Wild Hackney campaign calls for change in graffiti policy after ROA rabbit saved

Meeting next week to catalogue the borough’s best loved architectural features

An official campaign challenging Hackney Council’s policy towards street art such as ROA’s popular graffiti rabbit launches with a public meeting next week.

Supporters of the borough’s architectural quirks - from Banksy’s mural in Stoke Newington Church Street to old shop signs and stonework - will be gathering at Fellows Court Community Centre, in Weymouth Terrace, Haggerston, on Thursday (December 2).

They will be kick starting Wild Hackney, a new push to persuade town hall chiefs to discuss environmental enforcement policy.

The council was forced to withdraw its threats to remove a 12ft-tall painting of a rabbit on the walls of The Premises Studios in Hackney Road in early November after more than 2,000 people signed a petition in protest.

Now Wild Hackney’s founders Liane Hartley and Kate Nelson, with the support of the studios’ bosses, are compiling a catalogue of popular features they value.

They are inviting residents to take photographs of their favourite sights to next week’s meeting.

“This isn’t just about the rabbit. There are quite a lot of informal things in our landscape that we want protected,” said Liane.

“These are the things that make you love your neighbourhood and make you feel a part of the community.”

The meeting will start at 6.30pm. For more information, go to www.mendlondon.blogspot.com.