How would you like Hackney Green Party to improve Hackney?

Zoë Garbett is your Green candidate for the Mayor of Hackney in elections next year. She's standing with Dylan Law as your Green deputy Mayor candidate.

They want to know what matters to you in our borough.

https://www.hackneygreens.org.uk/hackney_mayor_survey_2026

Hackney Council has revealed its plans for the Dalston Liveable Neighbourhood Scheme, with aims to improve air quality, make walking safer and improve public space.  

Hackney Green Party believe that Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) can play a key role in improving air quality and street safety for residents, and broadly support implementing them across the borough. 

When elected, your Dalston councillor Zoë prioritised meeting with a council cabinet member to discuss concerns about safety and congestion in the ward, pushing the council to publish a ‘Main Road’ strategy. 

Green campaigner Rachel Nkiessu-Guifo and Councillor Zoë Garbett on St Mark's Rise

We campaign for a fairer, more sustainable society. One of our core priorities is creating safer, healthier environments for all our communities, addressing the health inequalities many residents face.

After speaking with residents in Dalston who will be affected by the scheme, the following key points have been raised: 

Following years of pressure from Hackney Greens and renters unions, the council is opening consultation to introduce landlord licensing. 

Hackney Labour pledged to bring this in within two years in 2022, and Greens have been pushing to make this happen ever since, with renters now having the chance to make their voices heard.

Currently one in three homes in Hackney is privately rented, with weak regulations on landlords leaving renters feating eviction if they ask for repairs. 

Councillor for Dalston and London Assembly Member Zoë Garbett said: “A decent home should be the baseline, not the exception. 

“No one should be worried about eviction just for asking for a working boiler or a mould-free home. Landlord licensing is an essential tool to hold landlords to a higher standard.”

The Hackney Green Party welcomes the judgement on the case, but are deeply concerned that the misconduct panel did not uphold the Director General’s findings of racism and adultification. 

Two Metropolitan Police officers were dismissed for gross misconduct, along with a final warning issued to a third, making a significant step to recognising the serious failing which took place.   

The two officers were involved in the strip search of a black teenager in a Hackney school, who was fifteen at the time, with the panel saying the action was “disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary, which was humiliating for the child and made her feel degraded.”

Hackney Green Party councillors and activists have stood with striking BSix staff, students and the community on the picket line this week as action begins over cuts by New City College (NCC). 

The cuts put 43 jobs at risk and A-Level courses, overseas placements, safeguarding roles and the Knowledge is Power programme have already been cut 

The college is a vital part of Hackney’s education system, a lifeline for many working-class, migrant and refugee students who have not been provided with adequate opportunities elsewhere.

Green Councillor for Stoke Newington Liam Davis said “We will not let this happen behind closed doors. 

“We will fight for BSix, for truly inclusive, anti-racist education, and for proper public oversight wherever possible.” 

The latest numbers released by Hackney Food Bank show the number of people facing hunger has reach a record high. 

The charity has seen a 22% increase in demand over the last 12 months, distributing 282,800 meals in 2024/25, compared with 231,000 in 2023/24. 

Last year, Green Councillors visited the Hackney Foodbank and learned more about their amazing work. The Hackney Foodbank has become more important than ever.

If you can donate or volunteer, please support their incredible efforts.  

A special investigation into Hackney Council’s landlord services - it’s repairs and building management - identified failures across repairs, confirming what residents and Green councillors have been saying.  

The report also brought to light systemic bad practice around the reporting of repairs, with the systems incentivising marking jobs as complete, leading to 33% of visits for repairs being repeats. 

This comes following the resignation of the councils housing chief, Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, just a few weeks ago following pressure from the Greens on the council for him step down. 

Reacting to the report, Cllr Alastair Binnie-Lubbock said: “For years, we were told things were improving - that satisfaction was rising, systems were being upgraded, and lessons were being learned. 

“This report exposes that as fiction.

"What we had was a broken system, papered over with a misleading ‘positivity prism’, also known as gaslighting.”

Two Opposition Groups on Hackney Council walked out of the Annual General Meeting to call out the Labour administration’s record of failure and constitutional changes that shut out criticism.

As they left they held up five signs highlighting their concerns, which read:

• Systematic Housing Failure,
• Overriding Residents’ Views,
• Restricting Democratic Accountability,
• Ignoring Genocide,
• ‘Savings’ That Really Mean Cuts.  

The 5 councillors left the meeting immediately after Labour councillors and the Mayor voted to make changes to its constitution which significantly restrict the public’s and opposition councillors’ voices in the Council Chamber. 

Cllr Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, co-leader of the Greens in Hackney said: “Our Town Hall is now a stifled and controlled environment.  

We agreed that signs, expressing what many people we've spoken to feel about the Council’s performance, were the most effective way to show we’re still fighting for residents and we’re on their side”.

The Labour administration in Hackney has today announced that it’s cabinet member in charge of housing will resign from the role, following calls from Green councillors for him to step down. 

Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, who represents Hoxton West, has been in the role, as cabinet member for housing services, for nine years, and will be replaced by Cllr Guy Nicholson, a Homerton councillor. 

This comes following calls from the Green group of councillors in the borough for McKenzie to resign due to the council having repeatedly failed Hackney’s tenants. 

From Councillor Zoë Garbett:

Street markets are a vital part of Hackney’s past, present and future. Street markets provide low-cost and culturally specific items as well as being vibrant places for socialising and community connection. Street markets are made what they are by the traders who work in them who are able to work as independent, sole traders. 

Hackney Council are currently consulting on their market fees and charges - with drastic increases being proposed.

Some traders need low fees and charges so that they can provide low-cost items to low-income communities. I’ve heard from traders that the proposed changes will make this really hard for them to do. 

The council’s consultation is an opportunity for you to have your say by December 31st. The consultation has a very open question “Please let us know your comments on the proposed Hackney markets, street trading and shop front fees and charges?”

We have complied some points below from discussions with market traders which you may like to feed into the consultation. Key points:

• Waste collection charges are stated to have increased by over 140% - this is a huge increase and there is not enough information in the consultation to explain the reason for such a huge increase. I understand from traders that all alternatives have not been explored and that for markets such as Ridley Road, the number of traders producing a lot of waste (e.g. fruit & veg) has decreased - making it unclear why an increase in the charges for waste collection is necessary. The consultation should be halted until all options have been explored and detailed justification is provided for this increase. 
• Plans to hand down electricity charges to traders - this is at the total price of £154,000, again there is little breakdown of how/where this energy is used - as I understand lights are only used in the winter months. We also need to see what steps have been taken to reduce energy consumption. 
• Increased in storage chargers - the benchmarking shows that Hackney is the highest and not inline with other boroughs.
• Some of the charges for council administration increase significantly - we need to see a breakdown of the council’s market team staffing & budget to fully understand activities to be able to judge whether these charges are fair. 
• Introducing a late payment penalty - this is not in line with an ethical debt collection approach and therefore I do not support it. 

Given the information above, I do not feel residents are able to make an informed decision about these charges and I also do not think there is enough information about what alternatives the council has explored to bring down costs. Therefore, the consultation should be paused until this information is provided. 

To justify continued cuts and increases in charges, the Labour Council and Labour Government say there's no money left and tell stories of financial black holes. But there's plenty of money in our economy. This is why Greens are calling for a wealth tax to fund public services. A wealth tax of 1% annually should be levied on assets above £10 million and of 2% on assets above £1bn. Only a tiny minority of people would pay this tax. And could generate more than £50bn. I am taking a motion to Hackney Council to call on the Mayor of Hackney to push for the Labour Government to stop pursuing austerity and implement a wealth tax to fund public services. 

You have until December 31st to have your say on the Market Fees & Charges. You can access the consultation here: https://consultation.hackney.gov.uk/parking-markets/fac25-26/