Off-shore landlord tells Ridley Road Shopping Village traders to get out ( again)

Larochette Real Estate Inc., the offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands secretive tax haven, owns the Ridley Road Shopping Village. It has once again told all of its indoor market traders to get out. Its lawyers have written to traders saying "We are imminently to receive a Community Protection Order and have been advised by the police that the market should be shut".

The letters go on to say " the market will close from the 31 March and occupiers will not be offered renewals [of their leases]" and "this letter is not an allegation of wrongdoing against you personally".

#SaveRidleyRoad asked our local Green Councillor Zoe Garbett to make enquiries with the police. They have now replied to say "To clarify, a Community Protection Warning (CPW) was issued, which is the lowest form of enforcement in an ASB and crime setting...the grounds were based on the continuing failure of the building owner and the building management company to take reasonable and necessary measures to address safety concerns and reduce ongoing criminality in and around the Indoor Market. In this case, the persistent inaction of the responsible parties resulted in conditions that contributed to anti-social and criminal behaviour and posed a continuing risk to public safety. Despite prior engagement, the issues remained unaddressed...the decision for the closure is with the building owner and is not a condition of the Community Protection Warning. The wording used by Larochette in their press release is inaccurate. We have not requested the closure of the Indoor Market space and have not issued a closure order.. "

So it appears that it has been Larochette's own failings, including failing to report crime on their premises to the police, which have contributed to criminal activity locally and risks to public safety. Larochette's response has been to misrepresent the police's position and claim that there is an Order and advice to close the market rather than a Warning to improve management. It will destroy the livelihoods of traders by evicting  them all despite acknowledging many have done nothing wrong - in other words "No fault evictions".  It is collective punishment - all are to be punished because of the few.

Larochette has tried to evict traders before. It had planned to demolish and re-develop the Shopping Village as luxury flats and offices in October 2018. It gave traders just 14 days to get out - despite many having been there for decades. 

You can read the backstory from these links - how #SaveRidleyRoad resisted the evictions, got the Shopping Village declared an Asset of Community Value, how the Council agreed to take over management if Larochette refurbished the indoor market, and how we defeated Larochette's plans for new slum flats on the top floor. 

     

Watch the film -  "Ridley Road 2020 - a street market under threat

But, after 4 years, Larochette's refurbishments are only half finished and the agreement with the Council, to take a management lease of the indoor market, has expired. The traders position is now even more precarious.  Our community, and particularly the Black and Global Majority traders and customers, which rely on the affordable services and goods which the traders offer, are under threat. What will the Council now do to help protect the community's interests and culture?  

 

Watch the film "Timeline of Resistance" which updates the story of the community's fight back

In December 2023 #SaveRidleyRoad made the artwork "Timeline of Resistance" in Ridley Road to try and make the Council and the public aware of the threats to the indoor market traders.  But the Council's 'cleansing' service tore it down within days and sent it to be burnt in North London incinerator. It seems they just didn't want the public to know how Hackney was being gentrified,

Colvestone School open space again under threat from re-development

A planning application for a proposed development, extending across the southern boundary of the former Colvestone School's nursery playground, is shortly to be decided . The site has had a contentious history - with three previous applications to erect a three-storey building having been contested and defeated since 2015. 

You can read about the history here . Public consultation officially closes on 12 January and you can make representations to Hackney about this planning application here . After that date you can email planning@hackney.gov.uk with reference 2025/2520 in the subject line.   Sufficient numbers of objections should mean the application goes to the full Planning Committee for decision. Numbers count and simply saying "I object to this development" would do for that purpose.  

An artist's CGI image of the proposed new development to be faced in clay tiles of various colours. The architect describes the design as a "modern interpretation of Victorian Suburban Eclecticism of the 1860s, during which Colvestone Primary School was built" and says it could become "a modest architectural gem" and a "local landmark". The local Dalston Conservation Area Advisory Committee have described the design as over-elaborate and the tiled finish as potentially too fragile to withstand the robust activities of Ridley Road street market.

The current application is for a  2-story building intended soley for commercial and not residential use.  This image above is of the proposed new building, viewed from the south-west. It will be over 6 metres high and its rear wall will dominate the outlook from the former school, and its adjoining open space, blocking out much of the sky and creating a strong sense of enclosure. 

As with the previous 3-storey proposals, the structure will obstruct sunlight reaching the open space which is already partially overshadowed by surrounding walls. The blue area indicates the additional shadow created at 1pm on 21 March - the Spring Equinox which represents the average overshadowing over the year. 

The blue area indicates the additional shadow created at 11am on 21 December -  the winter solstice. There will be virtually no direct sunlight in the winter when the sun is lower in the sky.

The developer argues that the open space is no longer a sensitive area because the school has closed. However the Council is currently considering proposals for future uses of the school and the open space  is likely to continue to be used as an outdoor amenity.

Both the open space, and the school building, are listed as Assets of Community Value.  The development will damage the community's interest.

You can  make representations to Hackney about the planning application here . Public consultation officially closes on 12 January but you can still email planning@hackney.gov.uk with reference 2025/2520 in the subject line. Sufficient numbers of objections should mean the application goes to the full Planning Committee for decision. Numbers count and simply saying "I object to this planning application" would do for that purpose.    

Join the E8 Arts and Crafts trail this weekend

This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, 6 &7th December, from 11am to 5pm local artists and makers invite you to view and chat about their creations in their homes and other local studios. 

This is Tony Price's short film about last years E8 Arts and Crafts Trail 

You can scan E8's website QR code on this poster onto your phone to download a map to guide you around the venues and to view examples of the artists and makers exhibiting and their work

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!

Don't miss out on Dalston Eastern Curve Garden's pumpkin path this week

With pumpkin carving this weekend at Dalston's Eastern Curve Garden, don't miss out on following the Pumpkin Path all next week from 6pm until 9pm (weather permitting). It's magic with all the lanterns lit up and on display

The Dalston Trust's inspiring bid for Colvestone Primary School

Last August Hackney put the Colvestone Primary School site on the market through its property agents Strettons. The deadline for bids was noon on the 17th October.  The Dalston Trust's bid is for a collaborative intergenerational creative hub open to all Hackney residents. It's called the Colvestone Co-Lab.

This short film is about our Dalston community's bid. It is likely to be competing with commercial offers.You can learn more about the bid on the colvestone.org website here

The Dalston community's bid was encouraged by our Mayor's announcement "we’re committed to keeping the communities.. informed and involved, starting by encouraging organisations to put forward proposals for Colvestone Primary School”. Hackney also added a cautionary note "Interested organisations will need to ensure any proposals are sustainable and financially viable." 

Here's a short film about the Bakelite Museum which is part of the community's bid. Did you know plastic was invented in Hackney? Love it or hate it we've got to learn how to live with it, and fast. Bakelite Museum's exhibitions will help us with that.

The Colvestone Co-Lab will be a destination offering facilities for everybody: theatre, puppetry and performing arts, music and crafts studios, museums, exhibition and social spaces, creative businesses, a cafe and gardens. It all sounds too good to be true. But is it financially viable and sustainable? We've done the sums and we think it is!! Let's hope Hackney agrees.

You can sign up as a supporter here.

The Colvestone.org website is here

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.

This is Hackney's map attached to the Article 4 order. Unfortunately it failed to outline the Dalston Town Centre area in red to include the north side of Ridley Road

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