Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
House prices
Speak to the estate agents, something unprecedented it's happening with the cost of home ownership, especially between wood green tube and ally pally.
It's possible this government may become known as seeing through the largest distribution of wealth from the poor to the rich ever ....
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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It is a tactic of Kober et al, and those who have worked to demolish Wards Corner, and who crowed in triumph at the last High Court result, that those campaigning to stop this, care only about the buildings. This is quite unbelievably offensive. The buildings: the market and the shops and the houses and flats, are the housing and businesses of hundreds of people.
The gestalt that is the whole area, which works, will be wiped out. The invisible people, the customers, will lose a precious and almost unique resource. The market will be wiped out, the faux-market that Grainger (and the Council) were forced to reinsert into their plan, will soon be selling expensive hand-knits and Covent Garden-style branded souvenirs. The shops will not be able to survive a two-year hiatus and will be replaced by the remaining High Street multiples (whoops Blockbuster and Barrett's shoes are the latest to fall) for the few years it survives until the High Street model is declared dead and the whole damn block is pulled down to make way for whatever the trend is in about 2030.
I have not seen you around the area Alan. I suggest you pop in one Saturday afternoon. Bring your partner Zena, who was on the New Deal committee that forced this through, and gave £1.5million of public money to Grainger as a sweetener in a meeting where there is no longer a trace of the minutes. The people using the buildings would love to have a chat with you both. Don't forget those in the shops that have a long-term (up to 30 years) commitment to their businesses, in the side roads.
Those engaged in opposing such top-down policies, which you voted for, will continue to work for the real regeneration of Wards Corner, and simultaneously support those elsewhere in Tottenham who are faced with similar nasty projects. It's not mutually exclusive, to do both.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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How pleased Claire Kober may be if she reads this. Here are residents (and Labour Party members) who oppose her Tory policies spending energy on posting on a website about what happened in the past.
The question you asked me, Pam, was about "refurbishment and renewal". But it seems you weren't interested in my answer. That it was simply a means of scoring a point about Wards Corner. And rehashing some old slurs about me and Zena.
The difference between us, Pam, seems to be that I've tried to learn from my mistakes. And from my ignorance.
Crucially I've tried to learn from the Tottenham riot. And more generally by talking and listening to local people.
Then, reading and pondering reports and other publications. The helpful Mary Portas Review; and the appalling report by Stuart Lipton. As well as learning or relearning from more academic researchers and authors.
Rereading Jane Jacobs, of course. But others who I hadn't come across before. A member of Hol insisted I paid attention to Jan Gehl - so I did. Crucially I've tried to explore the ideas of people like Anna Minton, Loretta Lees, Naomi Klein, Mike Davis and others. And especially Professor David Harvey who was strongly recommended by a student visiting Tottenham after the riot.
Because it seems to me that what's going on is different in scale and in kind from the local redevelopments we've seen in the recent past.
Pam, I respect both the anger and passion with which you argue about Wards Corner. But please do try to stick to facts. Above all, please consider whether it's time to look at the bigger picture and work out how to make effective interventions into future plans. There are bigger battles ahead.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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Last time I looked ( five minutes ago) the town centre of Seven Sisters ie Wards Corner, was still very much there. The Community Plan for its restoration and refurbishment has been submitted to the planning department. There is every reason for the Council to approve that plan and work with the WCCC and possibly Grainger to create a great resource for the people who live, work and shop here, it has such fantastic potential to be a brilliant 'gateway' re-using the existing unique buildings instead of greeting those arriving in Tottenham with an ugly identikit slab, the owners of which will be busy siphoning money out of the area. That original 20th-century Area Plan that brought in Grainger is now soooo old and redundant.
If you are learning from and acknowledging your mistakes, does that mean you now regret voting for the Grainger demolition plan, in that critical planning meeting?
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Pam, please forgive me, but this really is like Groundhog Day.
& so on.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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If there is a bung it will be in their accounts, They are Grainger PLC. Of course if it's like how bungs work in the city and it went into someone's personal account, possibly in Switzerland.
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Unfortunately Alan as you are the only Labour (or ex-) councillor to write on this site you do get more than your share of criticism for the actions of all your colleagues. There are fourteen councillors past and present who have voted for the Grainger plan, and one who courageously voted against it but later changed her mind, I dread to think how that bit of persuasion was executed. Plus a couple of cttee chairs, I lose count overall. Plus those who came up with the plan on the New Deal committee, plus of course the non-speaking members at the meetings, the lurking presences of the Dear Leader and her acolytes. Do they all read this blog, but not feel able to defend their actions?
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Tris: I have to say this again as you have been got at by the council's propaganda - the Wards Corner Community Coalition is desperate for change at Wards Corner. We agree that the deliberate apparent dereliction engendered by the council brings down the area. (We live here too.) However the structure of the store and the market hall is sound. It looks appalling from the outside, as it has been deliberately neglected by the owners TfL, in cahoots with the council. There is a huge space on the first floor above the market area, and the three floors of the corner store - these are the first part of the Community Plan that could be restored, used to re-house the market while that is restored. We could have an unique building complex holding small independent businesses and an arts and performance centre, with community interests driving it. Live/work units on the top floor. Refurbished with green standards. It is all so possible, it drives us to desperation that we have been blocked at every turn now that the council has got itself into hock with Grainger and can't get out of the development agreement signed in (I think) 2004. The council will not meet us or our backers, nor will TfL.
Look at the now rebuilt Co-op store that was destroyed in the riots. The owner recognised that chucking up a replacement pile of flats in a slab was not the way to proceed, and has rebuilt to exactly the original appearance, but with 21st century standards. Given a corner site, those architects in 1930 made similar decisions to those at Wards in 1910. We don't need another slabby cliff-face design as a boring replacement for this fine heritage building. Look beyond the hoardings.
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Permalink Reply by JJ B on
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Wards Corner was/is the first chapter in the Haringey Labour cynical game where people are put after buildings by redevelopment and displacement along the Heygate model.
So Alan this is a good op for you to say you were wrong or misguided, and that the methods used at WC to bring improvement to Tottenham can still be changed to be more sensitive to the needs of those (businesses and residents) that are on the site at the moment.
There is still a possibility to change that really awful design and bring Grainger in to renovate the market and street frontages and build affordable homes needed in the area AND preserve the character of the community's heritage asset - which includes people!
You will have noted the EDM of the Hackney North and Islington North MPs here http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/691
Where is the signature of the MP for Tottenham?
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The documents in St Ann's Labour Branch ward selection are not missing. Not are they alleged to exist by people who've never seen them.
The Labour Party National Rules exist and are downloadable. The voting slips and list of attenders exist and were sent to the London Region - but denied to the Secretary and Chair of the Tottenham Labour Party. The Electoral Registers are a matter of public record. The Party membership records exist and are stored on the Party's computers.
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I believe Mr Hole is referring to the missing minutes re the £1.5m bung to Grainger. Even if he wasn't, I am. As the New Deal 10-year finite project is long over, we don't expect to ever be able to trace these, which is bad news for those looking for answers to who and how this somewhat expensive gift to a hugely rich developer and landlord, was agreed. Perhaps Mr Lammy will turn out to have copies tucked away.
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A parallel between Heygate and Wards Corner? Can't really see it myself, JJ.
Was I wrong or misguided about the Planning application? I sat on the planning committee on that first occasion and as I've repeatedly explained - including on this website - Planning decisions are legally constrained by what are called material planning considerations. But you already know this.
Is there a possibility of changing the Grainger design? I suggested that the Wards Corner Coalition contact Grainger to discuss exactly this. They own the building and have a planning permission.
Was I wrong? Probably in several respects. But more accurately, I was ignorant. My ignorance was about what's now happening across many cities. We've all had the chance to learn a lot more. I've been trying to learn. (Though with little or no help from Haringey staff or my fellow councillors.) In particular about the speed at which disaster capitalism (or "vulture capitalism") is engaged in social cleansing. Which is the direct opposite of what they say - the supposed creation of mixed communities. As you know, Tottenham has "mixed communities" - mixed in class, race, ethnicity, age, health etc. etc
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I am happy to see that you say you were not aware of the agenda? Admitting ignorance? It is a pity you did not see this earlier.
Are you saying that Grainger plc now owns the 7 Sisters market building? Has TFL passed ownership over to them?! When did this happen?
Heygate and North Tottenham. All in the name of " regeneration" . Similarities... We will se what Soundings comes up with with the findings of the Future Tottenham consultation. But you do admit that the current Haringey regime does not REALLY care about the actual people once the real estate increases in value - the Spurs viability agenda.
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