Design changes made to Wilmer Place proposal

Today is the final day for comments on the proposed supermarket and housing development in Wilmer Place Stoke Newington.

This is the second proposal made by Newmark Properties to Hackney Council. The first was rejected  by councillors following an intensive community campaign. Local campaigners united under the Stokey Local banner identified a number of issues with the proposal. These included the potential effect on the character and heritage of the area, its impact on the local economy and increased traffic and noise pollution.

Newmark Properties say the new application takes these objections into account. After reviewing community member feedback the owners say “substantial” changes have been made. These include reducing the size of the development, increasing the number of family-sized homes and green spaces in the area and retaining buildings on Stoke Newington High Street that had previously been tagged for demolition.

According to Stokey Local: “The development has been reduced in scale at the back only, and the perimeter has been set back only a modest amount. We believe these changes are minimal and do not address the reasons for refusal of the previous application.”

The application number is: 2013/1583 and 1584.

Comments can be made here. Or email planningconsultation@hackney.gov.uk quoting application number 2013/1583.

Diane Abbott

Local MP Diane Abbott has criticised the Government for its “unprecedented” treatment of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral, which has been speculated as costing around £10m of public money, on the morning of the event.

Abbott, Labour frontbencher and MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, pointed out on BBC Radio 4′s Today Programme that every other prime minister of the last 100 years, apart from Winston Churchill had been given a private, family-organised funeral.

She said: “The fact is, she was Prime Minister, she wasn’t head of state and she’s not strictly speaking, entitled to a state funeral.

“I think it’s a question of protocol. I mean (Clement) Attlee had a private family funeral and a memorial service in Temple Church on the Strand, and there’s an argument that Attlee reshaped Britain as much as she did. There is just no precedent, it’s a breach of protocol and it’s going to cost £10m.”

Abbott said it was “important” for someone to question the cost: “Ten million when you’re cutting disabled people’s benefits; I don’t think the public understands that.

“The polls tell us, 60 per cent of the public doesn’t think a penny of public money should be spent on this funeral and actually we seem to be spending £10million on what is a state funeral in all but name.”

Abbott also said that prime minister David Cameron “runs the risk” turning  Lady Thatcher’s funeral into “a party political event”.

Cameron, also speaking today, defended the expenditure as “absolutely fitting and right” and was supported by previous Labour leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson. However, many present Labour party members have joined Abbott in speaking out against the ceremonial nature of the funeral, labelling an alleged move by Francis Maude to hide the full costs from the public as “indefensible”.

Speaking on television this morning, Maude said the funeral would will cost “much, much less” than reported.  He said the state would always pay the costs of the funeral and memorial service of a former prime minister and added that Lady Thatcher’s family would be bearing some of the cost.

Speaking on ITV’s Daybreak programme, Maude said it was right in a “decent country” that her contribution should be recognised. “The costs will be a fraction of what is being bandied around,” he said.

Abbott’s comments are unlikely to stem from any personal dislike of Thatcher, having spoken highly of her in a 2010 interview with the Daily Telegraph in which she said:  “You had to marvel at the grip she had over her party. It had to do with loyalty and personality and the fear from male colleagues who really didn’t know how to deal with her.”

8 bit lane Pic: Thom Wong

Imagine reality has another layer. Imagine streets decorated with virtual local history or collectable vouchers for free coffee at a nearby cafe, invisible to the naked eye. Imagine the future, and imagine it now because it might not be too far away.

In a recent marketing stunt to promote Disney’s film Wreck-It Ralph, Brick Lane became ‘8-Bit Lane’ referring to the blocky graphics of old school video games. Near the Old Truman Brewery visitors found themselves immersed in a scene that gave reality an 80’s arcade style revamp, as sculptures of pixelated London relics transformed the area into an 8 Bit landscape.

But among the pigeons, red post box and even a black cab created by Disney’s film production sculptor Aden Hynes, was something that would be quite out of place in early gaming culture. The world’s first playable, or ‘blippable’ building, giving us a glimpse into a future where the line between the real and the virtual becomes blurred and reality becomes augmented.

Through an augmented reality app that visitors could download and play via their smartphone, one wall of the brewery became the canvas for a game where Fix-It Felix, a character featured in the film, scaled the building’s wall fixing broken windows whilst dodging falling debris.

A spokesperson from Blippar, the AR developers that created the app said: “Blippar opens in camera mode, becoming a ‘lens’ through which the real world is recognised and instantly ‘enhanced’. We provide an interactive, digital layer to the world around us.”

For example, print adverts in magazines, retail displays and logos are fixed with virtual, interactive content visible through a smartphone. Through the app, we can access this content which could be anything from a video to a sales promotion, in this case a game.

So whats turning this new technology from science fiction into an everyday actuality? Firstly theres the smartphone – it’s proliferation bringing an appropriate platform literally into the hands of users.

Lauren Offers, director of marketing at Aurasma, an augmented reality developer that affixes “auras” – complementary interactive content such as videos or animations – to items in the real world, said: “As smartphones become increasingly technologically advanced, the types of experience offered will advance in tandem.”

“We live in a world where people are dependent on their mobile devices. Indeed for many, mobiles and smartphones in particular have become the most indispensable tools in their daily lives. The latest Ofcom research shows that smartphone penetration in the UK has now hit 58%, a number that has been steadily increasing for consecutive years.”

Secondly, there are advertisers. Offers explains: “AR ties real world objects and images together with digital experiences, so both consumers and advertisers alike can get more out of traditional advertising. Consumers can enjoy the convenience of interacting with the world around them by making purchases directly from printed catalogues, unlocking offers from print adverts, or interacting with products on the shelves. As smartphones become an increasingly prevalent aspect of society its only natural that we should see an increase in these forms of advertising. Ultimately, the technology has the ability to revolutionise the way that both consumers and advertisers experience brands.”

A report by Juniper Research predicts augmented reality apps will generate approximately $300 million in marketing revenue in 2013. However Offers admits there remain a “few technical and educational challenges for AR”, and some are less enthusiastic.

Sloane Kelley, the Interactive Strategy Director at BFG Communications, a brand management and strategy agency said: “Too many brands have been embracing augmented reality because its a shiny object. Thats not to say it can’t work well but it shouldn’t be about technology for technology’s sake. When it meets brand objectives and is a good fit for the audience, augmented reality can be successful. For example, H&M’s work with the GoldRun augmented reality app in New York where users could try on virtual outfits, share them with friends and unlock special content was both fun and functional for users.”

David Birss, founder of Additive which offers marketing training programs and the Future of Advertising Podcast said: “AR is just a technology and will never get attention by itself. Initially it had a wow factor, but we’re beyond that now. There is still a level of inconvenience to using it and many examples haven’t been anything more than a gimmick.”

When not just a marketing stunt to attract publicity, Birss thinks AR campaigns stand out for being “useful or highly entertaining”. However, he asserts advertising should not be the primary purpose of the technology.

Birss continues: “We can probably expect to see more of AR advertising in the future, but if it’s to be successfully adopted by the public, it needs to be useful to them first and foremost. It should give them access to live bus information, local amenities, the closest toilet or location relevant news for example. Once people use it as part of their lives then theres more potential for it to be used to get more out of advertising.”

This is where a myriad AR apps such as Wikitude come in. Wikitude also opens in camera mode and layers the real world around you with “points of interest”, ranging from events happening nearby to the closest taxi rank.

Then, there is one of the first examples of wearable AR – Google Glass. A pair of glasses that display information on a small screen above the wearer’s eye and perform most of the functions of a smartphone. The glasses can write messages, search the web and take videos and pictures, responding to tilts of the head and voice commands.

Google has released two videos demonstrating how Google Glass, which could hit shelves as early as 2014, might work. The first, released last April generated mixed reviews. Some such as Georgia Tech’s Blair MacIntyre, director of the university’s Augmented Environments Lab told Wired Magazine the video creates “over-expectation that their hardware simply cannot possibly live up to.”

Then there are others such as John McIntosh. McIntosh thinks the video underplays one factor that is sure to feature in any project of Googles – advertisements. Watch his remix of Google’s video to see what McIntosh thinks of when he imagines an augmented future.

John McIntosh – Admented Reality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mRF0rBXIeg

Logan Plant (left)

Rock star families: Macca’s daughter Stella is an internationally respected fashion designer, Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones is a critically acclaimed film maker, Jagger’s daughter, Georgia May, is fast becoming a popular catwalk model. Logan Plant is a brewer in Hackney.

Son of Led Zeppellin front man Robert Plant, Logan Plant, 34, is deeply involved in the renaissance of craft brewing in the capital. Despite initially following in his fathers footsteps and fronting a band, Son’s of Albion, Logan Plant drew on another one of his father’s pastimes… drinking.

He explains: “I used to be in a band and when we first opened the bar and started serving beers, it was a a very similar feeling to being on stage, having people shouting at you, it was great.”

Proud of his West Midlands upbringing he adds: “Where I’m from there is a big, big beer culture there. My dad used to take me to many country pubs and long summer holidays were spent in and out of beer gardens. This initially put me off drinking until I was at least nineteen, but, then my palette developed and I really grew to like my local beers, it became a real obsession for me.”

Passionate about this subject, Plant now manages Duke’s Brew & Que, Downham Road, Hackney. Offering a unique selection of ales brewed to work with the American inspired menu of chargrilled pork, lamb and beef, Plant says: “We like to challenge peoples taste buds, by producing beer and food that compliment each other.”

To keep up with the growing demand, Duke’s Brew & Que are moving from their pubs cramped kitchen to a warehouse in Hackney Wick. Plant is enthusiastic about the move saying, “It will allow us to brew everyday, five days a week, keeping up the demand of the core range and experimenting with new brews.”

The craft beer movement is part of a bigger picture. The young people of Hackney have long been fighting back against the chain stores: from the surge of local coffee shops to the independent record stores and community run restaurants, there is an environment that favours quality over quantity and experimental possibilities over reliable branding.

Now, as John Swain of Hackney Brewery points out: “Drink is the next thing to take off, people want to know what goes into it, so you now have organic wines and craft beer. Not a lot goes into craft beer you have the grain, hops, water and natural yeast, it is pretty much chemical free.”

In the last 12 months Hackney has gone from having no craft breweries to having five, and this number is set to increase. With more people in the 18-25 demographic drinking ale over lager, Hackney has become the hub of ale production in London. With each brewery offering their own unique ale experience from the  Duke and Brew’s Americano vibe to the Crate Brewery pizzeria, the breweries have founded a new sense of community that continues to thrive.

London, now has more active real ale breweries than any time since the 1930’s. The once ‘old man drink’, often associated with CAMRA, an independent ‘Campaign for Real Ale’ that was launched in 1971, has now fallen on a new generation, hungry to push the boundaries.

Plant says that this is something to be celebrated: “It is all about the community, people get attracted to it, they like to get into the brand and the brewery, picking up on it and standing behind it.”

Co-worker, James Rylance adds, “Our battle is not against the other brewers it is against the giant producers and the huge conglomerates. The high quality we and everyone else produces, reflects well on all of us, meaning that more people are getting into it.”

Plant explains: “It’s about how you define yourself as a generation, our parent’s generation were ale drinkers in the 50s and 60s and then in the 70s you couldn’t be seen as a trendy guy if you were not drinking lager, this was largely to do with advertising campaigns from brands such as Heineken.”

After the success of Hackney’s Pigs Ear Beer Festival, sponsored by CAMRA last September and plans for further breweries to be put into place, it is fair to say that the ale drinking drinking trend continues to support Hackney’s on going mission to save the independent market.

Despite lager being the number one alcoholic drink of choice in the UK earning £11.4billion, in 2011 ale saw a 1.6% increase selling 2.2million barrels.
Adrian Redfern, bar manager of Crate Brewery, a place where new advertising and marketing have caused sales to increase and attract a younger consumer said: “Young people are media, internet and blog savvy. So, you have to have a good website and be on Facebook or Twitter. Generally the breweries which have a strong online presence are the ones that are attracting the younger customers.”

With each brewery producing three or more unique ales each, Rylance emphasises how variety and quality gives the customers great satisfaction, “People expect the beer we produce to challenge them, giving them something to talk about, an overall experience as opposed to a product that will just make you talk more.”

This  demand is what makes the surge in ale breweries more than just a retro fling or a passing fashion phase. Much like the popularity of the local independent food stores and coffee shops, ale drinking is pushing it’s way into the mainstream.

It’s not just happening in Hackney though, CAMRA supports over 200 ale pubs all over the UK. Plant explains: “It’s slowly turning, I mean you have some of the best producers in Huddesfield, Yorkshire, Sheffield, these are the brewing capitals. most breweries are within that region, but, they are popping up all over the place and they are in huge demand.”

Redfern says, “The thing with craft beer and it’s gaining popularity is that good quality should be mainstream. We want to be mainstream, and we want mainstream to be good.”

Demonstrators outside Whitehall Photo: Laura Scheiter

Hackney GP, Dr Jonathon Tomlinson, warns of “chaos and cuts” as the job of planning patient care moves into the hands of the newly established, Clinical Commissioning Groups, this week.

Speaking on the BBC Today programme on Tuesday morning, Dr Tomlinson was discussing the likely affects of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The Act will bring in: “The most significant changes to the NHS since it began in 1948, including major implications for the workforce,” according to the NHS Employers organisation.  Professor David Haslam, the newly appointed head of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) calls it:”a time of huge risk”.

Tomlinson described this morning how the first changes  patients are likely to be aware of will be an increase in the number of medical services advertised on their Google searches. He pointed out that, though this may look like more choice for them, that “every new easy to provide and easy to market” service offered via the private sector will be paid for by cuts in the services currently provided by NHS hospitals.

“Competitive services will destabilise a service which is already at breaking point. It will effectively destroy the NHS,” he said.

Tomlinson also pointed out that, although GPs will be involved with the new Clinical Commissioning Services, they have discovered, in Hackney, that this will not necessarily mean that GPs actually get to choose the service they want. When local GPs formed a co-op to provide out of hours services last year, they were turned down in favour of Harmoni health care, the existing provider which has been heavily criticised by patients.

Last week, Lewisham GP, Dr Louise Irvin, also speaking on the BBC said of the new arrangements: “Private providers deal with low risk problems, leaving the NHS to do the rest. That will undermine the viability of NHS services because they rely on a mix of cases.”

Professor Malcolm Grant of NHS England, which will be overseeing the new arrangements, said that if there is an increase in the use of the private sector , “it will be the choice of the clinical commissioning groups”.

There will, he said, be no limit set for the privatisation of facilities however, he added that the privatisation of acute hospitals is: “inconceivable in the foreseeable future”.

Pic: Hugh McCafferty

Members of the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign are celebrating this week, after Boris Johnson pledged to: “Seek assurances, as I have done many times already, that any changes to services at Lewisham Hospital will improve healthcare locally and that clinical outcomes will not be affected.”

Johnson also promised to meet with ambulance workers to hear their concerns over the changes.

His promises came during a meeting at City Hall on Tuesday, where the campaigners had been told that Johnson would make a fleeing visit.   Instead, the mayor stayed for 45 minutes to hear the group’s concerns over cuts to both maternity and A&E  announced in January by health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Johnson had previously met campaigners in March during a tense exchange at People’s Question Time at Catford Town Hall.  Johnson had attended to answer questions from residents in the borough.  At the meeting  he was booed and described as a ‘coward’ for failing to act on issues surrounding the reduction in Lewisham Hospital’s services, which will see maternity care become midwife-led and A&E services reduced by a quarter.

This week’s  meeting came as a step forward for the group, who were pleased after Boris agreed to meet with the London Ambulance Service to discuss their fears over the impact these changes could have on patient care.

Lewisham mayor Sir Steve Bullock was one of eight people from the campaign who met with the London mayor. Sir Steve used the time with Johnson to outline the negative impact that losing parts of the hospital site could have on the local economy.  Patients Vicky Penner and Simone Boothe detailed the impact on women’s’ health and on urgent patient care, highlighting the journey times to reach Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich as well as  research that shows Lewisham patients are much more likely to opt for Kings College Hospital.

Those present at the meeting included Dr Louise Irvine,  a Lewisham GP.  Dr Irvine said: “We are delighted that Mayor Johnson enabled us to argue our case so thoroughly. We do hope that he now understands the seriousness of the situation which will have a very detrimental impact and will worsen health equality across south east London.”

Dr Tony O’ Sullivan, a paediatrician at the hospital said: “The Mayor was very exercised indeed by the illogical dangers of taking out obstetric and emergency maternity cover. He also took on a commitment to enter into discussion with the London Ambulance Service to explore their stated concerns.”

Save Lewisham Hospital are now waiting to hear the outcome of Johnson’s meeting with Hunt, which took place on Wednesday.

Pic: The Electoral Commission

Police have not found enough evidence of  voting fraud in Tower Hamlets last year to identify suspects or bring prosecution, the Electoral Commission has said.

The allegations of fraud related to  the Spitalfields and Bangletown ward by-elections on April 19 and the Weavers ward by-election on May 11 – the same day as the elections for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

Following these elections, there were widespread allegations, in the Evening Standard and Telegraph in particular, of  substantial voting fraud, which led  the Electoral Commission to order the inquiry. The Electoral Commission called in Scotland Yard to investigate.

The police say that, although there was evidence of possible bogus votes in three out of the 64 cases they investigated, it was not sufficient evidence to identify or prosecute suspects.

The Electoral Commission noted that in Tower Hamlets, the procedures to ensure that the electoral register is accurate: “exceeded current practices in the majority of other London boroughs and local authorities throughout the UK.”

However  the commission ordered an immediate review of the electoral registration process in the borough and steps to improve fraud detection. It also said that the Scotland Yard should review its plans for policing the borough’s next elections in 2014.

A council spokesperson said: “Despite the allegations and media reports suggesting the contrary, evidence of actual electoral fraud is very rare. In this case the media reports of alleged electoral malpractice were not generally based on fact or sound evidence.

“Nevertheless, all of the allegations received were referred to the police for investigation. This investigation is now complete and in all but three of the 60 reported cases, no evidence was found to substantiate any allegation that an offense had been committed. In those three cases, no suspect was identified.”

The investigation involved more than 60 residences from which the postal votes were sent out, one of which was empty.

At another property it was found that the people who had cast their votes, did not live there anymore. It was decided that there was no prospect of tracking suspects or gaining sufficient evidence.

Many complaints appeared to have been sparked by people referring to out of date registers.

The investigation also followed up on media reports that a dead man and a prisoner also cast their vote. But it found that no crime had been committed and that the man had died after posting his vote.

In the report, the commission suggested that allegations might have been sparked by the diverse nature of the community, where one-third of the residents are Bangladeshi.

It suggested that there were some false claims of multiple entries on the registers. The police found that these were people with identical first and last names but different middle names.

Allegations of  postal vote fraud in Tower Hamlets were also made to the commission in 2010 and previously were made by George Galloway in the House of Commons  in 2007 (in relation to elections in 2006).

One of the phone boxes on Breakspears Road. Pic: Emmet Simpson

Local residents in Brockley have stepped in to find new uses for two protected red telephone boxes that have fallen into disuse.

The listed boxes, located on the corners of Lewisham Way and Wickham Rd and Lewisham Way and Breakspears Rd, have been acquired by local residents as part of BT’s new Adopt a Kiosk scheme.

The scheme, which has attracted celebrity support from Queen guitarist Brian May, allows communities the opportunity of converting local phone boxes into public installations, which have included libraries, grocery shops and even emergency defibrillator points.

A meeting to be held tomorrow by the ‘Brockley Box Collective’, in order to discuss possible uses for the spaces.

Ideas mooted for the Brockley boxes include creating wifi hotspots, public artspaces or greenhouses. There is also the possibility of a timeshare system, where residents would be able to book a slot online and find temporary uses for the boxes.

Adopt a Kiosk has so far been popular in small towns, but Brockley residents’ will be the first to trial the scheme in London.

The adopting of local phone boxes is the latest in a string of initiatives aiming at rejuvenating the area around Brockley station, including a new food garden on Brockley common and a large redevelopment program of new housing blocks.

 By Joseph Thrush

William Lee. Pic: Met Police

Police an elderly man who went missing in Hackney five days ago are investigating the discovery of a body in Barnet.

William Lee, 77, was last seen leaving his Stoke Newington home in the N16 area on Thursday March 21. Officers and family were particularly worried about Mr. Lee’s welfare as he is suffering from dementia and may not be able to cope with the current weather conditions.

The body was discovered in Mays Lane, Barnet, on Monday afternoon. The missing man’s family have been informed although formal identification has not yet taken place.

In a statement issued earlier by the police, his children said: “We are extremely worried about our dad, he is suffering from the early stages of dementia and has not been seen for five days. We have been searching for him especially in areas from his past. He used to work at Regents Army Barracks in Albany Street and this is a place that he is very fond of and he may find his way there. His name is William Henry Lee however he has also been known as Bill. We are hoping he will be found and return home to us safely. We ask that if anyone sees him please call the police.”

Police urge anyone with information to call Missing Persons by dialling 101.

By Abbie Cohen

Royal London Hospital

The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel is to offer routine HIV testing to patients in the accident and emergency department.

The scheme, which begins this week, will be tested for a month and will give patients who already require a blood test the additional choice of an HIV test. The project has also been implemented in other areas of the hospital, such as the Medical Admissions Unit and Intensive Care.

The increase in HIV testing  at the Royal London comes in an effort to curb the relatively high rates of HIV patients in East London. Last year, the Health Protection Agency published a study showing one in 130 people in Tower Hamlets are infected with HIV, five times higher than the national average.

The Whitechapel hospital follows others in the capital already running similar schemes, such as Chelsea and Westminster and St. Mary’s, both in West London.

Rachel Bath, an HIV testing facilitator at the hospital, said: “because of the high prevalence of HIV patients in East London, the National Guidelines had recommended that we increase opt-out testing throughout the hospital,” adding that they “are hoping to screen 2,000 people over four weeks.”

The hospital aims to target patients who may not know they are infected with the disease, in order to begin treatment as soon as a patient is diagnosed and to raise awareness of AIDS.

Dr Karim Ahmad, a Consultant at the Royal London A&E said: “Late diagnoses can result in shorter life expectancy and an increased risk of transmission to sexual partners. The risk of transmission to others can be reduced by ninety seven per cent by taking treatment for HIV.”

The AIDS charity Positive East, based in Stepney, tweeted on Friday that it was “great to see HIV testing will be offered for accident and emergency at the Royal London hospital.”

If the trial is successful, it is hoped the opt-out screening process will become a permanent part of  the A&E service at the Royal London.

By Hannah Flint