Mind the Gap – Hackney’s Community Strategy 2005 – 2015
Hackney’s Community Strategy is the overarching strategy to improve quality of life in Hackney. The Community Strategy will underpin everything Hackney Council and its partners do in the next ten years. Together, our ambition is to make Hackney one of the best parts of London to live, work and do business in.
The Community Strategy was agreed by the Council and its partners - through Hackney’s Local Strategic Partnership (Team Hackney).
The final Community Strategy was informed by an extensive public consultation process. The consultation told us that people want better homes especially for families; a cleaner environment where they feel safe; improved health; more skills and training; and more local jobs.
The strategy has been titled ‘Mind the Gap’ because it is about reducing deprivation and social exclusion. It identifies the big issues and provides proposals for how these will be tackled. It is our overall aim to reduce inequality and social exclusion within Hackney’s communities and between Hackney and the rest of the country.
Our Community Strategy is organised around six themes. The themes are:
- A good place to grow up
- A dynamic and creative economy
- A thriving, healthy borough
- Better homes
- A safer, cleaner borough
- A sustainable borough
Background to the Strategy
Hackney is a borough in the East of London and adjacent to the City of London. It has a population of over 210,000 which is one of the most ethnically diverse and most socially deprived in the United Kingdom. Hackney is an entrepreneurial borough with strong communities, many parks and a rich heritage. It is an area of contrast, diversity, energy and opportunity. It is a good place to live for many people but it could be significantly improved as a place to enjoy living and working.
To make Hackney a better place to live for everyone Hackney Council together with the Hackney Strategic Partnership has undertaken a wide ranging programme of consultation to get input from both local people and experts into developing a new vision and strategy for Hackney. This consultation has been underpinned by the collection of a robust research and evidence base.
Through this consultation we have been told that local people and businesses want better homes, schools and shops; a cleaner environment where they feel safe; improved mobility and more local jobs. The high levels of deprivation and social exclusion need to be redressed through better partnership working and putting local people first. We need to reduce the gap between those with the most and those with the least and make sure every child gets a good start in life and achieves good results in Hackney schools.
Local people and experts involved in our discussions have affirmed that we have the building blocks in place and the potential to achieve this - but we need to work together more effectively and with more determination to make it happen.
The Strategy we are putting in place to address these issues has six key themes. All themes contribute to addressing our overall aim which is to reduce inequality and social exclusion within our communities and between Hackney and the rest of the country.
The Community Strategy document includes:
- the strategic objectives that the Council and Team Hackney’s partners have endorsed as the high level community strategy – these set out what we want to achieve in Hackney
- summaries of the consultation that was undertaken with Hackney residents– the issues that were raised, the responses and the objectives which we are proposing as a result
Page updated: 7 Nov 2008
Community Strategy