is that the rent freeze costs to each other by the canal in Haggerston, both
•If your tenant association have not yet sup-
them money and they cannot ignore it. vandalised. A local tenant activist spray painted
ported the campaign, get the campaign invited
“Tories” on one and “New Labour” on the other,
You may have seen the orange posters and stick- to speak to the next meeting which is useful as you normally can’t tell them
ers already supporting the rent freeze. Lets cover •Help us to spread the campaign – can you apart. The Green Man’s only comment was to ask
the whole of the area in them before next April.
knock on some doors in your block with us to why the pile of sand and builders rubbish piled
The campaign is already supported by a number
help get more people involved? next to them wasn’t sprayed with “Lib Dems.”
of tenant associations as well as the IWCA.
•If you want more information about the cam-
We know that it’s already impossible to find your
Lets put the boot on the other foot and hit paign write to Tenants Fightback, PO Box
councillor apart from at election time, but two
them in the pocket for once! 3519, London, E8 4XW or leave a message on
Hackney councillors have taken things a step fur-
07623 758 782 (40p per minute).
ther. Labour’s Jessica Webb and Lib Dem Adrian
Gee-Turner stood for Parliament in the June elec-
tions for constituencies outside Hackney. All their
fine words about standing up for local people and
at the first chance they are off, pledging to stand
up for people in Woodford and Dagenham respec-
tively. Lib Dem Councillor Gee-Turner also made a
Box 48, 136 Kingsland High Street, London, E8 2NS tel:[phone]
fool of himself in the Gazette recently, supporting
www.hackneyiwca.fsnet.co.uk email:[email protected]
plans to make hard core porn films in his ward.
Hackney IWCA was set up to involve and represent the interests of the working class majority in the
borough. Since the mainstream political parties all represent middle class interests we thought we had We hear that £1000 a week New Deal Director
to start standing up for ourselves. We are committed to finding out about the issues that are important Michael Pyner has been keeping himself busy in
on our estates and getting something done about them. Since the last newsletter we have carried out his weekend home in Brighton. He’s has joined
surveys on 9 separate estates asking tenants what they want sorting out. We have also continued our a far Left group and spent the election campaign
campaigns to get proper refurbishment of council blocks and worked with individual tenants to get Pin- helping them to get a few hundred votes for “saving
nacle and the Council to fulfil their responsibilities. The Hackney Independent is one way in which we the planet.” If he wants to bring their “tax the rich”
try to put across a working class perspective. Do you like what you read in the Hackney Independent? slogan closer to home he could put his hand in
We are the only paper that goes out in Hackney that is on the side of the working class. But we are not his pocket and fund the next issue of the Hackney
strong enough yet, and you can do something about that. Independent. All donations welcome.
Can you deliver the next edition of the paper to your block or street?
Thanks to Paul from De Beauvoir estate for send-
Better still could you be a local contact for the IWCA? This would mean phoning in any
ing us an advert from – of all places - the Tatler.
information about what is happening on your estate so that we can either cover it in the paper
This is not the usual reading material for most of
or campaign for things to be done about it. As a contact you might also get our posters put up
us, which is exactly why the new flats opposite the
on local noticeboards or ask shops to put them up.
college on Kingsland Road are being advertised
If you can attend occasional meetings to help plan campaigns and agree what should go in the there. With the cheapest flat going for £400,000
paper then you would be very welcome. there’s no chance of the average Hackney Inde-
pendent reader moving in. And that’s exactly the
If you want to help, but are not sure what you can do then you can give us a ring. If you are
point – they are not for us.
not sure what he IWCA is about you can also give us a call. If you want we can send someone
around to have a chat, or we can meet in your local cafe or pub. Get in touch and we can
(congestion charges from page 2)IWCA spokes-
begin to change things around here.
man Peter Sutton told the Hackney Independent
Send this form to New Contacts, Hackney IWCA, Box 48, 136 Kingsland High Street, London
“It seems to me that the Labour Party is trying
E8 2NS.If you want to talk to someone first, leave a message on 07000 752752 and we will get
to make it easier to drive in Central London for
back to you. Please repeat your phone number.
those who can afford it. City workers, lawyers and
dot.com millionaires will be happy to pay £25 a
I can deliver the Hackney Independent in my block or street []
week to keep the rest of us off their streets. When
I can be a local contact for the IWCA [] you look at it that way it is a class issue.” One
group has managed to get themselves exempted
I can come to IWCA meetings []
from charges, though. MP’s will not have to pay.