Hackney Marshes debate: To build or not to build?

An artist’s impression of the planned pavilion on Hackney Marshes. Photograph: Hackney Council

Cllr  Jonathan McShane, Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Culture

Cllr Jonathan McShane

‘A modern pavilion to replace the current crumbing block and its facilities is essential for marshes’ future’

Ultimately, most of us want the same thing – a Hackney Marshes which has great sports facilities accessible to all, and one which, when not being used for sport, remains a beautiful and tranquil area. This is exactly what our proposals will create.

Amidst all the alarmist language being used about ‘concreting over paradise’ we should remember that Save Lea Marshes is simply arguing over whether a building should be one or two storeys and the precise number of parking spaces. We agree we need a new pavilion and that some parking is needed.

The fact is the new car park is smaller than the one that used to serve North Marsh, which has been transformed into a great ‘show’ cricket pitch. It has 68 car spaces compared to 240 prior to the cricket ‘show’ pitch.

The area covered by the new pavilion and its car park would be smaller than the area covered by the current block and its original car park –7,144 square metres to 8,836 square metres..

It was always the plan that a modern facility would replace the current pavilion and it would need a new car park to serve it because more people would use it. But equally we were clear that at the end of our project we’d end up with far fewer parking spaces than we started with. Overall our ‘Remaking the Marshes’ project will have reduced parking spaces from approximately 600 to 326 which is entirely consistent with our transport strategy.

A close up of the artist’s impression. Photograph: Hackney Council

The current changing block has reached the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced. It’s run down, vandalised and as a consequence its use is limited. It also excludes many people. It’s not accessible to people with disabilities, it’s not ideal for children, mixed use and frankly anyone who doesn’t fancy showering with strangers. If we built on the current footprint we’d have a much more obtrusive two storey building that would be far from ideal for people wearing studded boots.

We’ve got this fantastic asset for the borough, renowned globally as the home of grassroots football and now also becoming a centre for cricket and rugby too, but it is underused.

People are put off by the poor facilities in North Marsh. In a borough with some of the highest rates of childhood obesity and mental health problems, that’s a crime. The people who will benefit don’t have an articulate campaign group to make their voices heard so someone needs to speak up on their behalf.

And, no, the thousands who use the marshes for sport can’t all walk, cycle or use public transport. People come from miles around and the marshes has relatively poor public transport. Many of them are children and a lot bring large amounts of equipment.

We’ve done our best to ensure the new pavilion will be as unobtrusive and eco-friendly as possible, shielded by greenery and non-detrimental to local wildlife. There will actually be more trees than previously.

I’d urge anyone who’s genuinely interested in forming their own opinion to read our detailed online Q&A (link below).

We have a fantastic opportunity finally to create facilities on the marshes fit for the 21st Century, something which could benefit so many people. Were this aspiration to be derailed by exaggerated claims that would be a real tragedy for Hackney.

To read the council’s Q&A, click here.

Kevin Dovey, Hackney Marshes User Group

Kevin Dovey

‘In favour of Open Green Spaces:  Why You Should Ignore the Council’s Tedious Waffle about Hackney Marshes’

Firstly, to support their plans for building on green space, the Council are using the argument that the sports clubs need new facilities. No one is arguing that the sports teams don’t need vital facilities.

If the council had carried out a proper consultation with local groups and residents in the community these facilities would have already been built. The English Cricket Board want to work with the whole community, it’s a shame Hackney Council just want to create car parks on our marshes.

The Council have argued that the sports teams approve the plans – of course they do, they’ve been waiting so long for their promised better facilities that they’d approve concreting over their grannies! On a serious note, we’ve lost a lot of green space from the marshes over the last few years (especially with the Olympics) and if we continue to let this happen there won’t be much left for sports or anything else.

The marshes are for everyone, not just for the sports folk, this is common land for all to enjoy. However everyone, including the sports clubs, could be accommodated and would have been by now if Hackney Council hadn’t been messing around with a car park agenda that suits no one but future events organisers.

One of the reasons the Council gives for not building on the existing pavilion site is that there is not enough money to provide interim facilities for the sports teams whilst the new build is erected. However they have somehow found the funds to employ private consultancy firm FirstPlan to push through their proposals. How much is that costing local taxpayers?

How much did the Council’s farcical consultation, which asked people only to decide whether they wanted the building or the huge car park on open green space, cost us? They’ve got money when it suits them.

Campaigners demonstrate the footprint of the proposed pavilion on the Marshes. Photograph: Save Lea Marshes

Hackney Council are claiming they are ‘reducing car parking’ on the marshes by comparing their future plans for car parking provision with what existed on the marshes years ago, rather than is what is actually there now!

I remember that old overgrown car park which they keep harping on about to justify building a new one; it was massively under used and mainly empty, and this was over 7 years ago when there was a lot more football going on than there is now.

Single car usage on the marshes has been dramatically reduced in recent years, if a new car park was introduced it would again be generally empty but would encourage increased car usage on to the marshes.

This is against Hackney Council’s own much lauded ‘sustainable’ transport policy. As for the five coach spaces they have planned, they were not part of the old car park, are not needed for the cricketers or the footballers (by their own admission) but may well be handy for future events.

When Hackney Council change their events policy and remove the bit about ‘major-events’ on the marshes being allowed three times a year we may believe them that this plan has nothing to do with future events.

However while they continue to add unnecessary car parks to the future plan for the marshes, continue to let the community down with past promises (East Marsh still isn’t restored, a year after it was promised) then I for one won’t trust them.

To view the Save Lea Marshes petition click here.