Demolition of Dalston’s historic buildings: Darren “One man, two votes” Parker to face Hackney Standards Committee hearing.

From Open Dalston.

An investigation, instigated by the Standards Board for England (SBE), has found that Hackney Councillor, Darren Parker, had a personal and a prejudicial interest when he used his Chair’s casting vote last July to grant planning permission for the demolition of Dalston’s heritage buildings and their replacement with towerblock flats. The investigation has found that Councillor Parker should have withdrawn from and not voted in the meeting. Had he done so the application would have been refused on the balance of votes cast. Hackney’s Standards Sub-Committee is to consider the report’s findings, and Councillor Parker’s representations, and make a ruling on Wednesday 20th June.

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Blue boxes for Hackney Yay!

From Service with a Snarl:

Well done to Hackney Council for introducing borough wide Blue box organic matter recycling. Unfortunately they have omitted to deliver mine and I've been in s stream of 5-10 working days madam, for the past 2 months. Maybe one day, dear old Hackney Council.

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Hackney planning dept in complete disarray

The Local Government Ombudsman criticises the Planning Department for administrative malpractice. Days later, Head of Planning Sue Foster was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List "for services to Planning".

Hackney Council has been heavily criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman for failing to take enforcement action on planning breaches over several years.

Local Government Ombudsman, Tony Redmond, today (22 December 2006) issued three reports on the investigation of complaints against the London Borough of Hackney.

The complaints were made by residents about the Council’s failure over periods of three to four years to deal with unauthorised works carried out to properties adjoining their homes. He finds the Council to be at fault in failing to take enforcement action and recommends in each case that it pays compensation of £500 as well as ensuring any outstanding enforcement action is now dealt with without delay.

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Council Cock-Ups See Mobile Masts Go Ahead

From Workers Liberty. Hackney Council cock-up results in mobile masts being built against residents' wishes.

It seems that here in Hackney, we are not alone in having an incompetent Council when it comes to mobile phone masts and planning permission. After an effective campaign by local residents, Hackney Council refused permission to O2 to erect a mast on London Fields, just metres away from a primary school, a kids' paddling pool, an estate (Wayman Court) and residential streets. But the Council missed the deadline to notify O2, so it got the permission by default.

According to Mast Sanity, several other Councils have been equally crap, and their misdeeds are listed at the end of this post. Strangely, this hall of shame is not particularly reassuring to Hackney residents - but it does expose just how much local democracy is degraded by Town Hall bureaucrats.

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Stokefest Cancelled!!

Hackney Council forgets apply for the licence necessary to stage one of the Borough's most popular annual events. From Indymedia.

Immortalised in the classic techno anthem 'Hackney Council are a Bunch of Cunts' it seems the bungling bureacrats have let down Hackney residents again. According to today's Hackney Gazette dipstick council officials forgot to apply for the necessary licence leaving the festival unable to go ahead and hundreds of local volunteers having wasted hours of their time.

Organisers are now hoping to re-schedule the event in September which should leave enough time for the muppets at Hackney Council to get their act together.

The statement on the Stokefest website reads

'Stokefest06 will not be taking place on Sunday 11th June 2006 as planned, because Hackney Council does not have a premises licence in place for Clissold Park.

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Squatted Café resists Hackney Council Sell-Off

From the Schnews.

There’s a gold rush afoot in east London, and we’re not invited. Also left in the cold is Sicilian café-owner Tony Platia who, together with other locals in the borough of Hackney, has recently re-occupied Francesca’s Café, his business of 30 years, after being booted out last summer. It was one of many premises sold from under tenants’ feet as the Council scrambled to dispose of their property over the last few years.

Now the shop front has turned frontline, barricaded in the battle to halt an ongoing stampede of investors and speculators, trailing a stench of corruption in their wake that would make Robert Mugabe blush. Tony had right of first refusal and tried to buy his place – but his cheques somehow kept getting lost in the post before they reached the Council. You, too, could get a slice of the real estate pie – if you don’t mind furnishing the right officials with a few back-handers.

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Swimmers left high and dry by neglected pools

Kate Hoey in the Daily Telegraph.

Eighteen months ago I wrote about the scandal of the brand new Clissold Leisure Centre in Hackney, London, which had replaced the much-loved public baths. Opened in 2002, the cost was £31 million instead of £11 million and the contract overran by 95 weeks. The following year it closed, when the electrical plant rooms flooded and the drainage blocked. Since then it has been mothballed and ringed by security guards.

Now, at last the legal battles with the contractors and architects have been settled out of court and scaffolding has been put up to allow the roof to be replaced and other remedial work to be carried out with the money from the settlement. Hackney Council are desperate to re-open before local elections next May but it is more likely to be late next summer, 10 years since the original baths were closed.

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