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Hackney London Borough Council
Type
Type	London borough council
Leadership
Speaker	Sheila Suso-Runge, Labour since 15 May 2024
Mayor	Caroline Woodley, Labour since 9 November 2023
Chief Executive (interim)	Dawn Carter-McDonald since August 2023
Structure
Seats	57 councillors plus elected mayor
Political groups	Administration (45)   Labour (45) Other parties (12)   Conservative (6)   Hackney Independent Socialist Group (3)   Green (3)
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	5 May 2022
Next election	7 May 2026
Meeting place
Town Hall, Mare Street, Hackney, London, E8 1EA
Website
hackney.gov.uk

Hackney London Borough Council, also known as Hackney Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney, in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2002. Since 2002 the council has been led by a directly elected mayor. The council meets at Hackney Town Hall and has its main offices in the adjoining Hackney Service Centre.

History

There has been a Hackney local authority since 1856 when the Hackney District was created covering the two ancient parishes of Hackney and Stoke Newington, governed by an elected board. It was one of the lower tier authorities within the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works, which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London. The Hackney District was dissolved in 1894 and the vestries of each parish took on the functions previously exercised by the district board. In 1900 the lower tier of local government across London was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs, each with a borough council, including Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington.

The London Borough of Hackney and its council were created under the London Government Act 1963, with the first election held in 1964. For its first year the council acted as a shadow authority alongside the area's outgoing authorities, being the councils of the three metropolitan boroughs of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington. The new council formally came into its powers on 1 April 1965, at which point the old boroughs and their councils were abolished. The council's full legal name is "The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Hackney".

From 1965 until 1986 the council was a lower-tier authority, with upper-tier functions provided by the Greater London Council. The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance, flood prevention, and refuse disposal; with the boroughs (including Hackney) responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986 and its functions passed to the London Boroughs, with some services provided through joint committees. Hackney became a local education authority in 1990 when the Inner London Education Authority was dissolved.

In the 1980s and early 1990s the left-wing Labour council clashed with the Conservative government on numerous occasions, notably during the rate-capping rebellion in 1985 and over the poll tax in 1990, with Hackney being one of the centres of the poll tax riots.

An independent inquiry in 1998 was highly critical of the council's handling of its investigations into one of its social workers, employed between 1981 and 1993, against whom a number of complaints of child sexual abuse had been made but he had been allowed to continue working. His position as a Labour activist and trade union official was said to have hindered proper investigations. The social worker himself was never convicted, having died of an AIDS-related illness in 1995, but the police subsequently reported that they had been about to arrest him at the time of his death. The local Labour party split when the allegations were made public, which was a contributory factor to the council going under no overall control for a number of years in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Since 2000 the Greater London Authority has taken some responsibility for highways and planning control from the council, but within the English local government system the council remains a "most purpose" authority in terms of the available range of powers and functions.

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation, and has the powers and functions of a London borough council. It sets council tax and as a billing authority also collects precepts for Greater London Authority functions and business rates. It sets planning policies which complement Greater London Authority and national policies, and decides on almost all planning applications accordingly. It is a local education authority and is also responsible for council housing, social services, libraries, waste collection and disposal, traffic, and most roads and environmental health.

Political control

The council has been under Labour majority control since 2002.

The first election was held in 1964, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 1965. Political control of the council since 1965 has been as follows:

Leadership

Prior to 2002, political leadership was provided by the leader of the council and the mayor was a ceremonial role. The leaders from 1965 to 2002 were:

In 2002 the council changed to having a directly elected Mayor of Hackney with executive powers. The ceremonial functions previously exercised by the mayor are now undertaken by a speaker instead. The mayors since 2002 have been:

Elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2014 the council has comprised the elected mayor plus 57 councillors representing 21 wards, with each ward electing two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.

Following the 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to May 2024, the composition of the council (excluding the elected mayor's seat) was as follows:

A by-election to fill the vacant seat is due in August 2024. The next full council election is due in May 2026.

Premises

The council meets at Hackney Town Hall on Mare Street, which was completed in 1937 for the old Hackney Borough Council.

The council has its main offices at the Hackney Service Centre at 1 Hillman Street, immediately west of the Town Hall. The Service Centre was completed for the council in 2010.

References

1. "Council meeting, 15 May 2024". Hackney Council. 15 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
2. "Chief Executive update". Hackney Council. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
3. "Open Council Data UK - compositions councillors parties wards elections".
4. Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120)
5. "Stoke Newington: Local government | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk.
6. London Government Act 1899 (62 & 63 Vict. c. 14)
7. "London Government Act 1963", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1978 c. 33, retrieved 16 May 2024
8. Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England. Vol. I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0901050679.
9. Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England. Vol. I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0901050679.
10. "Can a term be implied into a UK lease so that it makes business sense?". Lexology. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
11. "Local Government Act 1985", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1985 c. 51, retrieved 5 April 2024
12. Education Reform Act 1988 (c. 40)
13. Walker, David; Smithers, Rebecca (19 March 1999). "Borough of hate and hit squads". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
14. "Council criticised over paedophile scandal". BBC News. 7 January 1998. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
15. Cooper, Glenda (8 January 1998). "Children at risk: Council condemned in child abuse inquiry". The Independent. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
16. Rentoul, John (12 September 1996). "Hackney council splits over inquiry". The Independent. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
17. Leach, Steve (1998). Local Government Reorganisation: The Review and its Aftermath. Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 978-0714648590.
18. "Council Tax and Business Rates Billing Authorities". Council Tax Rates. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
19. "Local Plan Responses – within and outside London". Mayor of London. 12 November 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
20. "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
21. "London Boroughs Political Almanac". London Councils. Archived from the original on 16 January 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
22. "Kean, Hilda". Bishopsgate Institute. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
23. "Jules Pipe: Labour candidate for Mayor of Hackney". Hackney Citizen. 24 April 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
24. "Mayoral elections". Hackney Council. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
25. "The Hackney (Electoral Changes) Order 2013", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2013/2795, retrieved 6 April 2024
26. "Hackney". Local Councils. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
27. Historic England. "Hackney Town Hall (Grade II) (1235869)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
28. "Contact us". Hackney Council. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
29. "Hackney Service Centre" (PDF). Spaces (35). London: The Hackney Society: 1. Winter 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2024.

v t e London Borough of Hackney
Districts	Cambridge Heath Clapton (including Hackney Downs, Lower Clapton and Upper Clapton) Dalston (including Kingsland and Shacklewell) De Beauvoir Town Finsbury Park (including Manor House) Hackney (including Hackney Central, Hackney Wick, Homerton, London Fields and South Hackney) Haggerston Hoxton Lea Bridge Manor House Newington Green Shoreditch Stamford Hill Stoke Newington Temple Mills West Hackney
Attractions and landmarks	Abney Park Cemetery Abney Park Chapel Arcola Theatre Clowns Gallery-Museum Courtyard Theatre Crimes Town Gallery Elevator Gallery German Hospital Gibson Gardens Hackney City Farm Hackney Empire Hackney Museum Haggerston Baths Hoxton Hall Museum of the Home Rio Cinema Sutton House (NT) St Augustine's Tower The Towers of Hackney The Viktor Wynd Museum Victoria Miro Gallery
Parks and open spaces	Abney Park Acton's Lock Charles Square Clapton Common Clapton Square Clissold Park Fassett Square Hackney Brook Hackney Cut Hackney Downs Hackney Marshes Haggerston Park Hoxton Square Lee Navigation London Fields Mabley Green Middlesex Filter Beds Weir New River Old River Lea Regent's Canal River Lea Shoreditch Park Springfield Park Stoke Newington Common Wenlock Basin Woodberry Wetlands
Markets	Broadway Market Ridley Road Market
Pubs	Army and Navy Owl and Pussycat Rose and Crown Stag's Head The Dolphin The Joiners Arms The Wenlock Arms
Places of worship	All Saints, Haggerston Homerton Baptist Church Holy Trinity, Dalston Newington Green Unitarian Church St Andrew, Stoke Newington St John-at-Hackney St John the Baptist, Hoxton St Monica's Church, Hoxton St Leonard, Shoreditch St Mary of Eton St Mary, Haggerston St Matthias, Stoke Newington
Constituencies	Hackney South and Shoreditch Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Tube and rail stations	Clapton Dalston Junction Dalston Kingsland Hackney Central Hackney Downs Hackney Wick Haggerston Homerton Hoxton London Fields Old Street Rectory Road Shoreditch High Street Stamford Hill Stoke Newington
Other topics	Coat of arms Council Grade I and II* listed buildings People Public art Schools
Category Commons

• Local authorities in London
• London borough councils
• Politics of the London Borough of Hackney
• Local authorities in England with elected mayor
• Local education authorities in England
• Billing authorities in England