Residents feel ‘ignored’ over cladding proposals for Parkside Estate

Parkside Estate. Photograph: Emma Kirton

Update: Hackney Council has said cladding work has been paused and other work will continue. Scroll down for more. 

Residents on Parkside Estate claim Hackney Council is riding roughshod over their fears about proposals for cladding on their homes.

It comes as the council orders an independent review of cladding after last week’s Grenfell Tower fire in Kensington.

The group of residents at the low-rise estate off Victoria Park Road say their concerns over the planned revamp are “falling on deaf ears”.

Hackney Council has not responded to questions from the Citizen at time of publication.

Many in the group of professionals working in property, construction, media and legal services are helping to build homes across the capital.

They believe their expertise could benefit the council’s plans for their homes but feel they have been given short shrift.

A spokesperson for the Parkside Estate group said: “We have offered our professional expertise to the council free-of-charge to try to get the best for our estate and help the council get the best out of their budget.

“However we’re just being ignored. We have asked lots of questions and requested detail for the council proposals but received little or no response.”

They added: “They are the council and we are just the other – the residents, and our concerns are falling on deaf ears.

“We feel that the council sees us as a nuisance and don’t seem to realise that they are talking about our homes.”

The group includes right-to-buy home owners, pensioners, first time buyers and some with young families.

The council’s plans for the estate include:

• • window replacement roof renewal to some buildings
  • external wall insulation
  • concrete repairs
  • brickwork repairs
  • light fittings repairs
  • external and communal decoration

Update 4.20pm: 

A Hackney Council spokesperson said: “The Council has paused external works across the borough that involve the use of cladding – which we don’t install solely to improve the look of a building – until we have completed our fire safety review.

“This includes the works on the Parkside and De Beauvoir estates.

“All other external works that do not use cladding continue to take place. We will be writing to residents following our fire safety review.”

Read more: Cladding to be inspected as Hackney plans ‘independent review’

Do you have any information about fire safety in Hackney? Email editor@hackneycitizen.co.uk