An item at tonight's Council Cabinet meeting has thrown into question the future survival of Haringey's two warehouse districts and the artistic communities who live in them.
Both the Harringay Warehouse District and the Fountayne Road community now face an uncertain future following the publication of a Haringey Council report, "Tackling Unauthorised Living in Industrial Areas". (Report attached)
The report, which was discussed at the full cabinet of the Council today, recommends a two-year project costing £600,000 which will seek to deal with "the growing problem of unauthorised residential and live work uses in and around (the) Industrial Sites" in Haringey. The recommended process is "to establish a special multi-disciplinary team to fully investigate and address the problem through a combination of regulation, improvement, enforcement and, where necessary, prosecution".
The alarm bells were ringing for me since earlier in the week I had discovered that these areas are earmarked as being amongst those that will "will accommodate the majority of development in the borough over the next 20 years".
In Facebook and Twitter conversations this afternoon, warehouse residents shared their fears that the vibrancy their communities bring to the borough will be overlooked and their communities sanitised and destroyed.
In response to my Twitter requests to Council Leader Claire Kober this evening to protect these communities, Cllr Kober sought to offer some reassurance:
@harringayonline some people in unacceptable conditions. My concern is for safe, decent properties. No intention to undermine communities
@harringayonline no intention to damage what's good. Priority is to go after rogue landlords just as we do elsewhere in borough
When I asked if she would ensure that warehouse residents will be involved, the Council Leader replied:
@harringayonline don't see any problem involving residents. Will ask officers to consider how best to achieve
I very much hope that the approach the Council takes in this project will support these communities rather than beginning the process of whittling them away.
Tags for Forum Posts: local plan, local plan 2014, site allocation plan, warehouse district
Sounds a bit Wild West Simon. And again, I'm in sympathy. A few of the Omega units seemed to have been shut and some seem be to waiting to be. I have posted for them to "manage your events". I do not know who owns and leases the units. The company dealing with the majority of the other sites is quite hot on it and some of us residents are. One point I would again make, it's a very vibrant and creative and actually well connected community, yet not under one umbrella. On Arena we set up a res assoc and the other sites should do likewise. Dialogue.
im worried its too late, as simon has pointed out, the blind eye has been turned for years.
Hannie, I am sympathising with Jenny but i dont live opposite Omega like she does. I walk past it everyday and it is less boho more scruffy every day. I live right next to the overbury Warehouse icommunity and we have similat problems with noise. more so in the spring and summer months when doors and windows are open for the raves and then of course the noisy drunken yelling of revellers returning home at 6 and 7 in the morning.
its hard not to generalise when the only 3 people on this thread who actually live or have lived near the warehouses, myself, simon and jenny have had the same experiences.
There's a lot of sympathy on this thread. Maybe you should all meet up at The Finsbury tavern for a good night out! Amazing what face to face discussions can achieve.
Perhaps the three ward councillors for Seven Sisters Claire Kober, Joe Goldberg and Dhiren Basu, will come on HoL and give us all a summary of what they've done and are doing to help sort out the nuisance/noise/rubbish problems.
I'm not pretending these issues are simple to solve. They are not. Over the years I've frequently failed to resolve them satisfactorily in my own Tottenham Hale ward. Or maybe thought a problem was tackled, only for it to resume with a new bunch of people.
But Cllr Lorna Reith, Reg Rice and I have intervened when residents complained to us. So I'm sure that Claire, Joe and Dhiren have also rolled their sleeves up and made efforts.
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