Great news for Local People

We have passed another hurdle in our campaign to have Murray Grove Post Office reopened. Click here to read story in Hackney Gazette

Supporting Thomas Fairchild School after the fire.

Short update from all of us on the fire.

“Thomas Fairchild School was at the heart of the community; as local councillors and residents we are committed to seeing it rebuilt and to making sure the necessary temporary arrangements are in place for the start of the autumn term.”

“Watching the fire last Thursday was a dreadful experience for everyone involved, especially given the many generations of local children who attended the school - as well as the many memories bound up in this wonderful historic building.”

“We would like to thank the London Fire Brigade for their efforts to save the school and our express our relief that no one was injured. While the school maybe badly damaged its spirit lives on and we are thankful the children’s centre was saved.

“The community and the school family are now coming together with the Learning Trust and the Council to ensure the future of their school, and they have our full support.”

Caught on Camera

I take my mobile phone with me everywhere and as it has a camera on it, I take more pictures now than I have ever taken before.

It is particularly useful when walking around the ward as I can take pictures of dumped rubbish as well graffiti and send it straight to officers. These generally get dealt with very quickly so I was please to hear that Hackney Homes now have a new repairs textline on 0773 854 4872.

To report repairs all you now need to do is take a picture of the problem and with the name of the estate along with the problem.

Any reports made throughout April will be entered into a draw to win a camera phone.

Wenlock Barn to Get Disable Parking Space

Following on from a written complaint regarding the lack of disable parking bays at Wenlock Barn Estate, Hoxton, Hackney Homes have finally agreed to replace one of the bays outside outside Wimbourne Court with a disabled parking bay.

The new bay will not be allocated to an individual property, but it will be an estate disabled parking bay which is for the use of any disabled driver who is living on Wenlock Barn Estate.

Watch this space to find out the location.

Cllr Carole Williams

Cows Seen Grazing in Shoreditch

Hoxton Councillors Clayeon McKenzie, Carole Williams and Phil Glanville, have been receiving information about cows seen grazing across Shoreditch. The latest herd was last spotted by Sheperdess Walk Park on Sunday lunch time.

Ward Councillors were called to the scene and found five hungry cows being fed by local residents. They are asking other residents to continue to do the same on a regular basis to keep the cows from going hungry and prevent the NSPCA being called out.

From appearances it is clear that the herd is going to continue to grow and increase in numbers with the likelihood of more being seen across the borough.

"Please continue to feed the cows," pleads Councillor Clayeon McKenzie. "Without the help of residents, we will be heading for disaster."

Hoxton Councillors Surgeries

Remember, this month there will be no councillors surgeries. Surgeries will start again in September.


Cllr Philip Glanville will hold his surgeries on the 3rd Wednesday of the month between 6 pm 7 pm at Provost Community Hall Murray Grove, London N1

Cllr Clayeon McKenzie will hold his surgeries on the 2nd Tuesday of every month between 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm at The Bell Club on Bowling Green Walk, Pitfied Street,

Cllr Carole williams will hold her surgeries on the 2nd Monday of each month between 5.30 pm and 6.30 pm at 16a Malcolm House on the Arden Estate

Carole, Clayeon and Phil

Decent Homes on Wenlock Barn Estate

Hoxton's largest Estate Napier Grove, has become the latest recipient of the Decent Homes Programme.

Recurring questions about starting dates for thre Decent Homes programme hinted at residents’ lack of confidence in the programme but, when scaffolding started going up and workmen began knocking on doors to gain entry to replace windows across the estate, things quickly changed.

We have been receiving positive feedback since work has been underway and we wanted to see for ourselves what was being done so spent time inspecting the new roof and windows on Napier Court.

New membrane, insulation board, felt covering and asphelt have gone down to inslute the block from both hot and cold weather. This should last for another 30 years but it could be compromised if there is ongoing unauthorised access to install satalite dishes.

The work should take 6-7 weeks to complete and we will be back again to see the finished product and we will continue checking on the programme as it roles out across the ward.

We welcome you comments about the decent homes programne. Let us know what you experience has been – positive or negative.

Carole, Clayeon and Phil

Decent Homes

Giving people homes that are decent to live in, within communities where they feel safe, secure and happy, must be central to our mission over the next four years. When Labour took control of the council in 2002, some tenants were living in homes that hadn’t been improved since the day there were built - where repairs hadn’t been carried out and which were hard to keep warm, windows were rotting and falling out and bathrooms were in a state of disrepair.

Things have changed dramatically over the past four years, however. Now, every estate across the ward has had some Decent Homes works done. Buckland Court has new windows, doors and bathrooms, Haberdasher Estate has had new doors and windows, as has Aske House and much of the Arden Estate. Now Wenlock Barn Estate has seen work begin on Brackyln Court, Evelyn Court and Napier Court and scaffolding has gone up on Cropley Court.

The Decent Homes programme is making a difference to the lives of tenants across the ward putting us on course to reduce the number of non-decent properties.

But the programme has not just been about improvements to homes it has resulted in greater involvement of tenants in decision making about their homes; it has created training and employment opportunities; and has stimulated improvement in housing services and will continue to do so as the programme does even more work.

We are mindful of the inconvenience that this work can cause and are working hard to improve the speed of the works to minimise this for residents. We have been speaking to the Manager of the Decent Homes Programme for Shoreditch about making it easier to make comments without having to come along to an Estate Committee meeting. You can post your comments on this blog about how best this can be done.

So far 332 new doors have been fitted to properties and 215 new kitchens and bathrooms installed.

Join the Labour Party

If you haven't yet considered joining the Labour Party, I would like to encourage you to do so.

Becoming a Labour Party Member will give you an opportunity to have your say about what happens locally as well as nationally.

To join today, go to https://www.labour.org.uk/joinbydirectdebit

Tony Blair Visits Hoxton

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair got our term as local councillors got off to a flying start when he visited Hoxton.

Tony Blair and Ruth Kelly came by to see for themselves the local warden scheme in operation, to speak to local residents and to take a look at the Digital Bridge project.

The Prime Minister met the deputy chair of one of the local TRAs, as well as residents. He listened their thoughts on the work the wardens have been doing over the past three years.

Residents welcomed the good work that the wardens have done and praised their hard work paying recognition to the impact they have made on local crime figures.

Jules Pipe, the Mayor of Hackney, was also present and detailed his vision for joining up with the good work that wardens do right across the borough. He said that the additional funds he put in to the scheme was well spent because of the impact they have made to a fall in crime figures as well as improvements to health and a noticeable reduction in enviro-crime.

Despite the assurance that residents now have following a sustained decrease in crime, there is still evidence of a fear of crime but this should improve as people get to know their local safer neighbourhood team. They can be easily contacted and, recent experiences have shown that they are rapidly responding to incidents in the ward.

Hackney Council Election Results 2006

Hackney Council Local Election results are in! After much hard work three Labour Councillors were elected to represent Hoxton Ward on May 4th 2006. Our names are Philip Glanville, Clayeon McKenzie and Carole Williams. We would like to thank everyone who came out to in the May 2006 Local elections.

The results clearly show that this was never a two horse race. Turn out for 2006 election was up to 2,506, that is 33.2% of eligable voters. There was overwhelming support, giving us a clear mandate to continue the good work started four years ago.

We have already committed to fulfilling six pledges. They are:

• holding regular meetings, coffee mornings and advice surgeries to hear your views and give you the latest information
• write to you regularly to keep you informed and let you know what we're doing on your behalf
• walk around hte neighourhood every week - noticing what's wrong and informing council officers so they can sort it out
• call and phone local residents to make sure we are listening to your priorities
• regularly raise residents concerns with the police to reduce crime further and
• making Hoxton safer, improve your homes and make sure that your children have decent schools and places to go

The 2006 Election results across Shoreditch were equally as good - proving you have a once again chosen a hard working group of councillors to deliver the priorities you help us to set.

A full list of Hackney Council local election results are available at http://www.hackney.gov.uk/index.htm/l-elections-publishing-results/elections-results.htmuk