Models Needed!

One of our residents, Jenny, has managed to get a piece in the Hackney Gazette about our fight against the fence.

They are sending a photographer around this SATURDAY, 28th August at 10am, to get pictures of the residents opposing the gates scheme to go alongside the article.

So round up everyone you can think of! If you have the time or inclination, make a banner or two, and meet us outside the community flat at 09.50am this Saturday.

See you there!

Email from James Roche

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Roche <James.Roche@hackneyhomes.org.uk>
Date: 18 August 2010 09:32
Subject: RE: New gates proposal?
To: Francine Rump (TRA Secretary)

Fran – I have just returned from leave so apologies for late response. The current position is that Lockner Estate is not in this years programme and as such there is no plan to progress,

 It will not be in any future programme until we have consulted with both the TRA and Residents again and have a clear mandate from Residents to proceed,. however we will require a Planning Approval if we are to at proceed at some point. It is most unfortunate that we have taken so long to progress with the outline Planning Approval but this is a formality and does not imply that we are to carry matters any further, without all of the proper consultation occurring and indeed subject to financial availability which is certainly not the case at this time.

Although interesting, this is not the solution we are looking for. There's nothing to say this issue wont raise its ugly head again next year (as it has done already). So, we're going to stick to Plan A and keep going until we get in writing, from the top people that the plans have been indefinitely shelved.

Letter Sent.

We have written and sent the letter below (by post) to the following people:

List of recipients below:

• Charlotte Graves, Chief Executive, Hackney Homes
• Michael Garvey, Planning Officer, Hackney Homes
• Graham Loveland, Interim Assistant Director, Hackney Homes
• Jules Pipe, Mayor of Hackney
• Cllr Rob Chapman  

Dear XXX,

We were surprised and disappointed to see that Hackney Homes have submitted a planning application to gate and fence-in our estate without any consultation or notification of the Residents’ Association or residents in general. As a Residents’ Association, we strongly object to this scheme, for the following principal reasons:

1. 
   
   They create a sense of being ‘caged in’ and will look ugly and out of place. Because our estate was originally designed as a set of blocks with open space between, any gate scheme has to be a ‘cage’ around all open walkways and staircases. This will have a significant negative impact on the look and feel of our surroundings, as well as being inappropriate for the conservation area where we are located.
2. 
   
   They will create access problems for us and our neighbours.

• 
  
  General access: Lockner was designed with a very open layout, with multiple routes between the blocks and across the open spaces of the estate. Putting locked gates around the estate will prevent free movement around the estate and break up our community.
• 
  
  Disabled access: Many residents here are registered disabled and have mobility problems, for example using mobility scooters or using sticks to get around. The estate’s current open layout makes it easy for them; any introduction of gates will make it much more difficult for them to come and go. The exact accessibility details of the proposal are unclear in the drawings, but we know from previous attempts by Hackney Council to design gate schemes for the estate that there is no possible scheme which is fully accessible within a reasonable cost.

3. 
   
   They are unlikely to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. Lockner is not a high-crime estate; it is an estate full of young families and has a thriving local community. We work hard to create a sense of community cohesion. We know from police crime statistics that the most common crime type on the estate is domestic, which would not be prevented by gates; we also know from other Hackney estate residents that they have not in general found gates to be effective in reducing crime/ASB, since gates are easily bypassed by ‘tailgating’ or by being let in by residents.

To summarise: we believe that this proposed scheme would be very bad for us both as individuals and as a community. We are told by Hackney Homes that there is no budget available to make the estate a nicer place through painting, landscaping, etc; we would get far more benefit as a community from spending on making the estate a nicer environment than from spending on this scheme which provides no positive benefit to us.

We have put together a petition against this scheme, which is enclosed.

Kind Regards,

Thank you

Signed petitions are all in. Thanks to everyone for their door knocking efforts!

We got a total of 74 signatures, which is great going, considering the time pressure we have been put under and the fact that it is the children's summer holidays.

The First Tennants and Residents Meeting...

Signs were put up in notice boards on Lockner inviting residents to attend a meting to discuss feelings towards the gates proposal. The meeting was held on 11th August in the community flat.

In attendance were:

• Lisa Linpower (Chair TRA)
• Simeon Benett (Vice Chair)
• Rob Chapman (Local Councilllor)
• Gulay Icoz (Local Councillor)
• Kim Byrne 
• E Byrne
• R Burton, Dorset Ct
• R Dolan, Blandford Ct
• Richard Mumford, Poole Court
• Winston Henry, Blandford
• Jon Hoskins, Dorchester Ct
• Danny Turton, Dorchester Ct
• T Collins, Poole Ct
• H Byrir, Blandford
• G Wanderling, Wareham Court
• F Wanderling, Wareham Court

We talked through the plans, concerns and fears about the Hackney Homes proposal to install security gates and fencing around our estate. All members at the meeting were opposed to this.

OUTCOME:

• Residents will collect signatures on a petition that was handed out. The estates blocks were divided up and allocated to people to go door to door knocking for signatures. It was agreed that these would be handed back to Lisa on 18th August - either through my door (1 Dorchester Court) or to the Community Flat.
• Once completed petitions were handed in the TRA will write to relevant parties on behalf of residents with our objections, concerns and the petition and arrange face to face meetings with them.
• Our councillors Rob and Gulay have given us their full support.
• The DeBeauvoir Association are also against the proposal.
• The Kingsland Conservation Area Advisory Committee are also against the proposal.
  
• In addition to the petition, as individuals we can write to:
• Michael Garvey. Planning Officer. Regeneration and Planning Division, Hackney Homes. Hackney Planning Service, 2 Hillman Street, London E8 1FB Email: planning consultation@hackney.gov.uk
• Charlotte Graves. Chief Executive, Hackney Homes. Christopher Addison House, 72 Wilton Way, London E8 1BJ
      Email: charlotte.graves@hackneyhomes.org.uk 
• Jule Piper. Mayor of Hackney. Mayor's Office Hackney Town Hall, Mare Street, E8 1EA.
      Email: mayor@hackney.gov.uk
• The planning application notice on lampposts around the estate advise that comments can come from anyone with concerns, not just residents, so get friends and family to do the same!

The Story So Far...

Residents received a letter from Hackney Homes last week with a planning proposal seeking permission to install security gates and fences on Lockner Estate.

The plans of the proposed gates/fences can be seen here:

www.hackney.gov.uk/planning-applications enter application number 2010/1577

Community consultation allows adjoining or nearby property owners and others the opportunity to consider the impacts of the proposal and provide comments before a decision is made. These comments should be made in writing either by letter, using the form residents have received in the post or on-line via the link (which has only been working intermittently) by 18th August 2010. However signs on lamp posts around the estate advise that the deadline is 21 days from the 9th August (30th August 2010).

Concerns held by residents are summarised below:

• Access to the estate will be restricted, which is particularly concerning for the elderly and disabled.
• The estate will look 'frightening' and prison like. Lockner was designed to be an open estate.
• There is a problem with youths hanging around stairways on Lockner, eating, drinking alcohol, littering and smoking weed. Residents find this intimidating. Will the gates help? Or should we work together to find a different solution?
•  Residents from gated estates, London Fields and Kingsgate, have shared their experiences of living within a gated estate. Overall they have advised that the gates simply have not worked to enhance their security.

1. People loiter outside the security doors and follow people in, which can be intimidating to challenge.
2. The security doors are often forced open and broken, resulting in a stream of constant maintenance jobs.
3. To gain access to the estate 'outsiders' buzz any door numbers incessantly at all hours until someone gives into the noise and disturbance and buzzes the door open. The buzzing can not be silenced from within your home.

Timeline - History of Hackney Homes proposals for the gates:

Late 2008 - initial correspondence from LB Hackney indicating they plan to install gates on the estate.They issue a 'consultation' letter which does not clearly outline the proposed scheme (e.g. no illustrations, maps, detailed description of plans), and heavily sells the benefits of gates - they got 74 responses of which 2/3 were in favour (there are ~200 flats on the estate), so they take this as a mandate to proceed. TRA objects and requests clarification from LB Hackney of what's going on. Carl Levoir attends and says that gates will go ahead regardless as it's a council and Mayor's priority.

2009 - TRA continues to object to gates in general and to lack of consultation. Jimmy Roche takes over the project from Carl. Series of meetings between residents and Jimmy/contractors to discuss their proposals; Jimmy says that they need to get to a reasonable proposed scheme which will get outline planning approval before they can do a 'proper' consultation with residents, so we go into more detailed discussion about specific issues with the initial proposal. He agrees that they will consult residents on any scheme, but continues with line that ultimately even if residents are not in favour the scheme could go ahead if Hackney Homes or LB Hackney want to because it's 'Mayor's Priority'. In parallel TRA continues to discuss the issue with our councillors (mainly Chris McShane who's since left, but also Rob Chapman) to try and push for more relevant anti-security/ASB measures rather than gates (although we don't have serious ASB issues, it would definitely be possible to improve the environment and sense of safety with a small investment) and to try and ensure that there is a proper consultation on any plans.

Feb 2010 - letters from Charlotte Graves & Martin Weaver (see below - click on them to make them bigger) confirming that due to budget constraints and local opposition scheme will not go ahead in 2010/11, and that proper consultation would take place before any future work on this scheme.

July 2010 - where we are today!

This Blog

This blog is a way to keep all who attended the Tennants and Residents Meeting on 11th August, and anyone else who is interested, up to date with the TRA's work on the gates issue. You can log in and look for updates any time, and post comments (you will need a gmail account to do this).


Anyone can log in and see updates on the TRA's work, and any replies/communication we receive from relevant parties we write to as well as the outcome of any metings.


Feel freee to pass out the blog address to anyone else who is interested.