‘A massive slap in the face’: residents slam council’s plans to build high rise towers on top of schools

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

Furious residents have slammed Hackney Council for using the “same tricks as rapacious developers” by acting as applicant, developer, and deciding authority on plans to build high-rise towers in Hoxton and Hackney Downs.

The planning sub-committee is set to give the go-ahead this evening to a tower block up to 29 storeys on Nile Street, and another, up to 14 storeys, on Tiger Way.

In total, 264 new homes will be created – but without any on-site affordable housing.

A “vigorously assessed” viability assessment justified the towers’ scale and lack of on-site affordable housing, according to a council report.

However, the assessment has not been made available to the public.

The sale of the new flats will pay for two new schools at the base of the towers.

The school on Nile Street will provide 150 places for vulnerable pupils, whilst the other on Tiger Way will be a new two-form entry primary school for 420 pupils.

Local residents and the Hackney Society say they have been locked out of the planning process because they have not had access to a number of planning documents and have been denied Freedom of Information requests.

‘Epic hubris’

Nick Perry of the Hackney Society: “There might be perfectly acceptable reasons why the need for new schools outweighs the dramatic loss of land, the giant scale of the residential development and the total lack of affordable housing on site. But without sight of the viability information the arguments make no sense.

“The hubris of the council is epic – acting as developer, applicant and decision maker, but without a shred of concession to transparency.

“Transparency was at the forefront of the new Mayor of London’s campaign, and even the last mayor began to advocate it at the end of the his tenure. That Hackney Council uses same tricks as rapacious developers, and allows itself to make decisions without full transparency is a massive slap in the face for meaningful consultation.”

Jane Withers, who lives in a converted warehouse on Nile Street that will be overshadowed by the 29 storey tower block, said she was “deeply concerned” that the viability assessment had not been made public.

“Without access to it, how can we judge whether the the council is justified in overriding so many of its own planning policies?” she asked. “By failing to comply – in some cases quite dramatically – with planning policies they are setting a dangerous precedent, and surely undermining their own authority.”

She added: “This lack of transparency is outrageous. It means we can’t participate in the planning process.

“In the planning report, Hackney’s own design review has numerous reservations that are simply being ignored.

“This massive storey tower and the surrounding residential blocks would be an overbearing presence on a narrow residential street, towering over the conservation area and surrounding buildings.”

Helen Tremaine, a librarian who lives in studio flat that will be overlooked by the development, said: “I’m concerned about the explosion of towers of luxury flats, which could destroy London’s character.

They seem to be a short term and exploitative way for councils to make money at the expense of the communities who have to live with them or who end up being priced out of the area because of them.”

She added: “Why are Hackney Council prepared to ignore the welfare of their residents, the people who elected them to represent their interests, by building a massive tower of luxury flats in a low rise residential areas?

“Why are they advising key workers like myself to move out of the borough if they can’t afford it?

“This development will reduce the quality of my own life but I’m also concerned about what is says about democracy within Hackney and the disregard for the effects on communities and the lack of provision for housing for key workers and people on middle incomes.”

‘Commercial confidentiality’ vs transparency

A spokesperson for Hackney Council said it was not unusual for local authorities to vet their own plans. “The planning system is designed to ensure that in this case there is no conflict of interest,” she said.

“Planning committees are quasi-judicial and are run independently of a local authority’s leadership. In addition to this the council was very careful to involve as much outside help as we could; we shared the plans with the Design Review Panel and consulted the Greater London Authority (GLA).”

She added: “The council believes it is necessary to maintain the commercial confidentiality of its proposals for the mixed use developments at Nile Street and Tiger Way, because it will allow us to negotiate the best possible outcome and maximise the net contribution to invest in providing affordable housing and school places in the borough.

“While it prevents us being as transparent as we might want to be, this is strictly to achieve that aim and to prevent the council being at a commercial disadvantage to the rest of the market.”

The council says government cuts have left a £40m hole in its Building Schools for the Future programme. It intends to make up the shortfall by selling off flats on top of new schools.

London’s new mayor Sadiq Khan told the Hackney Citizen last month that he plans to settle rows between councils and developers about how much affordable housing could be built in any new scheme. He said a single system of viability assessments could be created and the previously confidential calculations made public.