News on Draft Dalston Plan

Dalston residents, businesses and community groups are being encouraged to have their say on new guidelines to protect the town centre’s unique character, as investment plans to secure the future of Ridley Road are revealed.

As part of ambitions to ensure a fair recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, Hackney Council has launched a consultation on the new draft Dalston Plan, recently approved by the Council’s Cabinet, which sets out wider proposals for the town centre.

The draft Dalston Plan is the culmination of over three years of collaboration between the Council and the local community, which started with the Dalston Conversation – an engagement exercise with input from more than 5,000 people.

The plan formally sets out how development in the area will be managed to protect and enhance what local residents and businesses value most about Dalston, from the unique shopping offer to the thriving cultural and nighttime economies and much-loved local institutions such as Ridley Road Market and the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden.

It also establishes how changes that are needed to accommodate new homes and workspaces can be delivered in line with the priorities set by the community and the Council’s commitment to ensure a fair recovery from the pandemic, in which local residents and businesses are the first to benefit. Site proposals for the town centre set out a clear delivery plan on how and when developments will happen.

New street trees, free public wifi and cashless payment machines for market traders are among the planned improvements for the much-loved Ridley Road market, as a result of a £1.5 million joint-investment between Hackney Council and the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund. Proposals for the street market and improvements in nearby Ashwin Street have been designed in collaboration with the market’s traders over the last year, to help create a greener, safer and more accessible market for residents, local businesses, shoppers and visitors. To review the final proposals, go to consultation.hackney.gov.uk/streetscene/good-growth-fund