Planning Inspector rejects slums of the future on Ridley Road

A planning inspector has refused to allow slums of the future to be built in Ridley Road market. The seven cramped sub-standard studio flats would have been on the 2nd floor of the Shopping Village which is owned by the off-shore developer Guy Ziser's company Larochette Real Estate Inc and registered in the secretive British Virgin Islands tax haven. 

The Shopping Village has been contested space ever since Larochette bought it, tried to evict the ground floor traders and applied to convert it into offices and luxury flats. The community applied successfully to have it declared an Asset of Community Value. Larochette then agreed to refurbish the building instead. The artists on the upper floors were evicted in 2022 to enable the refurbishment to take place. Mr Ziser applied to convert the empty artists spaces into residential studio flats, claiming he only needed prior approval from Council planners. Hackney refused the application, saying full planning permission was needed. The Planning Inspector, on appeal, disagreed with Hackney but he also refused the application for prior approval so Mr Ziser lost the appeal. 

There are limited grounds for refusing a "prior approval" application. Our objections were that the studio flats did not meet the requirements for good design - they would suffer from excessive noise, inadequate ventilation and they would not provide healthy homes enabling a sense of well-being. 

Each studio flat would have only one window facing due south, in full sun, and directly overlooking the street market. That window is the only natural ventilation. The market starts setting up at 6am and trades all day and noise continues with HGV water bowsers using pressure hoses cleaning up the street after 7pm. The Market Bar next door has a licence until 3am, a noisy outdoor area and often with long queues waiting on the street to get in. 

Larochette argued that the street noise would not disturb the residents because the windows would have secondary glazing. But the Inspector agreed with our comments and concluded "Comments raised on the proposal query how ventilation will be provided for the proposed single aspect flats. If residents were to open their windows to provide ventilation, this would significantly reduce the effectiveness of the proposed secondary glazing, with subsequent harm to the living conditions of residents due to noise both from the bar as well as from the adjacent market. Given the lack of alternative methods of ventilation, it is reasonable that residents of the proposal could expect to open their windows to access fresh air...I conclude that the impacts of noise from commercial premises would lead to significant harm to the living conditions of future resident....The proposal would not comply with the Framework which seeks to avoid noise giving rise to significant adverse impacts on quality of life and achieve a high standard of amenity for users of development."

Hackney argued that approval should be refused because the area suffers from extreme parking pressure and the new residents cars would compound the problem. The Inspector agreed with that too, concluding that allowing the studio flats would cause "unacceptable transport impacts" and that the site had excellent access to services and facilities by sustainable means of transport.

The Inspectors finding that Larochette only required prior approval from the planners, and not full planning permission, has wider implications. In its Dalston Plan Hackney has declared all the buildings on the north side of Ridley Road as development opportunities. Hackney planners will have limited grounds to refuse prior approval applications for their conversion into flats and this could compromise development standards. 

Hackney's Local Plan 2033 shows all the buildings along the north side of Ridley Road as development opportunity sites 

Note: The reason the Planning Inspector found that only prior approval would be required for residential conversion is that Hackney's 2021 Article 4  map failed to include the north side of Ridley Road as part of Dalston Town Centre where full planning permission would still be required.  Other later maps outline the Town Centre and do include the north side of Ridley Road. Hackney will have to make a new Article 4 direction with a new map to correct the error.

Hackney has put its former Colvestone Primary School on the open market

Last January a community bid was made to Hackney, on behalf of a number of charitable and creative enterprises,  to re-open the former Colvestone Primary School for public benefit - the aim is to continue the educational, cultural and social heritage which the school buildings embody. Hackney neither accepted nor rejected, or even discussed, that proposal but has now instructed estate agents Strettons to invite bids for the school site on the open market 

Hackney has released a press statement in which the Mayor of Hackney said “We cannot let these buildings sit empty or simply offload them to the highest bidder, but have a duty to ensure they remain important public assets that benefit our communities." At the same time Strettons launched its marketing campaign describing the site as having a number of possible commercial uses including for private education.

Hackney's press release also states "organisations will need to ensure any proposals are sustainable and financially viable". However it seems unlikely that a community enterprise seeking to maximise public benefit will be financially viable if it is also expected to pay Hackney the full market rent for the site which would offered by competing commercial bidders.

If you want to show your support for the community's proposal to reopen the school for public benefit you can sign up on the supporters page linked to here and here 

Massive tower block development planned for Kingsland Shopping Centre

After years of discussion with planners an application to demolish and re-develop the Matalan store and car park, at the rear of Kingsland Shopping Centre, has finally been made on behalf of the owners, Criterion. The plan is for three blocks of up to 14 storeys, and one up to 12 storeys, comprising 254 flats and a mix of commercial uses and workshops on the ground and first floors. All will be crammed onto the site which is just over 9,000 square metres. Development of the remaining front part of the Kingsland Shopping Centre is presently inhibited by Crossrail2 land safeguarding and Sainsbury's long lease. It is a 'car free' development but with some vehicle spaces reserved for disabled residents and commercial uses.

You can view the application and make comments here or alternatively email planning@hackney.gov.uk putting in the subject line Ref: 2025/0167 Matalan Plc, Dalston Cross Shopping Centre E8 2LX

The planned Matalan development showing three towers set back and spread across the site's northern boundary with gaps between them. The fourth tower is opposite Springfield House on the Eastern Curve in the foreground.

Of the 254 flats, 173 will be for sale at market prices and the remainder will be "affordable" of which 36 will be "intermediate" (for shared ownership) and 45 for "low cost rent" (London affordable rent). The affordable ones amount to 35% of all habitable rooms but do not meet the official planning policy target of 50% affordable homes.  84% of the flats would be 1-bed and 2-beds and, although the planning policy target for three beds or more is 33%, only 16% would be family size flats. 

Matalan development looking south from the St Marks Rise/Ridley Road junction  

Although affordable and family size homes are the greatest local needs, the owner claims in its Financially Viable Appraisal that it cannot afford to meet those targets after taking into account its right to a financial incentive as landowner for "bringing forward the development" (£2.2million) plus 20% developers profit  (£25.1million) on the scheme which has a finished development value of about £155million. 

Matalan development looking west from Dalston Lane's railway bridge 

Due to the curtain of existing tall buildings extending across the southern boundary of the Matalan site, and the planned development's own density, 24% of the new flats will fail to meet the British Research Establishment's ( BRE) Sunlight Exposure standard. The development will also cause some 200 "major", and numerous lesser, sunlight losses/transgressions affecting residents flats in the existing surrounding buildings. The owner argues it can't be blamed for the number of flats which will be deficient in natural light saying its site has already been blighted by the existing tall buildings which have taken an "unfair share" of the sunlight previously available. ( You can read about how that happened here. Ed)

Matalan development looking north from the Eastern Curve

The owner argues that these sunlight deficits are acceptable for a dense inner city site like Dalston and claims that the gloomy flats overlooking the enclosed north facing 'square' at Dalston Works, Martel Place, where sunlight rarely touches the ground, provide "an understanding of the local character of an area" and a "useful proxy for acceptable daylight standards in a given location".  

Matalan development looking east from the Colvestone Crescent/Ridley Road junction

The towers will loom over Ridley Road street market but the owner says of the market shoppers "Their susceptibility is judged to be Low. Their sensitivity is therefore Low." (ie They wont really notice or care. Ed.) The owner has also undertaken a number of tests of the potential overshadowing of the Ridley Road street market and concluded that it will receive 240 minutes of sunlight across "much of its area" and that it will "comfortably meet the BRE Guidelines". Whilst this sounds reassuring, the BRE Guidelines set a very low minimum requirement for open spaces, namely an annual average of only 2 hours direct sunlight daily over 50% of their area. The developer provides no detail of the sunlight which will be lost to the street market or of the areas where it will be retained.  

The developer's illustration of the equinox sunpath, which represents the average level of annual sunlight obstruction, concludes that "although there will inevitably be some overshadowing of the market...a significant amount of direct sunlight will continue to reach the market space around the equinox and summer solstice". 

As for landscaping on the Matalan site, the owner has adopted Hackney's request for greater "east/west pedestrian permeability", but unfortunately there will be no direct route out west to get to Kingsland Station when the shopping mall closes from10pm < 8am (from 5pm < 11am on Sundays) -so residents will have to walk a long way around to get there. Designs also adopt a "streets and yards" approach and it is claimed that the open spaces will have "verdant" gardens and "nature trails". However about 75% of all of the "green" spaces and children's playgrounds will be on a residents-only 2nd floor raised concrete podium and others on 7th to 12th storey rooftops.

This artist's impression of a sunlit verdant ground floor Martel Yard - the Plaza which is described as a "flexible open space" and "focal point" with a "pocket play garden" but only 12% of the area will have 2 hours direct sunlight daily on average over the year.   

The developer acknowledges that, at ground level, the public spaces as a whole fail to meet even the BRE minimum guideline for sunlight on open spaces - ie less than half the area will receive 2 hours direct sunlight daily on average annually. These levels of sunlight are wholly inadequate for the planned green spaces, meeting places and children's playgrounds which are essential to a large residential development expected to have some 450 residents and 100 children.

The planned ground level Ramsgate Street children's "nature playground" will not meet minimal sunlight standards 

Eastern Curve Garden is to the south west and won't be overshadowed but the 14 storey towers will be visible and dwarf the Garden's activities. The owner argues that the Garden's character is already one of enclosure by buildings and that "the high quality of the [new] architecture and variation between blocks will positively impact the experience" of Garden visitors  

Criterion critcises Hackney Council for its year on year failures to meet its official annual targets for new homes - between 2019 and 2023 it says Hackney should have built 5,320 homes but only built 3,519. It points out that its proposed development of 254 new flats would contribute significantly to meeting the current shortage of homes. Hackney's recently approved the  Dalston Supplementary Planning Document which recognises Matalan as a development opportunity site for taller buildings - in fact the final version was drafted by Hackney planners in the context of their design discussions with Matalan's owner. Criterion's scheme is likely to be recommended for approval subject to any further improvements which can be negotiated.

You can view the application and make comments here or alternatively email planning@hackney.gov.uk and put in the subject line Ref: 2025/0167 Matalan Plc, Dalston Cross Shopping Centre

PS If there are any sustainable energy, whole life-cycle carbon, circular economy or fire/flood risk experts out there, please have a look at the owner's consultant's reports. We will publish here all informative and helpful comments made. 

(Errrr....I fear the Matalan development is probably already a done deal. Ed.) 

It's back! E8 Arts and Crafts trail : Saturday and Sunday 7th & 8th June

  

Next weekend, Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th June from 11am until 5pm, Dalston (and Hackney) artists and makers are throwing open their homes and studio doors to the public. You can see who's exhibiting, and find an interactive map to guide you on your cultural safari, on the trail's website here

The work exhibited for sale includes fine art, illustration, ceramics, jewellery, fabrics, clothing, accessories and more. 

The trail invites you to spend happy hours browsing art and craft in this Hackney neighbourhood, meeting the artists who live and work here and snapping up bargains direct from the makers!

Rio Cinema to screen "Save our Heritage" and "Hands off" on Saturday 24th May as part of Hackney History Festival

As part of the Hackney Society's  "Hackney History Festival", which includes walks talks visits and events, the Rio Cinema will be screening two of film director Winstan Whitter's documentaries and hosting a Q&A with Winstan and his collaborator on the films, local solicitor activist Bill Parry-Davies. The Rio Cinema filmshow begins a 1.30pm on Saturday 24th May.

 "Save our Heritage" tells the story of our community's battle to try and save Dalston's architectural and cultural legacy from demolition and re-development as an enclave of private high-rise flats.

At risk were locally listed Georgian houses, the oldest surviving Circus entrance in the UK and the "greatest cinema in the British Empire". These heritage buildings had become home to the legendary "Four Aces" reggae club and the "Labrynth" rave venue.The redevelopment scheme was to be subsidised by public funds paid for by Hackney borough residents, the Greater London Authority and central government.

"Hands Off" tells the story of the Shoreditch community's battle to keep its striptease bars when Hackney's Licensing Committee decided to adopt a "NIL" policy to ban their existence. "Browns" and the "White Horse" were both owned and managed by women, fully complied with the terms of their Council licences, provided a safe working environment for their dancers, received no complaints from police and employed numerous local residents. 

Local club owners, dancers, politicians, trade union representatives and the vicar of Shoreditch Church are all interviewed in the film discussing issues of feminism, morality, personal safety, freedom of choice and liberty.

On Sunday 25 May at 1.30pm the Rio will also be screening a third Hackney documentary by Winstan Whitter - "How to get on with everybody", an intimate portrait of the unique life of Herchel Gluck, a Rabbi from the Haredi Jewish community in Hackney's Stamford Hill followed by a Q&A with Winstan, Elin Moe and the star of the film Herchel Gluck.

Friends of Ashwin Street move to secure community benefit on sale of public cultural asset

On Monday 24th March Hackney's Cabinet, as reported here, delegated full authority to its officers to sell a key site in Dalston's 'Cultural Quarter': the land and buildings at 10-16 Ashwin St.  Our architectural and cultural legacy was to be sold for "best consideration", with "no restrictions" on their future uses and with no scrutiny of the final deal by our elected representatives to ensure that the public's interest had been properly secured. (It looked like Dalston's "Cultural Quarter" was being thrown to the wolves! Ed).

10-16 Ashwin St frontages - originally built as three houses in 1870 to designs of noted architect Edwin Horne

The following day, on Tuesday 25th March, a new association called the Friends of Ashwin Street, served an application on the Council nominating 10-16 Ashwin St as an Asset of Community Value (ACV). The stated objective was to ensure that "future uses of the asset shall continue to serve the social interest and well being of the local community as it has done on the past and in particular by the promotion of the creative arts". Signatories of the ACV nomination include current and previous Dalston Ward Councillors, office holders of several Hackney amenity societies as well as a broad section of our local community.  

The former 1862 railway engineering works of Tyer & Co extending behind 10-16 Ashwin St 

V22 London Limited (V22) has been managing the buildings as affordable artists studios for the last 20 years. But its lease had expired and the condition of the buildings, for which Hackney retained responsibility to repair, was precarious, dangerous even. V22 has always enjoyed collaborative relationships with other local cultural enterprises, particularly Cafe Oto and the Eastern Curve Garden. V22 proposed  expansion of those businesses and developing an Ashwin Arts Centre on site and it enlisted their support for V22's offer to purchase the buildings privately from the Council. V22's founding director had also teamed up with Hackney's prominent property whizz Edward Benyon. Their vision looked ambitious, but achievable.

The community's Eastern Curve Garden uses part of 10-16 Ashwin St's land behind the buildings

Hackney's sale of the site seemed inevitable. They buildings "required comprehensive repair, refurbishment and modernisation, at a very substantial cost" which our cash strapped Council could not afford. The Cabinet report noted that the Council was able to sell the buildings to a private buyer and that a discount of up to £2million off their full market value could be offered if the transaction was likely to contribute to economic, social or environmental public benefit eg "In this case ensuring investment in the asset which will benefit the local community." But how could that local community benefit be ensured when Hackney had resolved that it would impose no restrictions on future uses? (V22 told me they had invited Hackney to consider such restrictions, but it had declined. Ed). Was it all to rely only on verbal promises and personal "trust"? What if V22s Directors, or its shareholdings, changed? What if commercial pressures forced a change in V22's priorities or even a sale of the buildings? 

Colourful brick banding, decorative stonework & barley twist columns have been defaced by a layer of shabby white paint

The day following the Friends of Ashwin Street nominating the buildings as an Asset of Community Value, Hackney did a U-Turn. V22 informed the Friends that Hackney was now requiring restrictions by conditions of sale to the following effect:

10-16 Ashwin Street must be used solely and exclusively for the benefit of the local community, and in particular, as workspace and event space for artists, creatives, entrepreneurs, and community-focused organisations and initiatives. This restriction shall remain binding on V22 and any subsequent owner for a period of 15 years from the date of purchase and

If V22 sells all or any part of the property, it must repay to Hackney the net profit earned on the sale calculated in the first 5 years from purchase at 75% and then tapering down by 7.5% each year to 0% in year 15

V22 has also agreed with Friends that it will extend the restriction on the uses proposed from 15 to 25 years and, in view of the Friends concern about the need to conserve the architectural as well as the cultural heritage of the site, V22's founder has sent this letter of reassurance to the Friends:

The alternative, to V22 buying the site with these safeguards in place, is uncertainty. If the Friends nomination as an ACV succeeded and it wanted  to ensure permanent community benefit eg by forming a Community Land Trust (CLT) to buy it, there would inevitable be further delay (of up to 6 months), the buildings would be "mothballed", remain uninhabitable, deteriorate and probably be put on the open market. The Friends/CLT bid would then compete with developers who might offer more - as the Council report noted, some developers"might be able to take a longer term view" about ultimately achieving a more profitable redevelopment ie luxury flats rather than an arts hub.  We've seen before what happens when there's a fire sale of the family silver to the private sector when Hackney was broke.

Hackney's Dalston Lane Georgian terrace, auctioned as one lot to an off-shore company over the heads of the shopkeepers. Fires,  evictions & demolitions  followed. Finally Hackney bought them back, for double the auction sale price, and they were re-built in "heritage likeness".  With no affordable housing at all because, apparently, phoney replicas are so expensive.

The unanimous view expressed by the Friends of Ashwin Street was that, with the sale restrictions and profit repayment being put in place to protect the community's interest , and the local community's (including the Friends) support for V22's Ashwin Arts Centre vision, the ACV application no longer need be pursued. Hackney had suspended purchase negotiations with V22 whilst it was considering the Friend's ACV application. The ACV application has now been withdrawn so that those negotiations with V22 can continue.  

 

Hackney's Cabinet authorises Council officers to complete a private sector carve up of Dalston's "Cultural Quarter"

Tonight, Hackney Council's Mayor and Cabinet delegated their responsibility to Council officers to make all the decisions on selling Hackney's three sites in Dalston's "Cultural Quarter" to  private buyers. 

This means that the elected Mayor and Councillors do not want and will have no further say on any of the private deals concluded and whether the public's interest has been properly protected.