Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Grainger plan voted through.

Five-four, party lines. 

Wish I'd bet my house on it, then I could afford to leave. Don't want to live here any more if those are the people who have power over me.

Tags for Forum Posts: seven sisters, ward's corner

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Your comments are entirely out of order.

 I was at the Civic Centre and heard all the objectors and supporters. They were all listened to with respect and attention. The woman who you refer to used to live in Suffield Road. She does not live in Enfield. She lives in South Tottenham where she has for much of her life. She is one of the most dedicated and hard working community activists I have ever met and has given more to the community than most people, including being a foster parent to dozens of children over many years. She simply described her experience of living in Suffield Road and why she wanted the area to change. Like the objectors, she spoke from the heart.

I totally accept that people have differing and strong views about Wards Corner but that doesn't give licence to heap personal abuse on people who disagree with you. 

Zena Brabazon

Councillor, St. Ann's Ward

It was not a personal attack on the person.  I am sure they do a wonderful job . It only a bewilderment that someone would refer to the area as 'not safe to walk past'. It was a hurtful comment. I've deleted the original post and edited it below.

It was a thoroughly demoralising meeting wasn't it... and after such eloguent and heart-felt statements put forward against the proposal. I feel disgusted at the Council's behaviour... And to push this through despite the ever-increasing costs mean less fund money for West Green Road and current tennants... and No "affordable housing" included AT ALL !!! It also angered me to hear the views of some of  the "supporters" none of whom lived directly in the area.  One person spoke about the vermin and crime of the street and market. "Scared to walk past the market"  One wonders if they have actually been to the area since 1990 ??? There are no qualms about kicking out valued members of the community. It sickens me to know the majority of the council panel don't care. WE'LL KEEP FIGHTING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: I think your post reveals the identity far more than my original comment and you might think about editing it.

So, Cllr Brabazon, meanwhile - what am I to do with my feelings of utter despair?

Mrs Brabazon i would also like to know the answer to that.   Pamish and i are not the only upset members of the community as you will be aware.

My own personal opinion is that the fact no affordable housing is included , (ie: completely private housing), shows the council are eager to get a whole lot of majority white professionals in to populate the building/ surrounding area. That is NOT how regeneration works but time and time again seems to be the way.  Actually who can DENY my statement when they're throwing out the long-standing community and building expensive flats with expensive shop rentals and provision for only 6 INDEPENDENT TRADERS, despite there being nearly 20 who would potentially want their old 'spot' back (if they could ever afford it.. and now that building costs have taken more from the traders money pot, probably not.) IT IS CORRUPT TO THE CORE and as we've all said, it's not over yet.  Answer me that.

Two evils came out of Monday night - the destruction of the market, shops and homes of a coherent community, and the awful prospect (literally) of that hideous slab of ugliness confronting me every time I look out of my front door, to remind me of the hopelessness of ever beating big money, and the collusion of the Labour Party in this. The Labour Party !

Now a third horror has just come to me. I was catching the bit of sun in my garden, and relishing the quiet that somehow this pocket in Page Green enjoys. Now we will have something like FIVE YEARS of the sounds of destruction and building - notably pile-drivers, which I have lived near before and which are absolutely invasive. So with every blow and crack of the hammers, all of us within about a kilometre will be assaulted by the power of big money, big time. For years. Cllrs Mallett, Basu, Egan, McNamara, Christophides, Demirci, Vanier, Watson, Strickland - I hope it reaches you, and that you are as subject to migraines as I am.

well you can join us in the building site misery maybe we can all take action and make sure the council enforce when the builders decide to start at 7am or pile drive into the evening.

Just to clarify for people following this thread, my post above was not a criticism of Pamish. I was responding to another post which has now been edited by by1999. I felt this made unfair criticism of a local resident who has different views from the objectors and who spoke at the meeting.

Zena Brabazon

Councillor, St Ann's Ward

This is just appalling. As a resident of St Ann's I am utterly revolted by the behaviour of our (Haringey) councillors. I (and I know many, many others) will be doing all I can to make sure this complete craven betrayal of our community is remembered come next polling opportunity. There are no tangible benefits in the scheme, it is just about destroying a slightly eccentric area the council hasn't got its claws into on behalf of property developers, a group so parasitic as to make bankers look socially responsible.

The shiny baubles and computer generated images of post-development life have once again won over the council. What they don't show is that in place of a much-loved, vibrant, low-rise and very *fitting* little area we are going to have an ugly, out-of-place block full of people who are *not* from the area (nothing wrong with that but it's being sold as a development for local people) who use the supermarket in the ground floor of their block, and the tube station. That has happened in so many parts of London when gentrification is railroaded through like this - a little island of cash for the developers and their friends, no trickle-down for anyone else. No affordable homes either, good isn't it?

I'm very suspicious of comments about safety there. Despite being a large, hairy man (offputting to crooks! ) I feel like I have a decent sense of how safe areas are, having lived in various bits of London, and that huge, well-lit junction is perfectly fine (in my opinion and experience) at most times.

I'm not surprised by all this - I lived in Hackney borough for a long time so I know all about the collusion (conscious or semi-conscious) that goes on between councils and developers (we had a huge block placed over the road with promises about affordable flats, distance from the street, gardens, parking, sympathetic style and equivalent height ALL broken and unpunished). Just a shame it's happening so obviously here again just around the corner. When we (with hindsight) come to write the history of community decline, councillors and 'developers' will have a very, very prominent role, I guarantee.

There is some beneift to the council, they will be able to sit back and wait for all that extra council tax that pays their expenses. 196 'luxury flats', lets presume they are Band F????  And national chain stores which will have to compete for a sought-after space ho ho, as well as forking out the market rent (that Grainger refused to even consider capping for the evictees when that was a clear request of both Labour and Liberal councillors on the planning committee), a Nice Little Earner. It may even refund the two million pounds that you and I have already donated to Grainger. Eventually.

Pamish and W. Booth you are both SPOT ON !!! And as for the safety aspect, well i'm a 29 yr old retired model and i've never ever had any problem in the whole of the area! if a young woman is safe then i'd hope everyone else would be too?

I feel that the supporters who made the comments about 'crime' were merely striving for reasons to demolish the lot. SOME of their arguments on the one hand were fair, for example: "it will create jobs for local people"... BUT there is no condition in the planning that says any one of the local community will have first dibs on a job there. And of course the whole building process will be brought-in workers who are contracted by Grainger. FACT ~ NO LOCAL JOBS.  They also explained they supported the fact there would be more housing, although the speaker did seem to be under the impression it would be 'affordable'. When Councellor asked if speaker felt the same knowing that the housing would NOT be 'affordable', they failed to maintain their argument.

But on the other hand the supporters' arguments were embarrassing flimsy, one speaking of problems higher up the road towards Bruce Grove (a complaint about derelict toilets full of homeless men) which was totally irrelevant to the issue at hand. And of course the 'crime' argument... Which anyone who actually lives right here and uses the area every day will dispute.

I'm so demoralized and aware it's nearly council tax day, i just can't bare to put anymore money into this atrocity.

By they way,  i know you were there Pamish, but i'm writing a lot of detail about the arguments raised in the meeting so that those who did not attend can get a feel for what went on.

There should be a video record on the whole meeting on the LBH website, soon if not there already. That's presuming they haven't stuffed up the sound like they did the first time around.

I looked - here you go. Except this is only the second part of the mtg IIRC, with Cllrs Schmitz and Diakides beginning their opposition statements. The first hour or so was Paul Smith showing the slide show of The Plan, so maybe they skipped that bit. There's two hours and 42 minutes there.

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