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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

If you want to have a nose around, there are viewing days till Sunday. Or, if just a passing interest, see the attached.

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I have read the comments on this thread, agree with many of them and share the frustration expressed in this discussion concerning the regard given to objections. 

As ward councilor I worked very hard (I hope Fiona agrees) with residents living adjacent to the Evergreen development in objecting to it. The issues of sunlight and design were very clear and the residents who were campaigning did a fantastic job researching the issue and presenting it. What can I say - the Planning committee approved it and like everyone else, I was very dispirited by that. I will be visiting the development next week. I understand the health centre, as proposed, is being built on the ground floor so one positive. 

Turning to the developments at Tottenham Hale and The Altitude development, I objected to these developments on behalf of residents, and on my own behalf as well. Regarding Tottenham Hale, I drafted, along with my colleague, a Cllr for Tottenham Hale, a nine page letter to the Mayor asking him to call it in. This was signed by local residents. Our request was refused - the permission was upheld. 

I wonder now just who is going to be buying the private and shared ownership flats. People can work from home and what seemed attractive before the pandemic - working in central London and living on top of a tube station in a 20, 25 or 33 storey block (Tottenham Hale) - now seems far less so. The studios in one block there start at around £345k (from memory) and prices go up much steeper. A house outside London might seem a far more attractive proposition. The council has already purchased one block from developers for social rented homes. I have asked many questions about the housing future in Tottenham Hale and if the Council will be seen as buyer of last resort if these flats can't sell. The GLA has just published a report on housing post-Covid and this issue is discussed there, with a request for additional government funding. I would like us - councillors - to have a very serious and focused discussion on the implications of the pandemic on housing locally. And of course to have a discussion with residents. A longer term grasp of the social changes the pandemic is bringing is vital so we make the best decisions.

Finally, a comment on the proposed planning 'reforms'. From the headlines, I think the new planning proposals are very worrying, and will reduce even further local planning powers. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think there will be further bias towards developers and development. 

Best wishes. 

Zena

Zena Brabazon

Cllr, Harringay ward

zena.brabazon@haringey.gov.uk

Tel: 078 1267 7710

Zena

Remind us again who the previous Leader of Haringey Council, Claire Kober, currently works for.

I think the departures from the Planning department tend to follow a similar career path. Certainly the younger officers.

While the planning reforms will undoubtedly exacerbate the problem, local authorities and developers have been working hand in glove for decades now.

Sorry to disappoint you  Will, I don't know her employer. If you Google her I am sure you will find her without too much difficulty as she is well-known.

I agree with your final point, and that is a very serious problem, detrimental to local communities. Also agree about the revolving door between public and private sectors that you allude to. Local government has been starved of funding for years, and there has been no commitment to public housing from central government. That has exacerbated the problem, pushing local authorities into partnerships and joint development with private developers. Local authorities - including Haringey - are trying to plug that gap - but it is huge given the policy decisions over many years and underfunding.

Zena 

Zena Brabazon

Cllr, Harringay ward

zena.brabazon@haringey.gov.uk

Tel: 07812 677 710

I almost have to admire her brass neck with that choice of profile picture.

Managing Director, no less. The US private equity owned operation are, no doubt, doing great things for housing in the UK.

Hi Zena, I would happily agree that you did indeed work really hard with us to try and get a better development for the site.  :)

It certainly looks as if this new development is going to be really ugly, lacking in decent sunlight, and another missed opportunity to build good homes for social rent. Of course, all estate agents lie about everything, so it is no surprise their brochure is inaccurate. I came to the conclusion long ago that you should never trust an estate agent. It really is pretty bad that the Council has let this development go through. Added to all the problems that others here have pointed out, there's the basic fact that a lot of modern housing is very shoddily built, so new owners move in with loads of problems that need fixing. Also, the size of rooms in modern housing is very small - estate agents resort to putting under-size furniture in the rooms before taking photos, to make the rooms look bigger, and use the widest-angle lenses they can so that the space looks more than it is. I feel really sorry for the people who are going to be living there. Housing in Britain has been getting worse and worse ever since the Thatcher governments in the 1980s.

Yes, constantly reduced floor areas are a disgrace. The World’s End estate in Chelsea was recently flagged as one of the densest residential areas in the UK, but the flats are old enough (1970s) to have been built to Parker Morris standards and have large rooms and generous layouts (as well as river views) that make them liveable — a surprising example of good Tory local government building quality, from the pre-Thatcher days when councils were allowed to build proper homes for rent to their own tenants. Of course it’s forbidden now in the “market economy” and the truly appalling planning proposals now being championed by friend-of-developers Robert Jenrick will make things even worse than they already are.

Another rant.....

As I said you can have density AND quality. It happens in many places.

Went to my old stomping ground, Brixton, this week.

Years ago, after plans were announced to build high rise development around the tube, there was public outcry and the existing height and most of the buildings were preserved.

I noted how the markets have developed and thrived there including newer small 'market stall' malls opposite the tube station toward Stockwell, and despite some displacement of previous businesses. But no one is calling stasis, just sensitive development that puts the humans i.e overall societal benefits, before huge individual profits.

Despite massive gentrification the place still is very diverse or even more, so with small budding entrepreneurs selling/developing various products and activities who seem to be doing well. I noted black store holders and black 'middle class' customers in the bars and restaurants....yes restaurants, not just a concentration of fast food outlets and gambling dens as we have here in Tottenham.

In Brixton larger chians have moved back into EXISTING larger units. Recently though Network Rail's decision to sell all of its arches to a 'financial landlord' means that the longstanding individual businesses were thrown out and in came some characterless shops of not real local or even national value. They alone can afford the high rents of the renovated arches (the excuse used to get the older leasehlders out). It could have been done different and Network Rail could haev allowed lease g=empoweering the individaul businees and allowing budiding entrepreneurs, stat ups, locally valuable business such as mechanics and repair shops, the opportunity to thrive!

In Tottenham the Kober model, with the (passive) help of many councillors, for 'regeneration' was to pay a lot of lip service to local community, but to pander to developers and demolish the unique, characterful, architecture with potential i.e see Wards Corner & Tottenham Hot Spurs FC, exterminate the local traders/entrepreneurs and build ugly, outdated, very generic brick & glass things with no charm or distinction = the planned Grainger awfulness and the really awfull flying saucer of a stadium that is just so overbearing given the urban scale around it. The Grainger yuck will probably be occupied by a bigger Sainsbury's Local and chain multiples that you can find in any city in the world. Do we reall need and want that?

And in the mean while TFL is taking advantage of the Covid situation to kill off the last of the Latin American businesses that were operating out of Wards Corner - a disastrous situation for Seven Sisters!

What is the Ejiofor Council doing about it? Issuing statements that "we can't do anything"!

Vested interests, money, greed, ideological stubborness and shortermism ....all explain a lot of what happens.

It gives us deplacement of 'problem populations' and continued deprivation and riots!

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