Keep Hackney Building

Overview

 An update on opportunities for new Council homes across the borough

Over the summer, we spoke with residents about the possibility of building some much needed new homes on the garages block at 15 locations across the borough.  

Thank you to everyone who came along to the in-person event to share their views or gave feedback online. Below is a summary of the project so far, the feedback we received and next steps.

What’s happened so far?

Hackney is facing a severe shortage of genuinely affordable homes for local people. As demand for housing continues to grow, Council homes are more important than ever. 

Between May 2018 and May 2022 the Council started, completed or received planning permission for nearly 2,000 new homes, many of these prioritised as Council homes for social rent. However, there are still thousands of families waiting for a Council home. 

That’s why the Council is developing plans to build more new homes. This is part of Hackney’s ambition to build 1,000 new Council homes for social rent over the next four years.

At the start of this year, we began talking to Hackney residents with an online survey about the future of our house building plans and what kinds of locations we should build new homes on next. 

Following this, we identified 15 Council-owned locations across the borough as potential sites where new Council homes could be built. These locations were identified as having the potential to accommodate the new homes, but also deliver improvements for the wider estates and neighbourhoods.  

Over the summer we wrote to residents surrounding all of the locations to provide more information about the proposals, and an invitation to view the online consultation hub and to take part in an early in-person engagement event at the location.

These events were held throughout July to better understand your views on a wide range of housing and neighbourhood improvements and issues before any designs were to be worked up or decisions made about building any new homes.

Throughout the six-week engagement for this location, we had conversations with many residents and we received a total of 445 written responses, including 226 made at in-person events and a further 219 through the online platform. 

Your feedback

We have now collated all the feedback received, and the full consultation report can be viewed here: bit.ly/3gY7EN2

A number of these locations were in a similar area, and for these locations, joint events were held. The individual reports for each of these can be viewed by clicking the links below;

Orwell Court and Welshpool Street
Regents Court
Fellows Court and Weymouth Court 
Cropley Court
Buckland Court
Nye Bevan Estate
Blackwell Close
Morris Blitz Court
Wayman Court and 161 Graham Road
Selman House and Wellday House
Morpeth Grove
Blandford Court

The map below shows the location of each of the 15 locations that have been identified as potential sites to deliver much-needed new Council homes.

What’s happening next?

The purpose of this phase of engagement was not to decide whether or not to proceed with any new developments but to understand at the earliest stage the perspectives of local residents on the opportunities and challenges of building new homes there. 

The feedback will be considered alongside a range of other factors which include affordability, feasibility and planning issues to help inform the Council’s decision on whether to proceed in developing detailed design plans for the new homes. 

We intend to take a report to the Council’s December Cabinet meeting, setting out the proposed locations to be included in a new building programme of Council homes. Once the formal decision has been made about the locations, we will contact all residents about the next steps, including information on the design process and the extensive consultation and engagement that will take place as the design process progresses.  

Please sign up below if you would like to receive email updates regarding the Cabinet decision and future consultation and engagement.