Hackney traders ‘deeply frustrated’ by City Hall delay on community land trust sites

Guild members with Hackney’s mayor Caroline Woodley, local councillors and London’s deputy mayor Howard Dawber. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

A group of Hackney traders have urged City Hall to “get on with” delivering affordable workspaces promised to them four years ago.

After a meeting with politicians at the Town Hall on Tuesday, members of the East End Trades Guild (EETG) said they were “frustrated” by the lack of progress on a community land trust (CLT) pledged to them by the Mayor of London in 2021.

CLTs are non-profit corporations designed to provide community wealth by enabling people to own and manage land for the benefit of locals, including workers and entrepreneurs.

The guild, an alliance of 400 independent businesses and self-employed people in east London, has lobbied City Hall to bring in a Hackney-based trust for them to provide and manage spaces for social value businesses at below market rates.

Their campaign has ramped up in light of the escalating costs of leasing workspaces from Places for London (PfL) – the commercial arm of Transport for London (TfL) – which has threatened local businesses’ viability.

In attendance was Len Maloney of JC Motors, who last November was evicted from his shop in the Haggerston railway arches, after PfL doubled his rent over a two-year period.

Speaking to the Citizen, the guild’s spokesperson Krissie Nicolson said action was “long overdue”.

“TfL is bound by its own sustainability framework, the mayor’s growth plan, and its upcoming ‘Inclusive Growth’ strategy to deliver affordable workspaces that serve Londoners,” she said.

“The city voted for inclusive progress. It’s time that promise was kept.”

At People’s Question Time in December, Mayor Sadiq Khan renewed his promise to secure a site for the guild’s land trust.

“I thought this was sorted,” he told the audience. “If it’s not, then we’ve got to sort this out.”

Guild members had expected Tuesday’s meeting with London’s deputy mayor for business, Howard Dawber, and Hackney mayor Caroline Woodley, would see a list of options brought to the table, but their hopes were dashed.

“The meeting was convened expressly to identify a site – we emailed two weeks before asking for their ideas,” Nicolson said.

Instead, City Hall will outline their potential CLT sites by 10 July.

Howard Dawber (left) with JC Motors’ Len Maloney at his empty arch workspace earlier this year. Photograph: Chris Hopkinson

Dawber told the Citizen the group had a “very productive meeting”, adding that it was a “challenge” to place a CLT in the railway arches because it would see some businesses operating at a different market rate to others.

Meanwhile, PfL needed to make a “commercial return” to “subsidise the operation of the system for everybody”, he said.

“However, the Mayor of London set out that we want to see dynamic, entrepreneurial local communities and support small businesses.

“We are committed to doing what we can to help. We’re going to try to find a solution that works for everybody.”

When asked why a list of options had not been prepared by Tuesday, Dawber’s spokesperson said: “Having looked in detail at whether this can be provided within existing Transport for London railway arches, it’s operationally complex and would undermine the viability of TfL’s commercial arm PfL, so we have agreed with EETG to look for alternative sites.”

Also due to appear was Seb Dance, deputy mayor for transport, but according to the guild he “dropped out last-minute without explanation”.

JC Motor’s Len Maloney told the Citizen: “It’s good that Howard said they will bring sites to the table on 10 July, but we were expecting sites at this meeting.

“It was disappointing and frustrating that we are still crawling through the mud after Sadiq Khan recommitted to sorting this out six months ago.”

He was joined by his former archway neighbour, Giuliana Majo, who runs yoga studio Tripspace. Earlier this year, PfL quadrupled her lease.

Emphasising that Maloney’s arch was still standing empty after eviction in November, Nicolson warned of “wasted potential and broken trust” arising from City Hall’s lack of progress.

“We suggested the railway arches to try and stop the businesses providing social value, like JC Motors, from being evicted,” she said.

“We’re open to look at other sites, but they can’t keep coming back and saying ‘these sites aren’t viable’.

“We’re not fixated on the railway arches. What else have they got?”

At a meeting in December, a Hackney Council officer told EETG members there were “lots of sites” owned by TfL in the borough.

“Last time we spoke they understood they were seriously looking for sites to offer up. Your lobbying to the mayor is working and [is] effective,” they said.

Speaking to the Citizen, Mayor of Hackney Caroline Woodley said she supported the principle of community ownership and was “worried” by the prospect of businesses leaving the borough.

“There needs to be the opportunity for start-ups to take risks, and sometimes that means failing and then starting again,” she said.

The main takeaway from the meeting, she added, was the importance of “flexibility”.

Woodley said that “ideally” the proposed land trust site would be in Hackney, and if it were she would be “absolutely thrilled and ready to work to overcome any obstacles that are within my gift”.