Local people say, "Don't believe Hackney Council's lies -- they are DESTROYING the local culture and SHUTTING education provision"

When Jules Pipe, leader of Hackney Council, invited the Earl and Countess of Wessex to open the new Technology and Learning Centre, did he also tell them that in the last few months, Hackney Council has:

SHUT Youth clubs, SHUT nurseries, SHUT after school clubs, SHUT 1 o'clock clubs, SHUT playgrounds, SHUT children's libraries, SHUT provision for disabled children, SACKED Learning Support Assistants, SACKED school caretakers, DESTROYED the school meals service, DESTROYED pay
and conditions for all council workers, including library and education workers.

The very few new leisure facilities that have opened are completely inaccessible to most local people:

At The CLISSOLD LEISURE CENTRE, which recently opened, several years late and £15 million over budget, the cost of a game of table tennis is £6! To pay for this, Haggerston Pool has been closed, and other sports facilities
have been allowed to go to rack and ruin.

The ticket prices at the OCEAN mostly start at £15, which most people cannot afford. Meanwhile community arts facilities, such as Chats Palace, which provide cheap gigs and community events are having grants taken away
or being forced to close.

Many disabled people are no longer able to go anywhere in the borough, and will certainly be unable to visit the new Library and Museum, because Hackney Council has just CUT THEIR FREEDOM PASSES.

Of course, community groups which have been fighting against the massacre to the voluntary sector and statutory services are sick to death of the hypocrisy of Hackney Council (groups such as Hackney Not For Sale, Friends
of Hackney Libraries, Unite!, Friends of Hackney Nurseries, the Town Hall Square Alliance, the Save St Johns Nursery campaign, the Freedom Pass campaign -- to name just a few). But we are not alone!

Recently the Metropolitan Police Commissioner criticised Hackney Council on this issue. Speaking to Hackney's police watchdogs, he said that residents should be badgering Hackney Council to put resources into facilities for
youth, who have nothing to do and nowhere to go, thus contributing to the problem of youth crime.

And the Education Dept itself did not want these new offices, and would rather not have moved. Also, fewer staff now work in the new building under even greater pressure, as the council has forced individual schools to take
over even more administration that was previously done centrally.

The recent education cuts of £730,000 have to be set against the £740,000 cost of moving into the flash new building with the Library and Museum, next to the Town Hall. This has been built under a disastrous PFI (Public
Finance Initiative) contract, which increases the cost to Education from £265,000 a year to £1,100,000 a year in the first year (and then rising) - an extra cost of £740,000 a year over staying at Edith Cavell House. This
PFI has been so profitable for the contractor that they have already sold the building on at a substantial profit (even before it is occupied). The result of this PFI is that the rent will be higher than for the most
expensive City building, and it will rise every year (to £1,250,000 in the second year, for instance) - in normal office leases, rent is fixed for 5 year periods.

So while Jules Pipe welcomes the royals to Hackney we say "The TLC is another important part of the jigsaw in destroying our local community."