Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Chettle Court's Future in Doubt
Chettle Court, 1988, Photo: Tower Block UK
According the Defend Haringey Council Housing organisation, Chettle Court and Stokely Court, a sheltered housing block between Hornsey High Street and Alxandra Park have both been added to a council list as sites for housing development.
The organisation says
In both cases, these are estates with good homes that residents are happy with.Stokley Court is a successful Good Neighbour scheme for vulnerable and older people. Chettle Court is one of the borough’s best designed estates, and it has had thoughtful and effective improvement work as well.
The group make it clear that they fear that demolition is a real prospect as a result of the listing. They say that they are determined that both buildings should be retained and are campaigning to achieve this.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Anne Gray on
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I just checked the site allocation plan that Hugh mentions and this 2016-7 document is clearly out of date. It puts on the demolition list Summersby Close and Tunnel Gardens which have since been 'reprieved'; there may be other examples but it would take too long to check them all. It doesn't say anything about the latest proposals for Chettle Court nor for Stokely Court, a very important sheltered housing scheme near Hornsey High St. which is almost unique in Haringey in that several flats are spacious enough for large powered wheelchairs. See https://haringeydefendcouncilhousingblog.wordpress.com/ for more details. I do think residents of these blocks should have the most say about what happens and let's resist trying to develop a consensus of local opinion aroudn the views of those whose homes are NOT at stake. Worth also mentioning that any replacement homes will be at a vastly higher rent, not reclaimable from housing benefit for some, possibly many, residents because for example as elderly people they have life savings which make them ineligible.
If the council wants to secure land for more social housing - certainly a very important objective - it should be attempting to repeat, obviously with borrowed money, the programme of municipalisation of the 1970s - but this time not buying existing homes rather looking for the many shops, pub and other small business premises which will now be empty and non-viable as continuing businesses following the pandemic. As so many economists have been telling us in the press, unfortunately many of these businesses WILL be lost. So the booby prize may be availability of cheap empty buildings suitable for housing conversion ... and particularly for elderly/disabled people since small shops are by definition on the ground floor with big doorways and often near to other shops and bus routes.
Since council documents cite the view of consultants that Crouch End land is highly valuable land for a developer, obvously it is NOT going to be re-developed mainly for social housing. As at Tottenham Hale, there is a risk that agreements with developers to build x% 'affordable' units get overturned or whittled away as soon as the developer sees a drop in the sale price expected for the new homes. There is also a risk of trying to cram lots of homes onto a site by building higher and higher, resulting in buildings that are very expensive to maintain (lifts, window cleaning, repairs 20 storeys up anyone?) hence higher rents/management charges, as well as casting mile long shadows in winter which block light from older housing and green spaces. The community plan for St Ann's managed to get 800 dwellings on the old hospital site mainly in 3 to 5 storey blocks which is more reasonable - but unlikely to happen. But the main source of land should surely come from conversion or re-development of commercial buildings and car parks. Just think how much land they could have if all council owned car parks in Haringey, or the ones at big shopping centres like Harringay Green Lanes, had parking at ground level with a few storeys of flats above?
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Re status of Site Allocations plan, see Chris Waller’s comment above.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I’m confused by this Anne. I haven’t seen anything to suggest that new provision will be at anything but social rent and also no suggestion of demotion.
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The following was in a newsletter sent out by DHCH today. Thanks to Richard for passing it on to me.
It is clear that the Council wants to demolish the good neighbour scheme at Stokley Court in Hornsey, which has 47 current residents, because of the external appearance of the scheme, which was mentioned three times in a Homes for Haringey consultants’ report from 2016, concluding that Stokley Court is a priority for redevelopment ‘because it is a large site with assumed good commercial value’.
Outside the Civic Centre on Tuesday. Caroline Page the tenant rep at Stokley Court, said:
‘It would come as a terrible hardship to me if I had to leave, because these flats are very spacious, especially for a power wheelchair user, whereas the flats at Bedale House near here are shoe boxey.
‘We are unique, the only Good Neighbour scheme in the Borough with its own laundrette and common room. We have got a magnificent willow tree in the car park, and a fantastic rose bush that flowers all year round.
‘All my neighbours are very friendly and supportive. What the carers don't or won't do, my neighbours come and help me with.
‘This is the second time around, because they wanted to demolish us in 2009, but we beat them, and we will do it again.’The Council deny that there are any demolition plans yet. The decisions made on Tuesday night were to start a process of investigation about whether new homes should be built on these sites.
Chettle Court, a model estate with splendid design features, was listed for 'housebuilding' on Tuesday evening with no written guarantees about the future of the existing 138 homes. Now the residents are getting organised. They are demanding:- Publication of the terms of reference for the expected feasibility and capacity studies
- The terms of reference for these studies must state that no demolition of the existing homes will be permitted
- Publication of the feasibility and capacity studies once they have been completed.
Haringey Council has abandoned demolition plans at Woodside Avenue in Muswell Hill, where there was no formal consultation, but over a period of several years, council officers asked Secure Tenants to leave. The tenants refused to do so, and collected 5,000 petition signatures to oppose the demolition plans.
The Council also wants to knock down Reynardson Court in Tottenham, a building with noted architectural features which needs long-delayed maintenance, and where the residents are opposing demolition. In January 2020 the Cabinet added Reynardson to their 'housebuilding' list, adopting a report saying they would consult within the Council, with Councillors, and with external partners - but with no mention of the residents.
There was a vibrant socially distanced resident protest outside the Civic Centre on Tuesday, in stark contrast to the complacency of the online Cabinet meeting which took place at the same time.
Haringey Council’s plans are described as building new council housing. But 40% or more of the homes to be built on public land will in fact be for market sale.We strongly support building new council homes at council rents. But without demolishing the council homes we have now.
Estate demolition is a toxic issue for Haringey Council following the defeat of the monster Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) scheme two years ago, which would have demolished 5,000 homes and gentrified whole areas of the borough.
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Permalink Reply by Vaughan on
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A year later, I have only just seen this. I have been a Chettle Court resident since 1975 and woudl be devastated to see these flats demolished. The idea of demolishing high quality homes fro 140 families is beyond my understanding.
Vaughan
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Permalink Reply by Paul Burnham on
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In October 2021, Haringey's Cabinet took Chettle Court off the list of sites for its housebuilding programme, commenting that 'The land behind Chettle Court has been removed from the programme for two reasons. Firstly, the land slopes in such a way that the construction of homes on it would be prohibitively complex. Secondly, the site is a well-kept, well-used amenity space for the residents of the existing block at Chettle Court.'
In 2020. the whole site was included in the housebuilding programme, demarcated by a red line including the housing block, and without anything in the report suggesting that the intention was not to demolish. Sadly, it seems that the Council likes to make residents uncertain about future demolition plans, and believes that it is okay to do so.
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