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Free employment and training support available for young people

14th August 2020
Exam results day is always an anxious time of year for final year students. This year, parents and school leavers are more anxious than ever. That is why Hackney Council has committed to offering a one-to-one virtual advice session to help school leavers navigate the options available to them. The Hackney Works team has dedicated advisors focused on supporting young people and helping them find a further education course or explore employment opportunities.  As part of a new guaranteed offer, advisors will have a conversation with young people to understand their career hopes and aspirations. They will work with them to develop an action plan that can include access to employability workshops such as CV writing, interview prep and signposting to support from JobCentrePlus, New City College, BSix College, Ingeus (employment & health support) and Hackney CVS. Hackney Works also has a job brokerage service which will link young people to placements and jobs. The Council is also working with local businesses to secure paid work placements for 16-24 years olds.The Council’s Young People’s service, Young Hackney is also hosting the annual Summer Careers Festival on Friday 21 August 2020. At this event, young people will be able to access free expert advice and guidance and speak to professional careers advisers from Prospects. Local colleges and training providers will also be on hand to talk about the opportunities they are offering. With the present coronavirus restrictions, the festival will be a combination of face-to-face and virtual sessions. For more information please contact Jim.Asbury@prospect.co.uk or visit www.younghackney.org/summer-careers-festival/ Age: 16+Career advice and guidance can also be accessed directly through schools.Register with Hackney Works here or call: 020 8356 5700.Apprenticeships frequently updated here: hackneyworks.hackney.gov.uk/apprenticeshipsHackney Works school leavers interview workshop 27th August 2020 book hereFind out where to find careers advice in the borough click here: Get-careers-adviceELBA runs the Parity Project to connect Black Men aged 18-30 to corporate careers in Canary Wharf and the City. Find out more about the Parity Project hereShort courses from a range of providers including employers and universities at different levels. To find out more look here: theskillstoolkit.campaign.gov.uk

Rebuilding a greener Hackney: have your say on radical transport plans

14th August 2020
Local residents and businesses are being urged to have their say on the Council’s radical transport plans to rebuild a greener Hackney post-lockdown.  The plans are aimed at supporting people to walk, cycle and shop locally as lockdown eases and public transport capacity remains low, securing the benefits - like cleaner air, less traffic and higher levels of active travel - that lockdown brought to the capital.  Measures already announced as part of the ambitious, wide-ranging plan include 40 new School Streets and over 20 traffic filters to help people walk, cycle and shop. Collectively, the plan will help over 14,000 children walk and cycle to school more safely, and radically reduce through-traffic in neighbourhoods across the borough.  Over 40% of traffic in the borough is through-traffic with little or no economic benefit to the borough. These plans are aimed at reclaiming Hackney’s roads from this traffic, helping people to walk, cycle and shop locally.  All of the measures will be implemented under experimental traffic orders, with residents and businesses able to have their say online at rebuildingagreenerhackney.commonplace.is or in writing before a decision is made on whether or not to make them permanent. The Council is working on further measures across the borough and will share these with residents as they are finalised. Residents can have their say up until six months after measures have been implemented - with letters sent to all residents in the local area prior to implementation, outlining how they can have their say.  This week, the Council is launching two low traffic neighbourhoods in Hoxton West and the Hackney Downs area, with letters sent to residents in each area in the next week and implementation of each scheme beginning at the end of August.  These will see a type of road closure, known as a traffic filter - where planters or bollards on the road prevent motor vehicles from passing through - introduced at the following locations:  Hoxton West Micawber Street junction with Shepherdess Walk Ebenezer Street and Nile Street junctions with Vestry Street Shepherdess Walk south of the junction with Micawber Street (this filter will continue to allow access to local buses, including the 394) Hackney Downs  Junction of Brooke Road and Evering Road  Reighton Road, northeast of the junction with Brooke Road Narford Road, northeast of the junction with Brooke Road Maury Road, south of the junction with Evering Road Benthal Road, south of the junction with Evering Road Downs Road west of the junction with Rendlesham Road, which will restrict all motor vehicles, except for local buses, from passing through Powell Road, at its junction with Kenninghall Road These filters will encourage walking and cycling, promote social distancing and reduce non-local through-traffic on these streets.  Residents or businesses in the area will still be able to drive to their home or business, but this may be via a different route. Cyclists, emergency vehicles and refuse vehicles will be able to pass through the traffic filters. Reallocating road space to cyclists and pedestrians, and implementing the measures under experimental traffic orders is in line with Department for Transport guidance, which states that: ‘The government therefore expects local authorities to make significant changes to their road layouts to give more space to cyclists and pedestrians. Such changes will help embed altered behaviours and demonstrate the positive effects of active travel.’ Transport for London have also issued guidance to local authorities in their Streetspace for London plan, which has three main objectives: reallocation of road space, delivery of strategic cycle routes and low traffic neighbourhoods. Local residents and businesses can view and have their say on the proposals at rebuildingagreenerhackney.commonplace.is. The Council will also monitor traffic flows in and around each area during implementation. 
Pupils across Hackney celebrate A-Level success
Pupils across Hackney are celebrating receiving their A-Level results, with many heading into school or college for the first time in months to mark the occasion with teachers and classmates.  With exams cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, schools and colleges worked hard to provide predicted grades for every student, based on pupils’ overall performance, including coursework, classwork, homework and mock exams. After a nervous wait, schools in Hackney are celebrating some great results for many young people, despite the challenging circumstances. The Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville and Deputy Mayor Cllr Anntoinette Bramble visited schools across the borough on results morning. Mia Clarke, 19, studied Sociology, French and History at BSix College. After gaining A*AA she is now on her way to study History at Oxford. She said: “I only got 3 GCSEs studying in the Pupil Referral Unit, so today I feel very happy, I was worried recently but now I can relax until I start. I want to have a career to do with diplomacy like in the United Nations, because my family comes from former Yugoslavia so it’s something I have always found quite interesting.”Ocean Waves Balysma, 19, studied Level 3 Creative Media at BSix, gaining a Distinction. He now plans to study Journalism at Birmingham City University. He said: “I feel pretty good today, but you know it was pretty scary with this whole pandemic situation and now at least I’ve got a distinction, that is very good - it’s really exciting. After this I want to study journalism and I hope to be a broadcast journalist. I have always loved watching the news and was intrigued by the news. I have a passion for journalism, I want to push myself and see where it goes.”Erin Hughes, 18, studied Level 3 Health and Social Care at BSix and gained a Triple Distinction Star, she now plans to study Adult Nursing at East London University. She said: “I am really happy about my results, it’s the highest grade you can get for BTEC, I am really proud. I want to work in a hospital as a nurse eventually, maybe in A&E. I want to do that career as when my grandad was in hospital I was always visiting him and it really inspired me to be a nurse.” Augustine Kodom, 18, from The Urswick School, achieved B in Computer Science, C in Economics, C in EPQ and Merit in Sport BTEC. He will now study computer science at Northampton. He has already started his own street wear fashion company and wants to expand this after university. He said: “I want to be an entrepreneur because you are your own boss and you have the freedom to do whatever you want. I started my own streetwear brand Yung Kings. My family are supportive of my business, my brother was actually my first customer!”   The Council and schools are monitoring concerns about grades, and supporting pupils affected by the downgrading which has impacted results across the country. Schools and colleges are continuing to provide support and advice about careers and higher education, and students should contact their school if they have questions about their results or their future plans. Young Hackney is also hosting its annual Summer Careers Festival on Friday 21 August. Young people will be able to access free expert advice and guidance, and speak to professional careers advisers from Prospects. Local colleges and training providers will also be on hand to talk about the opportunities they are offering. The festival will be a combination of face-to-face and virtual sessions. For more information visit www.younghackney.org/summer-careers-festival/.For more information about opportunities and training visit https://hackneyworks.hackney.gov.uk/
13th August 2020
Rebuilding a better Hackney – a fairer, more equal recovery from coronavirus
There can be no return to ‘business as usual’ as Hackney continues to support its communities through coronavirus and rebuilds a fairer economy and greener borough, a new Council report sets out. The Rebuilding a Better Hackney report makes 43 commitments to residents, businesses and voluntary groups about how the Council will manage the next phase of responding to the pandemic, reinvent some of its services and take advantage of a historic opportunity to tackle inequality and the climate emergency. The Government must also do more to help the borough get back on its feet, the report details, devolving power and funding to councils rather than taking centralised decisions with little local input. 225 Hackney residents have died with coronavirus, although the rate of deaths has drastically reduced since a peak in early April. The Council’s response has focussed on providing emergency support – including delivering more than 14,000 food parcels, helping 170 rough sleepers off the streets and distributing more than £62million in business grants. The Council’s commitments for the next phase of the response include:  Ending rough sleeping, with no rough sleepers asked to leave emergency accommodation Delivering on our commitment to tackle structural inequality and systemic racism Boosting digital infrastructure, volunteering and befriending projects to ensure social distancing doesn’t mean social isolation Dedicated jobs, skills and training support for those who have lost work or are coming off furlough – including those wanting to start their own business Fighting for fair pay and employment rights, and working with businesses to encourage apprenticeships and a living wage  Publishing a radical post-lockdown transport plan that makes Hackney’s neighbourhoods places for people, not cars More details on the measures will be set out in the coming weeks and months. The report also sets out the Council’s demands of the Government – including urgently establishing a coronavirus public inquiry, changing our welfare system to support those most in need, further financial and furlough support for businesses unable to reopen fully, and radical programmes to retrofit homes and meet air quality targets.For more information about the Council’s response so far and its new pledges and priorities, read the full Rebuilding a Better Hackney report or visit the Rebuilding a Better Hackney page.
13th August 2020
Woodberry Down proposals to be reconsidered
The latest plans for the regeneration of Woodberry Down will be reconsidered in line with updated planning policy, Hackney Council has confirmed. The Council’s Planning Committee approved the third phase of the regeneration – which included 117 homes for social rent and 126 for shared ownership – in April, subject to confirming Section 106 obligations, which set out the contributions that the developer must pay and control levels of affordable housing, and a decision from the Mayor of London. The Section 106 obligations remain under negotiation. However, the adoption of the Council’s new Local Plan – which sets the overall planning policy framework for the borough – following a Full Council meeting on 22 July means that some planning applications may have to be reconsidered against these new policies by the Planning Committee. This includes the application for Woodberry Down, which is set to be reconsidered at a meeting of the committee on 9 September. A statutory consultation process on the application began this week. The Council’s Planning service is currently reviewing whether other applications will need to be subject to the same process. The Council and developer Berkeley Homes have made a joint commitment that a tree that was due to be removed as part of the proposals – known locally as the Happy Man Tree – will not be damaged or removed until the process is completed. The Council has asked the Woodberry Down Community Organisation – which represents residents in the regeneration partnership – to call a board meeting where members and local people will be able to hear more about the background to the application and ask questions about the proposed removal of the tree. The Council has previously set out the reasons why the proposed removal is necessary. The planning application was submitted following more than a year of consultation with local people – including dozens of workshops, exhibitions and open days. The designs were agreed by a Design Committee made up of local residents, council officers, and Notting Hill Genesis and Berkeley Homes staff.  The ‘Happy Man Tree’ had been identified for removal for more than a decade, and although no concerns were raised in previous extensive consultation, when the issue was raised last year, the application was paused and a series of workshops were held with elected resident representatives to look at other options for the design of the scheme. An independent report was also commissioned to understand the impact of the loss of the tree and what mitigation measures would mean for the biodiversity of the area. This report, submitted as part of the application, details that the mitigation measures put in place would have a net benefit on biodiversity on the estate. After months of workshops and meetings, it became clear that there was not a way to avoid removing the tree without causing a 15-month delay to the construction of affordable housing, and a redesign of the project. The submitted application includes the planting of 175 new trees as well as the equivalent of 29 tennis courts of new open spaces, including a new fully public park.  The plans also propose 4,135sqm of biodiverse green and brown roofs, including vegetation and planting, as well as an energy centre to provide low-carbon heat for the entire estate and 1,060 new cycle parking spaces. The Council has separately committed to planting 35,000 new trees across the borough by 2022, including over 5,000 new street trees – as well as switching to 100% clean energy, reallocating roads for green spaces and supporting low-carbon transport.  To view the application and comment on the plans, visit the Council’s Planning pages and search for application 2019/2514.
12th August 2020
Hackney coronavirus data update
Residents can view localised coronavirus data for the borough online and view the local coronavirus control plan.  If you have coronavirus symptoms such as a cough, fever or loss of taste or smell , please isolate yourself from other people for 10 days and get a test by calling 119 or going to nhs.uk/coronavirus. If you are asked to self isolate, regardless of symptoms, you must do so to keep from possibly passing it onto others. 
12th August 2020