THE LONDON HOUSING crisis – the shortage of accommodation at reasonable rents – has prompted a national organisation to ask Hackneyites about how they think the Kingsland Shopping Centre redevelopment will affect them.

CPRE London, a rural and urban pressure group, and Commonplace, an urban campaigner, want local residents to join in a survey about Dalston Square and the Eastern Curve Garden, which is threatened by the latest scheme to redevelop the shopping centre site, which it abuts.

The survey is part of CPRE London’s Campaign for Liveable London on housing problems.

Rosalie Callway, of CPRE London, says: “We’ll produce a brief analysis about what people are saying, which could be used to help the campaign for the garden, as well as sending a message to the [Hackney] council to improve the wider neighbourhood.”

This is a chance for residents, many of whom have felt impotent in the face of recent Hackney decisions that have favoured big business above local people, to send a message to councillors. The imminence of local elections may make them more likely to listen.

Interested? Then sign up to the Commonplace site, view the online map and add your views. You can also see there what other people are saying.

The site can seem off-putting: when I visited, it asked me to enter” my email password. It meant “create”; ie, make one up. But make four or more comments and it promises to email you a voucher for a coffee at Café Route.

Hamish Scott 130314 

* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained.

* Backstory: New Kingsland centre,  High-rise may replace Kingsland centre and Cycle route to start at Dalston mural