Housing campaigners have launched their own consultation and survey to find out what the community would like to see built at the Tesco site in Morning Lane, which is up for redevelopment after being bought by Hackney Council for £55 million.

Hackney Walk, which was given an option agreement to develop the site in 2017, touted a preliminary plan in October for “affordable” workspace underneath 530 homes in tower blocks as high as 19-storeys, with 20 per cent “affordable” housing.

But the Morning Lane People’s Space group would like to see more social housing, and members are distributing surveys outside Tesco throughout September and October on Saturdays from noon until 1pm and Sundays from 11am to 2pm.

So far they have gathered 350 responses within a week.

Before coming up with its plans, Hackney Walk sent out 10,000 leaflets and held a week-long drop in consultation in a shop, however only 138 people responded.

“We are showing that if you ask people, they really want to take part, and they are very keen to stop and reply” said Heather Mendrick from MOPS, who works as a researcher.

Hackney Walk is set to hold a further consultation before making a planning application.