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Council news
Stoke Newington Library awarded £499,700 grant to improve reading, study, culture and children spaces
26th March 2024
Hackney Council’s Library Service has successfully applied for a Government grant of £499,700 to redesign the interior of Stoke Newington Library into creative, inclusive and innovative new spaces.The Libraries Improvement Fund award from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will help make the premises fit for modern library users while retaining the historical features of the Victorian building. The enhanced service will provide residents with improved reading rooms, study spaces and a new children’s area as well as a cultural and digital hub which will deliver on what 8,500 residents said they wanted from their local libraries in the new Libraries Strategy. The new library will provide a new integrated space for the Community Library Service and allow for more opportunities for creativity, heritage and culture to flourish.Stoke Newington Library is among 43 library services to receive a share of the £20.5 million Libraries Improvement Fund. The fund aims to transform public library services in England by helping them upgrade their buildings and improve their digital infrastructure so they are better placed to respond to the changing ways people use them. This is the third round of the fund, with 52 projects already benefiting from around £10 million of funding in previous rounds. In February, Hackney Council announced that the library will close its doors to the public from Saturday 30 March for up to two years for a renovation project which includes repairs made to the roof and fabric of the community facility as part of a wider £4.4 million investment into the borough’s libraries.
More than £37m given back to communities through Council funding initiatives
18th March 2024
More than £37 million in charges placed on developers building in Hackney has been invested back into communities since 2021, according to new figures released by the Council.A report detailing the effectiveness of the Council’s Planning Service and local planning policies shows how this money was spent across Hackney in areas such as affordable housing, sustainable energy, public realm, education, leisure, libraries, culture, highways, waste and community-focused initiatives. Examples include the creation of the Hackney Community Energy Fund (involving the installation of solar panels on schools and other buildings); new murals and sculptures to celebrate culture; and public realm improvements, The Council has also used money allocated from the charges on developers (known as Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy contributions) to allow organisations to apply for money through the Hackney Community Fund and Shoreditch and Hoxton Art Fund, implementing multi generational projects which have brought residents together and created benefits and opportunities for a growing community.The Authority Monitoring Report, which covers the financial years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, details the Council’s success in a number of key areas:HousingOf more than 650 new homes to have been given planning permission in Hackney since 2021, 47% will be affordable, according to the report. The report shows that between the 2021 to 2023 period, 2,393 homes were completed. Competed schemes also contributed around £11.9 million towards the delivery of affordable housing. Business and employment The newly released data shows that between 2019-23 Hackney gained an additional 3,635 enterprises, or a growth of 17% over the period. The Inner London growth was 1% over the same period. Around 61,000sq m of office space and roughly 2,800sq m of retail space was completed in the two reporting years, as well as 4,800sqm of affordable workspace. Open Space Abney Park was awarded Green Flag status in 2023, taking the total number of parks and gardens to 29 which have been awarded the status - the benchmark international standard for publicly accessible parks.Many of Hackney’s open spaces benefited from CIL and Section 106 funding, including Shoreditch Park, Daubeney Fields, Clissold Park (where a new splash pad was installed), Fairchild’s Gardens, Abney Park, Mabley Green and more.Transport More people are using sustainable transport in Hackney than in any other London borough, with walking now accounting for 55.7% and cycling 8.5% of trips beginning in Hackney. Planning policies have facilitated the delivery of car free development throughout the borough and as of August 2023, 375 charging points have been installed. Hackney plans to deliver 3,000 charge points by 2026.Design and Heritage The Council has continued to work with owners of at risk listed buildings and the Historic England Heritage At Risk team to bring forward repairs and restoration. Planning decisions The percentage of major planning applications determined within 13 weeks or to agreed timescales was at 90% in 2012/22 and 89% in 2022/23. This exceeds national and local targets.Read the full report