Boris Johnson has insisted that extending a conservation area in Hackney Wick will protect local artists from being priced out by soaring rents.
Speaking on LBC Radio, the London mayor stated: “There are plans for artists. We’re going to put a conservation area in Hackney Wick to stop the knocking down of all those wonderful post-industrial buildings which are places artists love to go.”
His comments came in response to a Hackney-based artist who claimed that he and others in the area are being pushed out due to rising rent prices.
The most concentrated area of artists in Europe
Last month, residents of Hackney Wick and Fish Island, the most concentrated area of artists in Europe, launched a petition in support of the proposed conservation area to stop it falling prey to developers and becoming “another soulless residential area like Canary Wharf”.
More than 1,000 people signed the petition and hundreds more wrote to the London Legacy Development Co-operation, behind the proposals, to express their approval.
The new conservation area would involve extending a zone currently under protection in Hackney Wick to incorporate the area between Roach Road and Hercott Road.
Joanna Hughes, from Mother Studios in Hackney Wick said: “If we’re not careful most of the artists will have to leave. Can you actually call yourself a creative place if you’ve got no artists working in the actual city but on the fringes?”
Jack Fortescue from Acme, a charity that helps artists access affordable studios, said: “The economic downturn had saved the artists in Hackney Wick for a few years but now there is an upturn. Artists are the first ones to be pushed out.
“The nature of art is that you don’t know when you’ll have a good year so it has to be cheap and it has to stay cheap.”
But Mr Fortescue added that artists must be realistic about change rather than demanding that the entire area stays the same.
“There are people living there who are not artists and they want improvements in their local area. You have to get a balance but it requires a lot of effort and open mindedness.”
Ms Hughes concluded: “They can not ignore the artists this time. The artist community coming together has meant it is not so easy for them to ignore us now.”
Stoke Newington reporter for The Hackney Post!