Speech and Prize Giving at the Chinese Oral History Project Launch and T-Shirt Competition

Shoreditch Library 4th November 2006

I was really proud to be invited to speak at the Hackney launch of the Chinese Oral History Booklet. This event included a prize-giving to children who had been involved in a cross cultural T-shirt making project, designed to engage with children from across London including in Hoxton.

The children had all taken part in small workshops making t-shirts inspired by their interpretation of British and Chinese Culture. The t-shirts were amazing and I was especially pleased to present an award to 4 year old Jade from the Arden Estate, Hoxton. The speeches from the volunteers and elders involved in the project were also inspiring. I wish them every success at the main launch next weekend.

The booklet is an educational resource book that has been fully researched, designed and edited by young volunteers of an Oral History Project that is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and organised by the Chinese Mental Health Association.

The Oral History Project has carried out over 20 interviews with the older Chinese generation living in London, and it is through this that they expressed the importance of the younger Chinese generation and the wider community to know about both Chinese and British culture.

This has been the inspiration for the group of volunteers to produce the booklet with lots of colourful activities that engages children to learn about these cultures. Local libraries have been very supportive and Shoreditch Library will soon have copies of the booklet.

Philip Glanville

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

Blue Hut

Places to go in Hoxton for young people will increase once the Blue Hut opens. After much hard work to ensure the continuation of youth provision in Hoxton and, after ongoing negotiation by the Blue Hut Steering Group, the doors of the new youth club was finally launched in March this year.

The event was well attended by local people who were finally able to see the fruits of alot of hard work. Since then however there have been ongoing challenges to get Peabody to open the club and the ball court for public use. Hackney Councillors, Council Officers and the Shoreditch Trust have been negotiating and a date of opening has finally been agreed. Peabody have finally given permission for the club to be opened at the end of this month.

This will mean more to do in Hoxton for young people.

Monthy Community Policing Meetings

The Police will be holding regular monthly meetings with residents of Hoxton Ward and your Labour Councillors will also be attending. The next meeting will be on 31 July at 6.16pm in the community Hall on Cranston Estate.

This is an opportunity for everyone to have a say in the way their ward is policed and to hear how the police are tackling community safety issues which affect your lives.

General Report and Update

Since being elected, ward councillors have:

• lobbied for a new crossing on New North Road
• organised residents meetings to discuss leaseholder chargers and new management charges
• met with officers to discuss the roll-out and implementation of the Decent Homes Programme
• lobbied re the planning for a student halls of accommodation on Pitfield Street
• lobbied for improvments to Crondall Court and Parr Court
• worked with police on community safety issues
• done ward walk abouts on Wenlock Barn Estate and St John's Estate
• Attended Estate committee meetings for Charles Sq and Pitfield Estate, Provost Estate, St John's Estate
• taken up case work on behalf of residents
• investgated plans to update the heating system on Cranston Estate and across the ward
• held individual surgeries plus a roving surgery
• pressed for the opening of the Blue Hut Youth Club
• met with planners to discuss the South Shoredithc Area Action Plan and the potential impact on the ward
• met with members and officers to discuss Hoxton Square and the night time economy area

Councillors have also attended the Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commission Meeting to priorities the work programme for this year. Commissions are a mechanism for councillors to scrutinise the work that the council is carrying out and to make improvments for Hackney residents. For more information on scrutiny commissions click here.

Roving Surgery

Sunday 18 June was the date for another roving surgery. All ward councillors and Labour MP came out to speak to residents about a variety of problems they have been having.

In response to the clear message given to us during the election campaign about coming to see you, we spent the week dropping leaflets for you to leave in your window if you wanted a visit.
This morning we spoke to around 24 people over three hoursresidents at Buxton Court, Windsor Terrace, Micawber Street, Windsor House and Bracklyn Court were visited .

The issues dealt with ranged included:

• leaseholder charges
• decent homes work
• rubbish collection and litter
• community safety
• noise nuisance

We will be holding more roving surgeries over the next four years but, but we also hold regular monthly surgeries in the ward. For details of times and locations call 020 8356 3207.

For details of your MPs surgeries you can call her office on 020 7219 5325.

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.

Shoreditch Station Closes

Shoreditch underground station, which has been open since 1876, transported its last passengers on Friday 10 June 2006. Rail enthusiasts, councillors, London Underground Officials and station staff were all there to say goodbye and to welcome in the plans for a new, long-awaited Shoreditch High Street Station which will be one of the new stations along the East London Line Extension.

The station closure created an air of mixed emotions. For the 1,300 commuters who use the station on a daily basis it was one of disappointment. For the station staff and other staff working on the line, it was a very sad affair.

Over the past 8 years Harrington Hargreaves (otherwise known as Pat) and Jo Joseph have come to know many of the passengers and have grown to love them and the colleagues they work with. It will be hard for them to move on but move on they will. Both will be transferred to Aldegate Station.

Jo was certainly the celebrity of the evening, with everyone wanting to talk to her, to hear her experiences at Shoreditch Station over the years and, most importantly, to have her clip their specially commissioned ticket to make the last ever journey into the station.

Most of all the evening was filled with hopeful anticipation of a new underground station which will open up Shoreditch and Hackney to the rest of London, bring regeneration and more job opportunities through economic growth. The new Shoreditch Stations will include Hoxton, Haggerston and Dalston Kingsland.

The new East London line will take you as far as West Croydon via Canada Water, New Cross, Crystal Palace and Norwood. To the north, it will go to Highbury and Islington where you will be able to pick up the Victoria line.

That's a fond fairwell to Shoreditch Station and a welcome to a new era.

Tribute to the late Carole Young

The life of Carole Young, dubbed the Hoxton a matriarch, was commemorated at Hackney's Council meeting.

Carole lived in Hoxton all her life and was part of a group of residents who drove the New Deal for Communities process in Hackney and worked with Renaisi to secure pathfinder status under the programme.

She was a shadow member of the Shoreditch Trust Board at the start of the process in 1998 and progressed to the full board in 2000.

She chaired the board from 2002 to 2004 and astutely saw the programme and the partnership through some of the most difficult times for the NDC nationally.

Carole retired from Shoreditch Trust in 2005.

Carole was previously a councillor as well as Deputy Mayor in Hackney.

Loving mother and wife, Carole has left behind Charlie, her husband for 44 years, sons and daughters Kevin, Michaelle, Tony and Joanne and grandchildren Charlie, Jodie and Oliver and a child yet to be born. Carole is also survived by sister Jean and brother Michael.

At her recent memorial services held in St John's Church Hoxton, April Keech said, "Carole often told her children that they could do whatever they wanted to with support and no one better than them and likewise they are not better than others."

Carole took many people under her matriarchal wing, helped to voice their their desires, hopes and dreams.

But everyone including Carole Young needed support and Carole's secret support was her husband, Charlie Young and her family. All of whom were fiercely loyal . Carole knew that whatever happened outside her home, in the council, at neighborhood or New Deal meetings, Trust Meeting or tenants association meetings, that Charlie would also be there - her rock and her refuge, her support.

That support grew out of the mutual respect, care and love of one another that Carole and Charlie Young had from the beginning of their marriage when they walked down this aisle 44 years ago.

Carole spent much of her life working so that people had better homes, increased safety, transport and heating. She wanted people here in Shoreditch to know that they had a place, a voice that no one could take that away.

Carole Young has a place in the legacy of Hoxton and Shoreditch for helping others to know they have a place and a voice.

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

A Big Thank You

Carole, Phil and Clayeon would like to thank everyone who supported us to become your Labour Councillors in the recent elections.

We really couldn't have done it without you!

The campaign gave us opportunity to meet and speak to many more people than we would be able to do by attending estate committee meetings, holding surgeries or on our walk abouts. It gave you the opportunity to tell us what you think about the work that your Labour team did over the last four years and helped us set priorities for the work over the next fourt years.

You gave an resounding yes to Labour and said that you did not want people talking your ward down. You said yes to plans to continue improving street cleanliness; yes to continued decreases to crime; yes to increases to recycling facilities; yes to new windows, kitchens, bathrooms, kitchens and roofs; yes to the continued support of the Shoreditch Wardens; yes t improvements to Shepherdess Walk Park and Shoreditch Park and yes more facilities for young people.

You gave a resounding yes to Labour continuing to improve the place where you live and for that we thank you.

But you also told us that the good work we started needs to continue and that there are somethings that you want to see improve even further, that is why we have already started tackling those things that matter to you most.

Despite the continued decline in local crime, we know that you are still concerned about crime so we will be holding more regular community safety walkabouts with the Hoxton Safer Neighbourhood Team. We will be attending regular community safety forum meetings and working closely with police to tackle local issues.

Although you welcomed the Decent Home works, you also told us that there are aspects of the programme that are causing you concern so we will be working with officers to keep delays to a minimum, improve communication with you, ensure that the best quality materials are used and that the job is done to high standards.

There are a number of issues that are specific to individual blocks which we are already tackling. Wenlock Barn Estate has already seen scaffolding going up on many of the blocks but much work needs to be done outside of the Decent Homes Programme to improve properties. We will be meetig with Hackney Homes to seek get work done to improve water supply, door entry systems, lift maintenance programmes.

These are just a few of the messages that we heard while speaking to you. The list we have and that we are working on is much longer than this.

We are looking forward to seeing changes and improvements across the ward and look forward to receiving comments from you on how you think we are doing.

We also look forward to working with you and for you over the next four years.

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