Teach-in on the crisis in social care in Haringey

SOCIAL CARE ALLIANCE HARINGEY (SCAH) invites you to a teach-in on the crisis in Social Care in Haringey.

The event will be held at Commerce Road Community Centre, N22 8EE
10:30am to 5pm, on Saturday MAY 13
th 2017.

Further details are in the pdf file attached – or below just in case your system doesn’t like attachments.Directions, parking – see Eventbrite site https://www.eventbrite.com/e/haringeys-social-care-crisis-tickets-

Printed leaflets also available– please e-mail or phone us if you can use some. Contact: Doug Sager; socialcareallianceharingey@gmail.com: 07828 188 984.

SCAH is an ‘umbrella’ group supporting all organisations involved with/receiving social care. We are organising this meeting in collaboration with the Haringey group of Keep our NHS Public (formerly Haringey 38 Degrees). Continue reading

Our Tottenham objects to the Council proposals for the re-engineering of much of Wood Green

Please see below and attached the Our Tottenham Planning Policy Working Group objections to the Council’s highly controversial proposals for the social and physical re-engineering of much of Wood Green.

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Full Report here

Introduction / summary of the Our Tottenham response

The stated aim of the Wood Green Area Action Plan (AAP) is to facilitate and deliver the regeneration of Wood Green, to make it ‘north London’s most prosperous and liveable town centre’ (p. 54). Some of the key assumptions underpinning the AAP, and thus its most significant (and controversial) proposals, are uncertain. In particular, they are based on the arrival of Crossrail 2 in the area, which has not been confirmed. The National Infrastructure Commission have recommended that Crossrail 2 bypass Wood Green and Turnpike Lane altogether (saving the rail project over £4 billion). If the arrival of Crossrail 2 in the area is not confirmed, there is no case for the proposed increase in densities, nor a case for major reconfiguration of the town centre between the High Rd/Library and Coburg Rd around a new ‘central’ square and the demolition of the Mall and of a set of viable homes.

The AAP, in its depiction of the local economy, existing businesses and more generally the state of the area, often implies that some segments of the established population (those with ‘low purchasing power’, p. 6), businesses and shops are a hurdle or problem to be overcome or displaced, rather than seeing them as part of the solution.

It advocates a high-risk, disruptive, large-scale redevelopment of the town centre involving harm and potentially long-term damage to those established residents and businesses. The aim of attracting new investments, new residents, new businesses and new development to Wood Green which underpins the AAP should not be done at the expense of the existing community, i.e. by displacing local residents and local businesses; and it should actually improve the lives of existing residents, by creating jobs and homes which locals (in particular low-skilled and low-income) can access and developments which generate true and significant benefits or facilities accessible to the community.

Regeneration should not lead to gentrification in which local residents are forced or priced out of the area. We do not want a form of regeneration which will over-develop Wood Green, which will push up house prices and private rents, reduce the amount of council housing in the area, have inadequate social infrastructure, force out small shops and businesses, encourage the exploitation of low-paid workers, and drive out large numbers of the poor and members of ethnic minorities to make way for a new higher-income population. The strategic priority given to new, large-scale development in Wood Green in the London Plan and in the Haringey Local Plan consultation documents cannot be realised at the expense of the people already living and working here. The implications for existing and future social infrastructure of the proposed 7,000+ new homes are not well considered in the AAP.

Lawrence Road developments + some planning history

The Council has announced the following proposals for Lawrence Road N15

Proposal: 45-63 Lawrence Road: Demolition of the existing buildings and redevelopment of the site to provide one interconnected new building ranging from the to seven storeys in height which includes a recessed top floor comprising 80 residential units (use class C3) and 566sqm of commercial floor space (Use class B1/A2) on ground and first floor level, including 17 car parking spaces and associated works.

Proposal: 67 Lawrence Road: Demolition of the existing buildings and redevelopment of the site to provide a 7 storey building fronting Lawrence Road which includes a recessed top floor and four storey mews block to the rear, comprising 69 residential units (use class C3) and seven live work units on ground and first floor level, including 14 car parking spaces and associated works.

2 Development Management Forum meetings – open to all – will be held at West Green Baptist Church, 182-184 West Green Road, Tottenham N15 5AF (access to meeting room via Dorset Road N15).
a)    one on Thurs 30 June for 50-56 Lawrence Road and
b)    one on Mon 4 July for 45-63 and 67 Lawrence Road.

The redevelopment of Lawrence Road has been discussed and planned for at least the last 10 years. The views of residents and residents’ groups, and indeed the content of most of the actual official planning policies, have unfortunately been sidelined and ignored.

For the record, here’s a summary compiled in June 2007 of residents’ views and opportunities regarding the Lawrence Road area, which if adopted would have improved the area for the benefit of local people… People can and must, of course, continue to campaign for protection and positive improvements to our neighbourhoods. Victories are still being achieved where there are strong and active local grassroots organisations and campaigns. In any case, the long-term building up of our collective voices and activities is in itself a real achievement in the face of the current ‘top down’ and unaccountable Council and corporate power.

Lawrence Rd development site opportunities
– June 2007

Introduction      There is a consultation in progress about the future of Lawrence Road – currently a huge and neglected industrial site which has now been earmarked for ‘mixed use’. This is a unique chance to improve a large area in the centre of residential Tottenham. Hence it is vital that people in Tottenham as a whole, especially in the local communities around the area, speak out loud and strong with their views on how Lawrence Road should be turned into a street with facilities and an environment that benefits the community – an area everyone can be proud of!

Past successes      It is worth noting that local residents’ and residents associations in the area (especially the Clyde Area RA) recently campaigned together to save the popular Fountain Pub in West Green Rd, opposite the end of Lawrence Rd, from being demolished and turned into yet another block of flats. Originally the Planning Dept held a public meeting for local residents about that proposal, asking for people’s views on the design of the replacement flats. However, everyone at that meeting insisted the pub must be saved – they demanded the Council reject the application but were told by planning officers that it would be ‘impossible’ to save the pub.

However after a long campaign of lobbying, petitions, protests and publicity, and attendance at Planning meetings and appeals, residents won!

At another, similar planning meeting a year ago a bit further afield residents were told by planning officers that it would be impossible to insist on a new entrance into Chestnuts Park through a new factory-site development. However after strenuous lobbying by residents and the local Friends of Chestnuts Park at various planning hearings and appeals, the entrance has finally been agreed. Continue reading

Thursday 7th July 2016 – Next OT Coordination Meeting

Next Our Tottenham General Coordination Meeting
Thursday July 7th, 7pm
@ 639 High Rd, N17
Members and reps from local community organisations and individual supporters all welcome!

– Update and preparations regarding the Haringey Draft Local Plan Public Inquiry at the Civic Centre (currently scheduled for late August / early September)
– Report from the Council’s ‘Tottenham Conference’ (July 2nd)
– Specific sites news and campaigns (eg Marcus Garvey Library, Wards Corner / Apex House, Lawrence Road, Tottenham Hale, Spurs area, Wharehouses tenants, St Ann’s Hospital etc etc)
– Campaign to Defend Local Council Estates (including Broadwater Farm and Northumberland Park campaigns)
– Haringey Community Centres Network
– Council/developer general plans update
– London initiatives

Please encourage reps and members of local groups and concerned people to attend! Minutes of last Coordination meeting to follow…

Responses to Tottenham Alteration Strategic Policies, Tottenham AAP and Site Allocation DPD

Please find below the responses by the Our Tottenham network (Planning Policy Working Group) as part of the current consultation on the Haringey Local Plan. These responses were submitted in March 2016.

Three documents follow:

The first response concerns the Alterations Strategic Policies
The second OT response is to the Tottenham AAP
The third is the response to the Site Allocation DPD (for the few Tottenham sites)

For other documents previously submitted please see the documents tab above.

APRIL 2016 UPDATE

Please forward around Tottenham
Our Tottenham General Coordination Meeting
Thursday May 5th, 7pm

@ 639 High Rd, N17
Members and reps from local community organisations and individual supporters all welcome!

APRIL 2016 UPDATE

Draft notes from 7th April 2016 Coordination Meeting, 639 High Rd, N17

Present:  Jane and Dave R (Haringey Housing Action Group), Jasmin (Friends of Marcus Garvey Library), Dave M (Friends of Lordship Rec, and Haringey Federation of Residents Associations),Paul B (Haringey Defend Council Housing), Jacob (HDCH and Broadwater Farm Res Assoc), Judith (resident), David K (Haringey Needs St Ann’s Hospital Campaign + START), Paul N (Taxpayers Against Poverty), Luca (Haringey Solidarity Group)    Apologies: Anne (Haringey Green Party), Martin (Friends of Down Lane Park), Mark P (researcher), Michelle L (resident), Yvonne (Ubele), Bibsi (Resident), Shirley (Bruce Grove Res Network), Claire (Planning Policy working group), Sue (Clyde Area RA, Tottm Civic Society, Tottm FOE), Philip (Friends of Lord Morrison Hall),

Minutes of the last meeting(s)  Not available (see below).

Planning Policy    It was explained that there had been 4 or 5 meetings January-March to publicise and prepare the OT response to the Council’s latest Draft Local Plan. This was a huge collective effort, involving 8-15 people and many of our affiliated groups. Our extensive responses (4 documents) need to be put onto our website. Continue reading

StART – Community Land Trust in Tottenham

StART (St Ann’s Redevelopment Trust) http://startharingey.co.uk/ are setting up a community land trust in Tottenham and would like some help with fundraising, publicity, planning etc.

START is a group of Haringey residents and workers who want to see the St. Ann’s Hospital site used for the good of the community, rather than in the interests of big developers. We want to plan and organise a community-led development with the full participation of local people, to provide genuinely affordable homes and other facilities that respond to local needs.

Next year, two-thirds of the St Ann’s Hospital site is due to be sold for private housing development, with only 14% of the homes classed as “affordable”. The current proposal takes no account of the needs of local people at a time of severe housing need. Existing workspace and green space will be destroyed and turned over to expensive housing, putting huge pressure on local health services that are already stretched to their limit.

We believe we can do better than this! The St Ann’s site is a public asset which could benefit the whole community rather than a few wealthy private developers, landlords and their tenants.

Across the country, community projects are successfully raising funds and buying public assets for everyone to access – and we intend to do the same.

Petition: Support Community-run Community Centres in Haringey

http://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=45&RPID=5953304&HPID=5953304

We the undersigned petition the council to support the borough’s community-run Community Centres and their calls for secure, long-term and affordable leases. We would like the council to suspend the Cabinet’s decision to dramatically increase rents and reconsider shortening future leases of the many Centres in Council-owned buildings. We would like the council to work in partnership with Community Centres towards common goals for stronger communities facing challenging times. we would also like the immediate release of the ‘Community Buildings Review’ documents and data collected We believe our Centres are vital and popular community facilities, involving hundreds of the borough’s community groups and tens of thousands of local residents who use their facilities and hundreds of jobs depend on their existence. To thrive, such Centres need secure, long-term and affordable leases which enable, promote and guarantee community empowerment and self-management.

Community-run Community Centres provide an unparalleled range of diverse services and facilities throughout the borough, based mainly on self-funding and extensive volunteering, saving untold sums of money for the Council and statutory services. We promote community cohesion, awareness and empowerment, and all kinds of cultural, educational, social and economic opportunities.

In July 2015 Council officers produced a short report of the extensive 3-year long review of Community Centres based in Council buildings. The Council’s Cabinet unfortunately endorsed the report’s recommendations which boil down to a threat of much shorter leases (which would prevent long-term investment and strategic planning), impossibly high rents and much greater insecurity for those organisations and Centres affected, many of which will face closure as a result.

This is complete contradiction to both the Council’s ‘Corporate Plan’ and its ‘Communities Strategy’ in which the Council says it ‘will work with communities to achieve their ambitions, by making best use of the strengths of the borough and ensuring that we build capacity and foster independence and self-reliance.

Community Centres are central to the achievement of such aims, and to the ongoing provision of a whole range of services, particularly at a time when the Council is continually having to cut back on its own provision.

This petition is submitted by Haringey Community Centres Network which includes The Asian Centre, The Irish Centre, The Selby Centre, Lord Morrison Hall, Jackson Lane, Lordship Eco Hub, The Markfield Project and the West Indian Cultural Centre.

On reaching 2200 signatures A debate will be held at full Council

This ePetition runs from 09/10/2015 to 12/02/2016.

Tonight: RESPONDING TO THE HARINGEY ‘LOCAL PLAN’ CONSULTATIONS

Tuesday 13 October, 18:30-20:30  (6.30-8.30pm)

@ Tottenham’s Living Room, 639 Entreprise Centre, 639 High Road N17
Organised by the Our Tottenham Planning Policy Working Group
OPEN TO ALL

18:30: Public information meeting: update on the consultation process about the revision of the Haringey Local Plan
19:30: Coordination of responses and action plan ahead of the next consultation on the Local Plan: how can we object and respond to the proposals which might negatively affect existing communities and businesses in Tottenham?

Haringey Council is currently in the process of updating the Local Plan which will define the future development of the Borough and of Tottenham. The Local Plan is made up of a series of planning documents that together form an overall set of rules. The council’s Planning Committee must normally take these rules into account when making planning decisions on things like new homes, shops and other facilities. This is why such documents are very important as they will guide much of the development that will happen in the next decade!

Two documents are particularly important: the Tottenham Area Action Plan and the Site Allocations Development Plan Document. They set out the location, scale, guiding principles and timeframe for new developments on dozens of strategic sites in the Borough. Many of the proposals affect sites with existing viable uses, housing, shops, businesses or community facilities which could be displaced in the process.

The Council carried out a public consultation on the draft Local Plan documents in February-March 2015. The Our Tottenham Planning Policy Working Group submitted several responses, here: http://ourtottenham.org.uk/working-groups/planning-policy/

In total several hundreds of responses were sent to the Council by individuals and organisations. which can be viewed at: http://www.haringey.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning/planning-policy/local-development-framework-ldf/local-plan-consultation/representations-received-response-local-plan-consultation-9-february-27-march-2015-companies

The Council has now analysed all the representations received and reported to the Council’s Regulatory Committee on Monday 21 September, presenting the following document: Draft Local Responses and Officers’ comments http://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/Published/C00000721/M00007434/AI00046513/$LocalPlanSept20151435pm.docx.pdf

On that basis the Council is now preparing a set of amended “Proposed Submission” documents. These documents will be presented to the Cabinet meeting of 20 October and Council Meeting of 23 November for approval. See: http://www.haringey.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/planning/planning-policy/local-development-framework-ldf/local-plan-consultation

There will be a further round of public consultation on these documents in December-January.  This will then be followed by an Examination in Public of the documents led by a Planning Inspector.  This will be based on the legality and soundness of the documents, and will focus on the issues raised at the consultation.

The responses people submitted last time had some impact – for example the ‘red zone’ threat to the open space of the Lordship Rec (in the Site Allocation DPD under no. SA63) was abandoned due to the volume of objections.

HOWEVER, many of the responses and objections made by the Our Tottenham network and affiliate groups and other community organisations in Haringey and Tottenham are not going to be reflected into the new revised documents.

We need to mobilise and prepare strong responses to the next round of consultation to make the voice of existing residents and businesses in Tottenham heard! It is really important that local residents have a voice in the consultation process as these documents will define the future nature of the developments which the Council will prioritize and give planning permission to in these areas.

Come along to this Planning Workshop to find out more about that process and how to mobilise!

Continue reading

Community Empowerment in Tottenham – what does it look like now and in the future?

Public Meeting
Community Empowerment in Tottenham – what does it look like now and in the future?
Sunday 18th October, 3pm to 5pm
@ The Hub (by the lake), Lordship Rec, N17 6NU

All welcome to come and share views and experiences of community empowerment projects, groups and campaigns in Tottenham, and to join in a discussion about what we want to see around our neighbourhoods (and the whole of Tottenham) in the future.  How can we publicise and coordinate our efforts effectively in order to make a real difference?

Some inspirational examples – which help point the way – can be found here:
http://ourtottenham.org.uk/community-plans/