Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Why has work stopped on the West Green Road Council Housing scheme?
Given that we have both a housing and cost of living crisis (and further that Haringey is an unaffordable area to anyone on average or local authority wages) it seems mad to me that a scheme to provide 46 Council homes 'soon' has been stopped half built for half a year. The reinforced concrete framework went up last year plus a few bits of insulation and brickwork but since then nothing. This is a scheme between Haringey Council and the Paul Simon Magic group but perhaps the magic has gone. Does anyone know why?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by jp quethiock on
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Sabrina, no, I have not written to the council as I have no wish to receive the usual blandishments. The problem is quite clearly that private developers will not give priority to schemes that don't make them fast easy money and the council don't have the wit to put penalty clauses into deals with developers.
However, I have written to David Lammy MP and Angela Rayner, housing minister, and copied in councillor Sarah Williams who is supposedly in charge of Haringey housing. Doubtless they will offer the usual or maybe some unusual blandishments but at least I've push it up the food chain
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Permalink Reply by Inkjetpack on
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Have been told by the council that the work on Cornwall Road has stopped because the contractor went bust. Asked what the plan was to finish the work and didn’t get a proper answer, doesn’t appear to be any contract management in place. They promised to send out a newsletter to local residents with further updates about current events and completion timelines twice, but nothing has appeared in the last months.
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If you like, you could ask again through a FOI. That way they must reply properly
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Ha.
That way they should reply properly.
The reality is sadly different.
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No reply from the Councillor responsible for Haringey Housing but a lovely bland letter back from the Housing Minister's office signed by someone who uses only the name Harry. Copy attached. But David Lammy's office asked if I would like the MP to take this up with the Leader of the Council to which I assented. I wait with, well, not bated breath.
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I thought I would give a new year's update on the West Green Road stalled social housing development and also that of the London mayor's on Cornwall Road N15.
With regard to the former I wrote to David Lammy and on the 4th November last year his office agreed he would take it up with the Leader of the Council at their next meeting. I have heard nothing since.
With regard to the Cornwall Road London Mayor's development, on which all work stopped last February, I wrote to my London Assembly Member and her staff agreed on the 28th November last to look into the matter. No reply since but walking past the site yesterday I saw a Thames Water threat of bailliffs' action letter addressed to a company in amongst the rubbish at the entrance to the site. Another developer gone AWOL I guess. I also guess that the social housing crisis is not that high on many an agenda.
Happy New Year.
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I have at last gotten a reply from Haringey Council, via my MP, David Lammy, regarding the long delay in building and tenanting the 45 Council homes awaited on the West Green Road site. I quote the response below from the 'Housing Programme Support Officer, Placemaking and Housing' at the Council. From this I read that Haringey Council allowed a developer to build 89 housing units on what was Council owned land, of which Haringey would buy back 46. Now that the developer has not been able to build the homes in the four years it's been on the site, Haringey Council are to "provide additional support" (the nature of which is undisclosed) to the developer. I think this means our land and our taxes going to a private developer. No wonder the cabinet member for housing never responded to my email. My MP made no comment on the Council's response but I think it a disgrace. There's also a response about the stuck Cornwall Road scheme where the delay will be a mere 15 months...
"West Green Road, Red House
In terms of the housing scheme at “Red House”, this is a development being undertaken by Paul Simon Magic Homes: the council has entered into an agreement to “acquire” 46 homes at the site and will convert them into council homes. There are another 43 homes which the developer will own, and either sell on the open market or to another organisation (that will be their decision). It should be noted that the vast majority of our homes are being directly delivered by the borough as at Cornwall Road (see below), however, in some cases we are acquiring homes from other developers to meet our pressing housing need.This does mean however that the council is not directly responsible for the construction at this location. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the developer suffered delays as the buildings that previously occupied the site were used by the council for emergency temporary accommodation for vulnerable residents who needed help. This was a vital requirement that was clearly a necessity, but did delay the construction by a significant amount of time. Although the construction programme has been slower than originally anticipated owing to the wider pressures in the construction industry referenced above, there has been considerable progress in the past six months and the council homes are expected to be ready for occupation by the end of the summer. To speed up the development, the council has provided additional support to the developer in the past year to help them complete the work.
Cornwall Road (Heligan Court)
On Cornwall Road, the council is delivering nine new council homes at the site referenced by your constituent. The new block of homes will be called Heligan Court named after the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall: this was named following a suggestion from a pupil at a local school who had done a project on the lost gardens.In terms of the progress at the site, unfortunately during 2024, the contractor responsible for the development informed the council that they were no longer able to complete the homes within a timeframe and a budget that the council felt was acceptable. This was related to the financial pressures the contractor was facing. Since the withdrawal of the contractor, the council has been working to find a replacement organisation that can complete the works. This process is almost complete, and the council expects to be able to appoint a new contractor in the spring."
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