Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Apex Corner
Hi, I don't know if this has been posted before but it looks like Grainger is moving in.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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OK What do you think is the value of a brownfield site of nearly 1/2 hectare, one minute from a tube line that's 20 minutes from Oxford Circus? How about £3.8million? That gets Grainger access to land on which they will make an obscene amount of money, in perpetuity (except they are being a little coy about whether this is freehold or a lease). The amount of the cash (£3.8m) was of course secret, the cosy stitch-up between Grainger (England's biggest private landlord, now expanding into Eastern Europe) and the LBH Central Committee continues. The 'Cabinet' nodded through this deal unopposed on 15th July. Like, Haringey can afford to give away precious Council-owned land for peanuts right now. See Report, item 684
Where will the Customer Services department, currently based in Apex House, go? That seems to be unclear still. They said 'Tottenham Green'. That turns out to mean that they have plans to move all that service INTO THE LIBRARY at the Leisure Centre. Or maybe they are not. There are contradictory stories flying round. We envisage caravans on the Green.
It's by no means definite that Grainger will carry out their plans for Wards Corner. Nobody wants Apex House, it's been marked as not fit for purpose for years, and the land doesn't sit over a fragile tube station. There are two granted plans for the Wards site: the Grainger smash-and-burn, and the Wards Corner Community Coalition plan to restore and renovate the market and subsequently the block. If anyone thinks it's all over, it's not. Just because the 'Cabinet' has agreed to support Grainger in its CPO bids for the 24 properties on the site that it will need to demolish, doesn't mean those CPO's will not be challenged, and that leads to a Public Enquiry.
Meanwhile the WCCC is developing its own plan, putting together finance. We are extending the West Green Road and Seven Sisters Development Trust, that is the legal body that has planning permission for the site. Watch this space for updates.
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Permalink Reply by JJ B on
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Who is ACTUALLY benefiting from these deals?
Ask yourselves that question!
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Permalink Reply by James R Grinter on
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Of all the deals which should be tendered, or done on an auction/open-market basis, it's sales of Council land/property.
Why is this not done? The cynic (and reader of Private Eye's Rotten boroughs) in me would wonder what the relationship is between Haringey Council, its employees or elected representatives, and property companies like Grainger.
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The minutes linked above ( See Report, item 684) would explain the reasoning if you could but read them, sadly they are giving a 404 Page Not Found error. I do have a downloaded copy somewhere, phew. Maybe ask your local councillor for an explanation?
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From a report dated July 2014 (their system is now back up and working again after a well deserved holiday break), authorised by our borough's "Director of Place".
"Grainger has requested the Council’s agreement to vary the Wards Corner Development Agreement by increasing the profitability threshold above which Grainger pays ‘overage’ and repays the ‘interim gap funding’ (a combination of funding previously provided by the Bridge New Deal for Communities and committed to in the Development Agreement by the Council),"
(and other notes also all about Grainger taking more profit to reflect current "market conditions" - the ones where all the housing prices and profits for developers are rising, I guess)
It contains a lot of sketchiness about the situation of dealing only with Grainger. On the one hand - because they now own much of the land over the road, and [all the justification for it being part of that development] - yet on the other hand it notes that the disposal will stand alone and not be linked to the Wards Corner development. That cake sure is delicious.
I could note so much weak thinking in that whole report, but clearly the decision was made long ago, before that report was written. The fix is in, as they say.
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