Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Assets of Haringey Council (allegedly)
ACCORDING to a survey of all councils by the Tax Payers Alliance, the assets of Haringey Council, include:
- 1 x golf course
- 14 car parks
- 2 x swimming pools
- 1 x theatre
- 1 x pub
- 1 x restaurant
- 29 x shops
I cannot immediately identify these assets, but in we live in times of cuts to front-line services to ordinary residents.
If their list is accurate, one has to wonder if all of the assets need to be retained ... and what they might be worth on the open market. Should these kind of assets not be sweated before those open freely to the public, especially our public parks?
On the link above there is a downloadable spreadsheet that lists the alleged assets of all Councils including LBH.
I was surprised to read that at 1 April last year, Barnet Borough Council – AKA EasyCouncil – owned 10 golf courses (whereas we are said to own only one).
CDC
Haringey Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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If these properties are a acheiving a good return I can't see what the problem is. Often the shops form part of housing estate developments meaning that people on low incomes have access to shopping locally rather than having to spend money to travel to shopping areas. The Tax Payer's Alliance seem to have a very unpleasant ultra right wing agenda and rarely let facts get in the way of cynical mischief making and I'm surprised anyone takes the information they spew out at face value.
For an organisation whose sole purpose seems to be diggin out the "truth" about how money is spent, they seem oddly remiss about their own funding and sponsors.
http://whofundsyou.org/org/taxpayers-alliance
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Permalink Reply by Bob Lindsay-Smith on
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I agree that we need more detail before judging whether it is sensible for a council to continue to own an asset or not.
According to the spreadsheet, Haringey Council owns one restaurant/cafe. Presumably that is the one that they set up in River Park House recently at a cost of £40K, granting a lease to a company to run it. Apparently it is not used much by staff, so its main function perhaps is to impress visitors.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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As this council has form in selling off its assets to the lowest bidder, dear Clive I would be wary of recommending that they dump anything they we own to raise temporary cash. Apex House 0.4hectare of prime land twenty feet from the tube station for £3.4 million, without going to tender?
What would be the pattern of ownership and land use if we were starting from scratch now? If there was a blank sheet and systems were being invented for managing large populations with myriad needs and abilities, and no existing building? Would it start from 100% belonging to the people (ie the Council) so its best use will evolve? Or a (tax) free for all?
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Permalink Reply by Finsbury Park Ranger on
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The golf course is muswell hill golf course I believe. My grandad used to be the treasurer. I always thought it wrong that so much beautiful local land was allowed to be enjoyed by a very small number of very privalidged rich people. The fee's were astronomical but only a very few amount of people ever got to use it, as is the nature of golf.
So I spent most of my childhood trespassing it as many times as I could.
Last time I visited it there used to be a line on the floor of the bar where the women couldn't cross. Even in the early eighties it seemed archaic.
Grandad loved it though, spent every spare moment on all the holes, especially the third the nineteenth.
Don't expect to be become a member easily though if you don't know any funny handshakes ...
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Permalink Reply by Martin (Woodside) on
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Things have changed, from what I understand golf club memberships are in terminal decline, once you would have to wait 20+ years for membership, now they rip the application form out of your hand.
Unlike football, cricket or tennis, golf does not appeal to the young new demographics.
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http://www.muswellhillgolfclub.co.uk/lifestyle_membership_poster The joining rules are obscure to me but eg Special deal £700 for 40 games - £17.50 a game, wouldn't get into Spurs for that. You can get married there too, though it doesn't specify Or Civil Partnerships.. .
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And all for the privilege of hitting a small white ball around a field with a bag of sticks.
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Hmmm ... Golf has lost its allure, if you go to car boot sales there are golf clubs everywhere. I think they are probably fighting for their life right now.
In the eighties my grandad told me it was a 'Fortune' to become a member ( he survived because he was an ancient member and they didn't raise the rates for the oldies) and you couldn't join unless a member recommended you into the 'club' and another one had to second you in and the committee had to agree. It was the social network basically for businessmen. If you got in you were a made man and if you really got in, you got to wear an apron.
They say cycling is the new golf now. I hope so. I always thought golf was a brilliant way to ruin a good walk.
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Yes indeed, it was almost freemasonry, when I was a kid living near Enfield membership of Bush Hill golf club carried a high elite status, the lesser classes used the municipal club at Whitewebbs.
Bowls is going the same way.
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Permalink Reply by James R Grinter on
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I'm somewhat disturbed to learn that the council now only has two swimming pools. Does that mean they've sneakily sold off the rest of the leisure facilities?
The rest just sounds like either the obvious (car parks - which high-street traders/retailers would be complaining about if they weren't there) or commercial property (and they seem to have ended up mis-managing a lot of industrial estates. How did that come about?)
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