Jam for the rich - a short history of Hackney's fight against new roads

Thursday 8 November 2018, 6.30 for 7pm

Talk with Wayne Asher and Stella Bland.

Wayne Asher is the author of Rings Around London – the first full length study of the Ringways – a set of urban motorways planned in the 1960s and 70s. He will explain how these new roads would have made 100,000 people homeless, devastated the environment and prevented the 21st century rebirth of public transport in the capital.

What would have been the impact here in Hackney? What sort of local opposition was there?

Stella Bland will take us to 1988/89, when the East London Assessment Study proposed new roads that cut through housing and heritage buildings, north from Shoreditch through Dalston and to the east and west of both. The Lee Valley, Walthamstow Marshes and Victoria Park all faced major routes right through them.

The local response was the Hackney No Through Road Campaign, in which the Orthodox Jewish community of Stamford Hill locked arms with the Seventh Day Adventists of Stoke Newington, and lawyers in De Beauvoir rallied alongside students in Hackney Wick.

What was Hackney like, just three short decades ago, to inspire such plans for its destruction? What did this say about our society, culture, and politics in the late 80’s?

Have attitudes to transport and traffic changed as much as we think? We hope that the evening will end with an interesting discussion!

Meet at Hackney Archives, Dalston Square, E8 3BQ. Please arrive early for a prompt start at 7. There will be refreshments from 6:30pm, following the Friends of the Archives AGM which begins at 6.

This is a joint meeting with Friends of Hackney Archives and is free to all.

Please book places using this page.