Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Pickles Settles Confusion and Names Haringey 'worst authority'
Little love lost? Clare Kober, Leader of Haringey Council and Eric Pickles Minister for Communities and Local Government
Communities secretary Eric Pickles has issued a letter of correction after he wrongly identified Hackney as the worst performing local authority in the country in regard to planning applications on Monday. His correction instead puts Haringey in the frame.
In a House of Commons debate yesterday, Mr Pickles was asked by shadow secretary Hillary Benn during a debate on the Growth and Infrastructure Bill to name “one example of a so-called failing planning authority”.
Mr Pickles responded: “As the right hon. Gentleman knows and, more particularly, as other Opposition Members know, I have been more than helpful to those Members who have had trouble with planning authorities and I have done my best to move things along, but I am very happy to name the worst, which is Hackney.”
The remarks led to calls by Hackney’s mayor for Mr Pickles to apologise and issue a retraction. (See attached letter)
A ministerial correction has now been issued and is part of the Hansard official record, which stated that Mr Pickles meant to identify Haringey as the worst performing authority in regard to planning applications.
It remains to be seen what sort of letter Clare Kober will send the Minister.
Story picked up from Construction News
- Attachments:
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Hackney-Mayor-letter.pdf, 90 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Yes going to JR is one solution if you have a rogue council. But lawyers cost. Lots.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Setz on
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Can anything be done?
It seems from this thread that the planning system has damaged us, and I feel powerless.
We also seem to miss the complete picture, as the devil is in the detail. I think this is because planning is a complex issue and cannot easily be presented clearly - the important stuff seems subjective, a matter of opinion. We elect politicians to speak for us on matters of opinion and don't seem to like it when they do what we asked them to do.
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I have a problem with the Council over planning - I think they're wrong, their plans will harm my neighbourhood and I have a practical modification I think will help (I won't bore you with the details), but they disagree with me.
I guess this is a typical scenario and I can understand that the people who work in planning must feel depressed by the odium some pour over their heads when 'mere officials' appear to prevent something us residents want.
I've met a few council employees over the decades at all levels and absolutely none of them are anything other than people like you or I, doing an often badly-paid job with not only seemingly no axe to grind, but I guess no way of pushing any personal agenda they may have, them being under such scrutiny. In other words, I don't think the fault is with the planning department. In fact there are a lot of very skilled people in it and, as a national group, have been working on improving the system for ages - it's that important as it deeply affects our environment, obviously.
It isn't the executive either as far as I can see as the department is driven by people with planning qualifications that the top tier cannot circumvent by mere dictat.
I do recognise the power 'politically neutral' civil servants can wield - here are two very good actors portraying it:
I've also had contact with a range of local politicians, some of whom I know to have been directly involved in big planning decisions. I've heard enough fuming from them to know that they too cannot push through what they want regardless. In other words I don't think that a local cllr, member of the ruling party, 'high-up' in the planning chain etc can get something done that contains too many quantifiable risks - the system tries to prevent that.
None of the ones I've met seem on a mission to deliberately destroy the borough. They are not required to be competent - our system only requires them to win a popular vote every so often, not to be good at anything in particular but if you look at their CV's, they do seem to be good at a range of things and are certainly not doing it for the money, which is peanuts. They may be power mad but few have ever attained real power - I genuinely think they're showing a commitment to public service and wish more people strengthened rather than weakened them. They're our representatives - let's not shoot ourselves in the foot.
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I can't garner enough support for my cause. I've been told that if enough of us rise up, that'll work. I doubt it, it's not quantity so much, it's the brilliance and creativity of local people prepared to combine oceans of painstaking work with clever image manipulation that seems to be the only thing that gathers an effective force, and I don't seem to have the skills to win the sort of support that would cause the Council to change their plans.
Even if I could, it doesn't always work because we can be defeated by time.
The Council knows that people lose passion if something drags on for years and they seem in my case to have played that card well. I think the planning system helps officials and cllrs to see themselves as custodians of Haringey - protectors who take a long view, preventing Haringey being ruined by silly short-term notions that us residents have dreamed up in our ill-informed way, that contradict what the people with the power and the 'true picture' have decided is best. They also know that most of us will be long gone when the writs hit the fan.
Yes we can rise up, yes we can obtain injunctions, yes we can go to the press, but no, the Council are not going to roll over just because we're annoyed. They could be right. This could be their effective, pragmatic response to a nation of complainers who are never happy no matter what they do - how often have you heard anyone praise the Council? They know damn well that it takes a lot of effort to get them to change their minds and we are simply not prepared to do the work needed to do that.
Generally we leave it to the system to do it's best for us, on our behalf, then moan like mad when we don't individually agree with the collective decision-making service we employ them for. It's as if we don't actually understand how consensus works. So those with the largest resources and the most patience win. Trouble is, 'those' are usually the Council and the developers.
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The only new thing I can see is this forum - we have a chance as a community to get together here and do what almost everyone here can do - click on something to support it, maybe write a sentence or two, maybe 'like' or +1 something, or tweet.
Those clicks can be seen as a true expression of our collective will - something not easy to obtain. I'd really like the Council to connect us to them in this way.
We could all vote on very many issues, even down to street level, and we could use this forum to air the issues, and work on the problem that people don't seem to be prepared to accept the majority view. So, if this forum got a majority of local people to agree to something, what to do about the noisy neighbours who don't agree and won't accept defeat?
It can be done with almost no expenditure - in fact it can save money. Haringey.gov.uk has a secure login system that people can safely register with, so verifiable votes can be cast.
They're not going to do anything like that though, are they?
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Permalink Reply by JJ B on
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Some peolple may chose to "riot". Brixton, Broadwater Farm, Tottenham and all of London and the England. I am not being apologetic about the people who came out and looted and thrashed our High Streets last year. But if people think these were only acts of pure vandalism they should wait and see what will happen in the future when well schooled and "adjusted" citizens get even more frustrated by the way system is evolving and disenfranchising us all.
We may see some very "reasonable" people come down onto the streets!
That said, all these words don't absolve Haringey Council from its ineptness, desperation and incompetence. There are other Councils that have upped their game, we'll have to wait a bit longer and for more well meant damage to happen before that happens here.
I also feel that a few of "them" definitely do not want to back track out of personal pride.
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You'd think that in the eight or nine years between publishing the original development brief for Seven Sisters and today, enough has changed in Real Life for the politicians and council officers who drew up those plans, to graciously change their minds. Perhaps they have, but being seen to have changed their minds is too challenging?
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Its not only about Seven Sisters though. Its about the whole vision thing.
I just don't see any. The recently thought up Plan for Tottenham DOES NOT show that they really have any understanding of how the place works and what is really needed.
Hale Village - mediocre architecture on what should have been a great development op making full use of a site with tremendous vistas, space and located on a very great transport hub! Spurs ground, wo=ith some of the bOrough prime historic street frontage - special permission given fro exceptional demolition of heriatge assets. Wards Corner - more destruction of heritage assets and replacement by mundane clunky international nothingness for nationla chains ehne that model is dying. Soon to be bumbled redeveloment at Lawrence rd - a grrat street with lovely trees located at the heardt of a conservation area and developers given a brief fro more os teh same non-descript architecture. JUST SO MANY MISSED OPPURTNITIES!
The whole thing is a plan for speculative real estate developers that ask for subsidiy. THe attempted socail engieering thatthe Councilis attempting is going to achieve precicely the opposite effect and keep our area down and firmly anchored in the records as "deprived" when what the area really is is NEGLECTED.
They keep repeating that shoops are empty. Where? You mean the ones that burned down and tehy allowed to remain derellict? Or the Wards Corener building that so many people have offered to make use of over the years. How perverse!
Instead of allowing local people set the agenda and make the place desirable for developers to fight to come into they sell us short because they have no faith in us setting the right choices.
I'll stop there because I am sounding like a broken record. But the message is right and should be broadcast in hi-fidelity.
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Permalink Reply by Neville Collins on
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@JJB, Billy and Pam;
I want the council to JUST DELIVER good services, not promote an unrealistic vision of the borough that they are either unwilling or unable to deliver.
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Just going ahead with what they want to do is precisely what they are up to. That's the problem. Fingers in ears and la-la-la-la-la. Define "good".
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Chris, you might find this article on the BBC website today of interest; Is our democracy moving into cyberspace? And some of the comments.
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Just deliver "good" services. Planning IS a service that falls under the remit of the council. So I agree on you there.
And then if you look at the legislation the Council IS responsible for putting together the policy documents that govern what the physical space looks like how it is organised, etc. These policxes have an impact on how people live, wowrk and play as they like to say. I's all part of the service they should be delivering.
It is not simple and I agre that Haringey has its "problems". But the missed opportunities, THE MISSED OPPORTUNITIES...to make our lovely Tottenham into such a jewel of a place!!!!!
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@JJB ,Tottenham will never be a 'jewel' of a place, considering the disastrous planning policies that have and are still taking place in OUR name. I just want to see that the council delivers basic, cost-effective, high-quality services, provided both in-house or contracted out. I need to be able to access the council by phone, and that routine enquiries are dealt with promptly. That way, the ongoing crises in places like childrens' services, housing and the environment could have been avoided or resolved.
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Yup and today I called Haringey switchboard, was redirected to Veolia telephone, held on for 3 minutes listening to a very long message that I've heard every tme I've called in the last few weeks, got through and said "why is the rubbish that has been on the pavement next to my house been there for the last 3 weeks? Answer (very polite mind you) "Oh we'll collect it today. Here is your reference number 895 481."
IT IS STILL PILED UP THERE ON THE PAVEMENT. OR AT LEAST PART OF IT! But I gather someone has hit their target because the phone was answered and the problem "dealt with". Only it was NOT SOLVED ON THIS END AND RUBBISH IS STILL STREWN ALL OVER THE PAVEMENT NEXT TO MY HOUSE. MY HOME. WHERE I LIVE AND WANT IT TO BE NICE AND PLEASANT AND RELAXING. NOT A DUMP!
WHAT MORE SHALL I SAY. HARINGEY SERVICES ARE THE PITS!THEY ARE CRAP!
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