“Bringing residents together to make our main roads work for everyone”

Hackney Council has launched a new type of engagement with residents, which brings together 22 local people, selected to reflect the diversity of Hackney’s population and range of views, to explore key transport issues in the borough. 

Participants will take part in four workshops, where they will work through complex issues, hear from experts, and make recommendations for Hackney’s next ten-year Transport Strategy. 

The Council commissioned the workshops in response to feedback from a borough-wide transport survey, where residents raised concerns about Hackney’s main roads, including congestion, road safety, air quality and accessibility.

The aim is to bring together people with different and opposing views to discuss options and develop a set of guiding principles for Hackney’s main road network. 

The workshops are run by independent experts from LSE Cities at the London School of Economics (LSE), and Involve, the UK’s leading public participation charity. The process is a type of “deliberative engagement”, which brings together a sample group of residents to work through complex issues, hear from experts, and make recommendations about what they think should happen.

The group will explore how Hackney can create a main road system that is fair, safe and sustainable, including how space should be allocated and how people should be supported to travel. 

These workshops are one part of a wider consultation on the future of transport in Hackney. During the first phase, which ran from March to June 2025, residents shared their views through a borough-wide survey and focus groups. This feedback, along with recommendations from the workshops, will be used to shape the Council’s draft Transport Strategy. 

The Council will publish the draft strategy for public feedback in 2026. 

Cllr Sarah Young, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, said

“In Hackney, our strength is drawn from our diverse views and experiences. The ability to listen to differing views and understand each other’s perspectives is more important now than ever. 

“I’m excited that we’re trying a new approach led by residents. We’ve commissioned a specialist engagement process, bringing residents together to make our main roads work for everyone. Across London, main roads carry nearly half of all traffic, and we know that residents have a wide range of concerns about them, from safety to buses, and being able to get around quickly and easily. Through these workshops, local people will design guiding principles to help us create a transport system that is fair, safe and sustainable for the future.”

To find out more about the Transport Strategy consultation, visit: https://consultation.hackney.gov.uk/streetscene/help-shape-the-future-of-transport-in-hackney/