Plans from Notting Hill Housing Trust are set to destroy one of the most successful small business incubators in Hackney. The Westgate Centre on Westgate Street is home to many small, thriving businesses including the Doorstep Laundry, Rebel Rebel and other local firms providing services as diverse as dog walking and ironmongery.   The proposed block of flats, which will overlook the playground of London Fields Primary School, will include offices at the ground floor level in order to be consistent with the area’s primary employment classification in Hackney’s Borough Plan. However, recent office developments in the immediate locality have failed to attract tenants and there is a Borough-wide shortage of the sort of small business units with parking that the Westgate Centre provides.

Plans are here: http://easteight.com/163642