The Foundry will be demolished. Photo: Flickr

The Foundry will be torn down after Hackney Council last week granted permission for it to be replaced by a hotel and retail complex.

Developers plan to demolish the popular building despite it being part of what many hail as the heartbeat of London’s art scene.

English Heritage called the move “fundamentally flawed”, saying “there is no justification for a tall building of this nature in this location”.

Standing at 18-storeys, the tube-shaped hotel will be London’s first addition to the Art’otel chain. Along with 350 rooms, it will house a gallery, an art-house cinema and a spa, and will be clad in bronze-coloured anodised aluminium.

A spokesperson for the Park Plaza Group, the developers behind the plan, said the move represents “a very good opportunity to construct a world-class hotel in the area and definitely the employment opportunities will come up too.”

But the company’s upbeat assessment will strike a sour note with local residents, some of them among the three and a half thousand who joined the Save the Foundry Facebook group. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment also voiced its disapproval.

The Foundry was established in 1998 by current managers Tracey and Jonathan Moberly with ex-KLF musician Bill Drummond. Pete Doherty’s poetry nights were held there, and it features one of Britain’s biggest Banksy murals.

The council intends to save the wall on which the six-metre rat is painted. However, for the rest of the building, the future has more in common with a sinking ship.

Additional reporting by Anna Haswell.

Bethnal Green Technology College. Photo: Flickr

An Ofsted Report has praised a local college for an improvement in GCSE results and a better revised curriculum.

Bethnal Green Technology College was recently inspected and its overall performance was judged to be satisfactory. The College received a poor report in its previous review and had hoped to increase its rating.

The report recognised the 11 per cent rise in the number of students achieving 5 or more higher level grades at GCSE including English and Maths as result of targeted individual support provided by the college.

“I am pleased with the progress that the school has made over the last 3 years. The significant rise in our GCSE results shows our rate of improvement as a school to be higher than national trends,” said Headteacher Mark Keary.

Asha, a student at the College said: “I have received tremendous support here and I hope it continues the same way. The lessons and the place have boosted my confidence.”

Inspectors praised the “relentless energy and drive of the Headteacher” and observed some ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ lessons.

Councillor Abdul Asad, Lead Member for Children, Schools and Families, said: “I know they will continue to work hard to build on these improvements and deliver a great school for local young people and their families.”

Stop and Search tactics aim to get knives off the street, but are they working? Photo: Ch@n

Stop and search in Tower Hamlets and Hackney appears to be working, despite claims by a leading criminologist that it has no positive impact on knife crime.

Marian FitzGerald, visiting professor of criminology at Kent Crime and Justice centre, analysed new Metropolitan Police figures and found no link between stop and search and a reduction in knife crime.

Local boroughs seem to refute her argument. Tower Hamlets saw 524 stop and search operations last September alone—the highest in the boroughs along the East London line. The rate of knife crime in the borough has fallen by more than ten per cent.

In Hackney, where there were 70 searches over the same period, knife crime went down by 14.8 per cent. Lewisham saw an 11 per cent reduction, despite only five searches.

In Croydon, however, knife crime is on the rise. The figures show a 5.8 per cent increase in crimes, despite 23 search operations in the area.

Section 60 powers under the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act mean police can search anyone, regardless of whether or not they think a person is carrying a knife.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson for Tower Hamlets said: “The fear of being caught with a knife has resulted in this decrease. In the future, we might boost or cut the operations depending on what is happening on the streets.”

Many locals believe stop and search powers have made the area safer. Anwar Ali, who lives in Tower Hamlets, said: “The knife crimes have certainly gone down. I think people are now more scared of the police, and that has done the place good.”

Locals protest against Tram Depot demolition Photo: David White

Local traders and artists in the old “Tram Sheds” in Clapton are campaigning against the demolition of the space to construct residential and retail buildings.

Housing developers had previously submitted a proposal to the Town Hall to demolish the tram shed and construct 92 residential units in the area, with retail space and car parking.

Built in 1882 for storing horse drawn trams, the Old Tram Depot is home to an art gallery, studio spaces and businesses including furniture makers and fabric suppliers.

Councillors Ian Rathbone, Linda Kelly, Deniz Oguzkanli from the Leabridge Ward organized a public meeting this week to discuss the fate of the property.

They said, “We imagine there will be a lot of greedy, oversized, and inadequately designed housing development applications in the Lea Valley between now and 2012, aimed at lining the pockets of people whose only interest in Clapton is the money they can make by overdeveloping it.”

Mr. Ian Bailey from the Hackney Council Planning department was present to field questions from local traders and businessmen.

After listening to all the complaints, Mr. Ian Bailey was non-committal in his statement, saying: “Despite the official date of making complaints ending on the 14th of this month, the planning department would still accept them till the end of the procedure and take it on from there.”

Most of the traders in the area are concerned that there would be no plan to instate them in the area under the new scheme.

A spokesperson from the Vulpes Vulpes Art Gallery said, “We would love to continue in this area, it has been a great experience with the exhibitions and the interactions with the community so far, and we would definitely not want to let go of it.”

Other than the loss of designer and artist spaces, the objectors claim that the proposed plan will increase traffic congestion and will render over a hundred people unemployed.

David White, secretary of Beecholme & Casimir Tenants and Residents Association, said: “The demolition of the Tram Depot raises greater issues relating to both Clapton and the country.

“Although the Old Tram Depot site may not be of national importance, it is one of the few remaining examples of its type. It is part of our working heritage and once gone it is lost forever.”

An online campaign to get people to send letter of objections to the council has so far picked up 582 signatures.

After hearing people’s arguments, Mr. Bailey can now either reject the entire development proposal or forward the scheme for consideration by a special planning committee; the outcome of which would be expected sometime in March.

Young Mayor election set for January 21 (Photo: Tower Hamlets Council)

‘Early-bird’ voting to elect the 4th Young Mayor of Tower Hamlets began this week to help students not living in the borough cast a vote.

The Young Mayor and deputies represent the views of the youth of Tower Hamlets. The elected candidate gets a chance to represent the borough on a regional and national level and work with young people in similar roles from across the country through the UK Youth Parliament and British Youth Council.

The selection is made by young people aged 11 to 18 living, working or studying in the borough.

Fifteen candidates are contesting for the post this year. Candidates were finalized after a preliminary round of online elections, where 6,386 votes were cast.

“The Early-Bird elections have proved to be very useful and we have had quite a few numbers of students come forward to cast their votes,” said a Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson.

Online campaigning for the election has been done through videos.  Candidates have also laid out plans for the post on the council’s website.

Ferdousi Rahman, one of the candidates, aims to concentrate on stopping the negative stereotyping of teenagers in the borough if elected.

“As a young person in Tower Hamlets I have experienced the benefits of youth clubs and now I want to encourage all the teenagers to make use of these facilities as well,” said Hazira Begum, another candidate.

Uma Akhtar, the current Young Mayor, has encouraged the youth to have their say on multi-million pound plans to improve Victoria Park.

The Young Mayor is in office for one year and had a budget of £30,000 last year.

Election results will be announced at the Town Hall on January 21.