Giving residents more power over their lives, homes and communities.

People Power

The role of a directly elected Mayor undermines democracy in Hackney by removing nearly all decision-making responsibilities from our elected councillors and concentrating power in one person. This is the very reason that we’re having this by-election. Under a committee system all councillors are responsible for steering the direction of the borough, not just one person at the top. That is why it is so important for residents to get a choice to change the governance of the Council and why I commit to working towards holding a referendum to upgrade our local democracy.

Residents tell me that they do not feel listened to and that even when they participate in a consultation they do not feel it makes any difference. I will be led by residents so that we can create a better Hackney together and open up the Council to more public scrutiny.

Currently, developers have too much say over what happens in the borough and their profits are considered more important than the views of people living and working in the borough. I will give more power to residents, community groups and local businesses (including artists) to shape the future of their neighbourhoods.

Local residents are experts in what is most needed in their neighbourhoods – so where we need to maintain and update local infrastructure, I will put the people of Hackney at the heart of decision making.

As Mayor, I will undertake a resident-led redesign of the Council’s consultation process so that residents can trust that their views carry the most weight. I will make sure the Council reports back on how resident views have been considered and how they have impacted plans for the borough. There will also be more ways for residents to tell the Council what needs to change so that we can bring forward better developments that meet the local community’s real needs.

The power and importance of young people’s voices has been shown by many youth-led movements such as young climate activists. A Green Mayor will strengthen the voices of young people in Council scrutiny, policy making and inspections. I will work with, and listen to, young people’s representative groups such as Hackney’s Youth Parliament. I will also:

Hold a young people’s Mayor’s question time.
Enable Hackney’s Youth Parliament to propose budget amendments as part of the budget-setting process.
Create a participatory budget element to Young Hackney’s governance so that young people can help decide how resources are allocated.

I will also call for the voting age to be brought down to 16 years old for all elections so that young people have more of a say over their future.

I will hand over more power directly to citizens of Hackney and help people to win greater power over their own lives, homes, and communities. In addition to the above, I will do this by:

Supporting calls for a referendum, asking residents whether they would like to move from a directly-elected Mayor & cabinet structure, where a few people hold a lot of power, to a committee system where more councillors (representing residents) have a greater say in the decisions the Council makes.
Including disabled people’s advocates more closely in the work of the council.
Strengthening the power of our SEND Parent Carer forum (Hackney Independent Parents).
Holding regular, powerful and wide reaching Citizens’ Assemblies, supported by a network of community panels, on the climate and ecological emergency. These will be delivered with local expert organisations.
Exploring how representative Citizens’ Assemblies can help guide the Council’s approach to challenges such as falling school pupil numbers.
Working closely with community organisations to support and encourage wide, diverse participation in Council scrutiny and planning, working together to minimise barriers to participation such as language.
Introducing participatory budgeting for up to 20 percent of the Council budget by 2026 so that residents can decide how budgets are spent.
Replacing town plans with people’s plans.
Requiring resident-led planning to be supported from the start of the process for any changes to estates.
Having regular meetings with and listening to unions including workers unions, student unions and independent renters unions.
Lobbying government to introduce fairer voting and proportional representation to elections at all levels of government.
Regularly sharing information and being transparent so residents are informed of key decisions and updates to make participation in scrutiny as easy as possible.

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