St John’s Community Kitchen Garden in Hoxton is scheduled to be relocated by Hackney council, after a petition to preserve the space closed this month with just 145 signatures.
St John’s Estate is part of the council’s plans to build 400 new homes across the borough, which had funding approved in January, however not everyone is enthused about the prospect.
The new build is scheduled to be constructed over the St John’s Estate community garden. Local resident Tony Butler started a petition to preserve the space, which argued moving the garden was not a “viable” option.
The petition said: “We feel we are not being listened to and so called ‘consultation’ is weak and heavily (skewed) towards the result they want.”
In response, the council conceded that the garden will be moved to a location within a walkable distance from the estate to preserve the communal spaces for residents.
Advocates for the space maintain that the move would cause irreparable harm to the 16 years of hard work that residents have put into the project.
The garden’s website says: “We told them that you can’t move a mature garden and described just why it would destroy the work of 16 years.”
Hackney remains one of the few areas in London where 94.8% of residents have access to a green space within a 15-minute walk, according to a report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
