Public Meeting on the Council's Planning and Regeneration Proposals - Monday 17 February - 6.30pm at the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London, Tottenham High Road.

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Permalink Reply by pamish on February 12, 2014 at 23:13

This is also for the citizens of Tottenham Green, Seven Sisters, and (?) Tottenham Hale. 

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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on February 12, 2014 at 23:28

Hi Pam

I think this meeting is open to anyone since it has been organised by the Council. No need for a question mark for Tottenham Hale. In fact 10 of the 54 sites are in Tottenham Hale so for those of us living in this ward these plans are a very big concern indeed. 

Zena Brabazon

Cllr, St. Ann's Ward

Resident -Tottenham Hale

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on February 13, 2014 at 1:17

To see a full list of all places affected in Harringay plus an explanation of what this all means see here.

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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on February 18, 2014 at 10:19

Zena thank you for posting this; as you know, I attended the meeting.

It was striking that, amongst some 80 people attending, as Candy Amsden said, there was little or no support for the grand scheme.

The subject matter of the meeting affects "sites" throughout our Borough and is driving planning throughout the city. Behind it lies the London Plan, that is regarded by Planners as gospel.

Mario Petrou pointed out the huge discrepancies in "planned" increases in housing targets between places like Richmond and Tottenham.

I was unsurprised last night to learn, that the London Plan was developed without reference to the country as a whole. It seems to me that it is aiding and stimulating growth in a city that in some places is already experiencing over-development to the detriment of the lives of Londoners – and partly at the cost of needed development in other parts of the country.

It appears that this London Plan is promoting uneven development, nationally.

Where is the United Kingdom Plan?

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on February 20, 2014 at 1:26

Shouldn't you be raising this very pertinent question inside your own party, Clive?  This is not point-scoring. I am genuinely surprised that the LibDems don't appear to be questioning the entire basis for the plans being put forward by the Mayor, the Council; and our planners.

The meeting last Monday (17 February) strongly reminded me of many discussions I've sat through in nearly sixteen years as a councillor, when people are clearly talking about doing something which is superficially plausible, and supposedly "evidenced"  but almost certainly wrong.

And not wrong because that's my opnion. But because year after year, decade after decade, plans and initiatives based on faulty models have repeatedly failed. And this wasn't necessarily because someone was acting in bad faith or to pursue their own purely sectional interests. (Though there is some of that.)

No, it was usually because people with the very best of intentions tried, over and again, to achieve a different result with the same failed methods. Someone at Monday's meeting mentioned the old saying about the road to hell being paved with good intentions.

Sadly, it can also be the opposite. We may see the refusal to learn and re-apply things which have worked - or partly worked.

I was trying to explain this aspect of Haringey to a researcher from Germany - who was also at the meeting. I remembered Dr John Snow and his scepticism of the "miasma" theory of cholera transmission by "bad air".  Which led to Snow's pioneering use of mapping cases of cholera in Soho in 1854.  He showed the centre of the epidemic was a single well - later found to have its water polluted by sewage. Even so, the  miasma theory persisted for many years.

We currently have several miasma theories of "regeneration". Three "good air" miasmas are: the arts-led / Cultural Quarter fallacy; the Leisure/Spurs magic beans;  the build on water frontage model; and the "Mixed Communities" con. Haringey is wasting money and effort on all of these. Meanwhile not giving priority to the basic issues of poverty; health; and the need for adequate permanent affordable housing.

As for the riot in August 2011, I'm pretty sure that until I mentioned it the other evening, it was ignored. As if this central shattering event was somehow peripheral to the future of Tottenham.

You're right that a narrow focus on developing "sites" is one driving force in the proposed changes. But there are others. including these old dud policies I've listed. Which are set out in documents from years ago. They're now treated as the prophecies of wise sages, instead of fairy stories. And frankly, they are as useless as a map of Narnia for understanding Tottenham. Let alone tackling our problems.

It's not just Tottenham. A key factor is that the same miasma thinking is mis-informing ideas about change and development across Haringey. Except of course, as was evident from the maps on show at the meeting, that are few parts of the West where the Kobon Constructor Fleet is planning to allow the developers free rein to destroy people's homes and businesses; and undertake both large and small -scale clearances of the poorest and most vulnerable residents.

The London Plan and the Haringey divide and rule Area plans should be viewed as a potential emergency for everyone who lives in Haringey and especially in the Tottenham Constituency. The Muswell Hill colonial administration running the Council will make sure their own neighbourhoods are protected.

(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)

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Permalink Reply by Neville Collins on February 20, 2014 at 17:42

There are huge repercussions for this plan. Haringey Council in my view seems hell bent on forcing people to live in rabbit hutches in an area nobody where wants to live. I forsee a lot of empty properties in Tottenham that many so-called developers will be unable to sell.

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Permalink Reply by Cllr Emina Ibrahim on February 23, 2014 at 9:10

Hi Clive 

I think you need to sign off your posts as we all do, stating clearly that you are a council candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Highgate. 

Emine 

Labour Party Candidate (Harringay Ward)

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