GUEST EDITOR | AUGUST 2026
Zoë
Garbett
MAYOR OF HACKNEY | GREEN PARTY | EAST LONDON
“I got into politics to fight against injustice, because I can’t sit by and watch issues and people being ignored.”
MAYOR Zoë Garbett
EARLY YEARS
Somerset Shaped Me
I grew up in Somerset, with my three brothers and parents. Both my parents were teachers, which gave me a real sense of public service, inclusion and working to build up other people, from the get-go. It made me value the public sector, which I went on to work in for over 10 years.
The same values that drew me into the public sector led me to the Green Party which I joined in 2013. This was around the same time I moved to Hackney, where I have lived for almost 15 years. I often say I found myself in Hackney – my politics, my community, my sense of place, are all here in this borough.
Living in the middle of London is really different to Somerset – I love the city, but still need the quiet and strength of nature to balance me out. That’s one of the things that made me a Green – people and planet! As a teenager, I was obsessed with the Spice Girls, and I loved being a Scout, which helped me fall in love with the outdoors and develop a real, practical relationship to the natural world.
HACKNEY LIFE
A Tale of Two Cities
Lots of people think of Hackney as a wealthy inner-London borough, but 40% of our families live in deprivation. One in two children are in poverty. London has always been a tale of two cities, and Hackney really embodies that divide. The two sides aren’t disconnected, either – the reason the housing crisis is so severe here is because of things like gentrification, which pushes people out and drives up housing costs.
What is Your Hackney Soundtrack?
I absolutely love Charli XCX – she got married in Hackney Town Hall last year. Her music is my soundtrack to my east London life, from “How I’m Feeling Now”, which came out in lockdown whilst I was living in Clissold, to “Brat”, which I listened to a lot when I ran to be the Mayor of London in 2024.
“I got frustrated at seeing how systems – like the housing system – are designed to make some people profit whilst others suffer.”
MAYOR Zoë Garbett
THE FUTURE
For the People
Hackney is a brilliant, diverse and welcoming borough, but we face real challenges. One of the biggest is making housing fairer and more affordable. I’ve met with renters’ unions to discuss their concerns and figure out how we can work together. I have used my platform as Mayor to speak out about rent controls and prioritising people over profit. Affordability isn’t just about housing – from tackling food poverty and high energy costs to improving council services, making Hackney a better, more affordable place to live requires action across every part of the council.
I’m also committed to standing up for our people and principles – making sure local people have a real say in planning and development, pushing for a more ethical pensions strategy that won’t invest in companies complicit in genocide, championing Hackney as a pro-migrant borough, and rejecting discriminatory government guidance that tries to exclude trans people from public life.
Our most ambitious plan so far is Who Owns Hackney?, a project investigating who owns spaces in the borough, with the aim of returning community to community hands. There are other bold projects in the pipeline too – from campaigning to stop the use of Live Facial Recognition, an ineffective policing tactic that targets Black and Brown communities, to taking on landlords who profit from exploiting tenants.
HACKNEY
In Numbers
260,000
APPROX. POPULATION OF HACKNEY
1st
GREEN PARTY MAYOR IN THE COUNTRY
58
PARKS & GREEN SPACES IN THE BOROUGH
1,600+
LICENSED PREMISES – HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF GRASSROOTS MUSIC VENUES OF ANY LONDON BOROUGH
IN THE DIARY
Dates For Your Diary
Get involved and have your say
23 SEP & 25 NOV
Full Council meetings – Hackney residents are welcome to come along and ask questions.
1 OCT – 30 NOV
Black History Season celebrates Hackney’s rich African and Caribbean communities, with events across the borough.
NOVEMBER
Trans Awareness Month – standing in solidarity with trans people at a time when their rights continue to come under attack.
9 – 15 NOV
London Living Wage Week. Fair pay is essential to tackling the cost of living.
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Photography IvanWeiss.London & Sean Pollock
