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• Hackney Council on message? Would you be surprised
to learn that the Council's switchboard team were rated top out of four London boroughs
for answering callers promptly, clearly and with politeness? In an exercise involving
three other London Councils' 'mystery shoppers.' Hackney operators were the quickest in
their speed of greeting. Only one caller to Brent and Lewisham spoke to an operator who
said, 'good morning', the name of the borough and their own name. Hackney had the highest
proportion of callers rating the clarity of the greeting as 'excellent.' In the category
of helpfulness it achieved a 37.4 per cent 'good' rating. This compared with 21.6 per cent
at Lewisham.
• The future's not Orange. Direct action by residents at the
Hawksley Court Estate stopped the erection of a second telephone mast. They blocked the
road, causing a 100 tonne crane to halt, turn around and finally leave. Mobile phone
company Orange, finding their lifting gear immobilised, said that they hadn't decided on
their next move. The residents believe that microwave emissions from the mast already in
place have caused skin rashes, thyroid problems and mysterious lumps.
• No comment. The Goldcrest plc board on the site of the old Defoe
Road depot sold off by the Council announces 'affordable luxury housing.'
• The Hackney Show will not be held this year. It's yet another
victim of the Council's cuts. Perhaps it could have been saved if someone had got around
to collecting the borough's Council Tax. Only 56 per cent was paid in 1999/2000, falling
somewhat short of the 81 per cent target. This fact was gleaned from the new Council
freesheet Performance Matters. No irony intended.
• In a rare display of political agreement Labour, Liberal Democrat
and Tory councillors set aside the political differences that have plagued Hackney's hung
council and voted for a compromise budget. Councillors of all three parties also tabled a
policy rescue plan for the Borough and changes to Hackney's political structures designed
to bring more efficient decision-making. The move follows months of cross-party
negotiations after a damning report by the Improvement and Development Agency on the
political and financial chaos that has afflicted Hackney since the Council became hung in
1996.
• Local investment consultant Stella Rice, who has written for N16
magazine, has won the title of 'Ethical Independent Adviser of the Year 2000'. She came
first in a field of more than 17,000 entrants. The competition was organised by Planned
Savings magazine.
• A bid to stage the 2005 World Athletic Championships at Hackney
Stadium was not successful. A consortium, supported by four east London boroughs,
including Hackney, proposed the construction of an international athletics stadium at
Hackney Wick. It followed the design fiasco of the new Wembley Stadium where athletics and
football argued over whether the stadium should includes a running track. The sports
authorities have designated Pickett's Lock as the successful site.
• Kevin Crompton, Hackney Director of Learning and Leisure is the
new Stoke Newington neighbourhood 'champion'. He replaces Sarah Ebanja.
• Rory Bremner and a host of other stars, including many black
artists, have come to the aid of the Hackney Empire. He topped the bill at a recent
Saturday Night at the Hackney Empire show. The theatre has at last been told that it has
won a £5 million funding from the Lottery but it needs to raise a further £5 million
from other sources.
• Local Labour Party activists (below) celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the formation of the Party by planting a sapling in Abney Park Cemetery.
Abney Park once held the largest collection of trees in the UK, housing over 2,500
varieties of trees and shrubs from around the world. Work is currently being carried out
to recreate the original arboretum. Sycamore and other invading species are being thinned
and those areas are being replanted with a large variety of trees.
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