Parents ‘dismayed’ over plans to stack flats on Hackney Downs schools

Artist’s impression of the Tiger Way development on Hackney Downs. Photograph: Hackney Council

Parents have criticised plans to stack flats on top of school buildings in Hackney Downs, accusing the council of “selling off school land”.

Capitalising on the borough’s rocketing land value, the council is proposing to relocate and rebuild two primary schools, Benthal and Nightingale, to make room for a new secondary one.

The schools would be redeveloped as mixed-use schemes and funded through income generated through the sale of private flats.

The council insists that this cross-subsidising is the only way to address the borough’s urgent need for more school places, but parents say the model is deeply flawed.

Pre-planning proposals for the new Nightingale Primary site on Tiger Way reveal two residential towers of 10 and 13 storeys facing the park, with a school situated underneath.

No affordable housing or homes for social rent will be built on the site, which is just south of the Nightingale Estate.

Christine Murray, a Nightingale School parent and editor of the Architectural Review, has launched a petition against the plans.

Speaking to the Hackney Citizen, Ms Murray said: “I started the petition because we deserve better. The flats are being maximised for profit and the school is in the shadow of a barricade of towers, with no playground apart from small roof spaces.

“If this is the quality of design for the first, the others will similar.”

Hackney-based architect Juliet Quintero, whose daughter attends Benthal Primary, said she thought the Tiger Way plans were “difficult to achieve”.

“It is pitting the needs of the residential users against the school in terms of space and light,” she said.

School swapping

Concerns have also been raised over the rejigging process that will see primary schools uprooted and children taught in temporary buildings for at least three years.

Under the plans, Nightingale Primary would move to Tiger Way and expand by one form entry. Meanwhile, children at Benthal Primary, the chosen location for the new secondary school, will relocate to Nightingale Primary site on Rendlesham Road once the new school to be built.

Parent Catherine Maguire, said she was “shocked and dismayed” by the proposals and that many were already considering pulling their children out of school.

“My daughter in Year Two. She would spend last three years of school in temporary accommodation. I do understand there will be a consultation on managing the process of demolishing the school but it is hard to see a way they can do that satisfactorily”.

Residents on the Nightingale Estate also have concerns about the Tiger Way scheme.

James MacDaid, Chair of the Nightingale Partnership Residents Association (NPRA), said residents were worried about traffic surrounding the school, the height of the 13 storey tower and the lack of affordable homes.

“With this private sale you’re going to have a new, and ultimately, alien collection of residents who may not be or become part of the community of Nightingale, as I very much doubt they will be coming from Hackney.”

No government funding

In response to the petition the council said in a statement that they were not planning to sell off any playgrounds or schools.

Cllr Antoinette Bramble, Cabinet member for Children’s Services , said: “To ensure we can provide local school places for local children, we are looking at how we can remodel the school sites we own.

“As we are now less able to rely on Government funding for capital projects, in some locations we are looking at co-locating education and residential developments. This will allow us to sell the homes to fund school building projects across the borough, while maintaining the freehold of the sites.”

But Christine Murray said the the council’s statement was “misleading”.

“The councillor says ‘we are not selling off the playground’, but they are selling off flats which are on the playground. Once you have sold the leasehold on a bunch of flats – you are not getting that land back”.