Credit: Hackney Community Law Centre
A councillor questioned the point of ward forums after only one resident turned up in Leabridge last Tuesday. He went on to claim that the community is too isolated from local issues to participate.
The meetings, introduced across Hackney in the summer, give residents an opportunity to discuss local issues with their councillors.
This was the second of its kind in the area since five residents turned up to the first one in July.
“People need to know what’s going on and they need to be engaged,” councillor Ian Rathbone said.
“That’s why nobody’s here tonight, because nobody’s interested and you’re going to find it really hard to get anybody interested in a thing like this.”
Aside from two reporters, only one member of the public attended despite the Leabridge ward’s population of more than 10,000 people.
“Who wants to talk to their councillors? They’re boring,” he added.
“But if they engaged in a local issue, a community issue, they do come along.”
The Hackney Council website says ward forums are designed to give the public “an opportunity to share ideas for improving things” in the local area.
Mr Rathbone referred to the Clapton Conference, a similar neighbourhood forum in which two skilled residents are chosen to lead proceedings, as an example of citizens engaging in local issues and putting their professional skills to use.
Details of ward forums are published on the Hackney Council website.
