Clapton Pond Blog

Housing Need

Here's a nice email I received a while ago:

Hello Dave

May I call you by your first name - we've never met - yet from reading your blogs I feel that I know you.

Thought I'd drop you a line to reel one off about the lack of family homes in the Clapton Pond area. The small patch of ground bordered by Leabridge Rd to the north, Lower Clapton to the west and Chatsworth to the east.

I have been living on Thistlewaite Road for a few years now and the time has come to move from our 2 bed flat to a larger house with garden as the children get older.

The problem we have been finding is lots of the houses that do come up for sale are very quickly snapped up by developers and carved up into flats. This is frustrating us beyond belief - we have a our son at Millfields and don't want to leave the area.

Other houses that we've seen are set at an astronomic asking price - we suspect completely over inflated by the ruthless estate agents - and don't hang about long before some cash buyer steams in with a deal and takes it.

I must seem like a right old whinger. But what I'm driving at is that we don't want the remaining properties to be 'multiple occupancy dwellings', as I believe they are referred to by building control. There is very little in the way of housing ladder left to climb.

Parking becomes an issue, clusters of over flowing dustbins in front gardens, short let tenants not really caring about the neighbourhood ...

Do we smell a conspiracy between the local building control and said 'developers'? Of course, we'd never know for sure...

I really hope I can find an affordable house in the area because I've come to like living here and Thistlewaite residents are a friendly bunch.

If only I'd had the foresight to buy here 30 years ago when I could have got a whole house for £1000!

Thanks for listening

Thanks to you for writing, and I'm sorry for taking so long to respond. The truth is I don't really know the answers to your questions and haven't yet found time to look into them properly. What I do know is that in London there is a simultaneous demand for larger, family-friendly homes (overcrowding is a terrible problem) and more single-person units because more and more people are living alone. Maybe the Council could offer its view. That would at least be a start I'll ask.

Hackney Empire: What Next?

It's sad that the Hackney Empire is to "go dark" for nine months after this year's panto in order to reflect on its future, though I suppose I'm not enormously surprised. I've had a slightly gloomy feeling about the Empire's fortunes since going there last spring to see James Sherman's Jewish comedy Beau Jest. The play was charming and funny, but the audience numbers were uncomfortably small. I was used to packed houses for the panto and for the annual show by the Anna Fiorentini drama school. Was business the rest of the time normally this slow?

There's plenty of speculation about the reasons for the Empire's forthcoming break, including that Arts Council England - which provides some subsidy - is effectively demanding a change of business strategy. This might mean rethinking the types of show the theatre puts on. Simon Thomsett, who stepped down as artistic director and chief executive last month, said that 2008 has been the theatre's most successful year since it reopened in 2004, but it seems even that wasn't enough. So how should the Empire change if it is to thrive in the future? Mark Shenton at the Guardian has some thoughts on that. Maybe you do too.

Water Talk

Belatedly, a bit of blurb from the September Hackney Podcast:

Author and psycho-geographer Iain Sinclair follows the route of Hackney Brook, a subterranean ghost river which runs from Highbury to Hackney Wick.  Then to Clissold Leisure Centre for Wet Sounds, a new music event in which electro-acoustic composers Francisco Lopez, Stefano Tedesco, Tom Haines and Leafcutter John serenade their floating audience through speakers above and below the water.  Moving on to London Fields Lido, architectural historian Simon Inglis explains how swimming pools in Hackney have their roots in the wash houses set up by 19th-century philanthropists in the battle against cholera.

Listen to it here.

Eddie Thompson RIP

The scene of the broad daylight murder of 29 year-old Edward Thompson in Amhurst Road two Sundays ago has inspired a melancholy shrine at the junction with Marcon Road. My photo shows some of its effects and messages. Other messages have been written on surrounding paving slabs, revealing that the victim was known to some as "Pitbull Eddie" and that he enjoyed many long standing local friendships. He had three kids. The Met have said they suspect a case of mistaken identity. 

Edward was a family man and devoted to his three young children. We don't know why he was killed as he was a friendly guy whose background would not appear to warrant this type of targeted attack. He is desperately missed by his family who need to know why he was struck down in this way.

CCTV footage of two suspects has been released. Police are seeking witnesses. You can phone the incident room on 020 8345 3985 or, to guarantee anonymity, phone Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Read a little more about this terrible event here.

Hackney's Newest Academy

From the Regeneration and Renewal blog: 

Schools secretary Ed Balls was in east London with the Prime Minister [on Monday] to open the City Academy - one of the latest schools to be opened under the Government's controversial academy initiative.

Read the whole piece for a discussion of academies in general and video of the dignitaries' visit. 

Cats Love Mushy Peas

Such is the bold assertion made on Hackney blog Rainbow Hat. It continues:

Yes its true and you read it here first, what does this have to do with crochet? You may well ask, nothing actually but since I decided this was musings from a crocheter then I can muse on anything really.

You see, Rainbow Hat is mostly about crochet. And a bit about cats. And possibly cats who crochet too. Now read on.  

Bookies

Hello, I'm back, and so is the controversy about betting shops. 

The London Borough of Hackney has applied to the government for stronger powers to control the concentration of betting shops in the borough. There are more than 60 bookmakers in Hackney, which is over three times the local authority average. Hackney has applied under the round of Sustainable Communities Act (SCA) bids which closed on 31 July. Of more than 500 local people responding through Hackney’s consultation e-panel, 64% supported the idea that the Council could get new powers to limit the concentration of betting shops.

Full story from Planning Daily.