‘Tottenham’s Future’ Event, Wednesday 30th July, 4-8pm

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Tottenham Town Hall, N15

We encourage those attending to speak up loudly for the real needs of our communities – for genuinely affordable housing for local people, expansion of social and community facilities and services, protection for small local businesses, genuine community empowerment.

Many if not most of the views expressed by local people during the Tottenham Future consultation have either been ignored by the Council or are under threat of being bulldozed aside in the frenzy of profit-driven mega-development planned by property developers over the next 20 years…

To enable the Council to demonstrate it is genuine about wanting to work with local people, we have asked them to agree to the following ‘quick wins’:

  ‘Quick Wins’

– Help implement the Wards Corner Community Plan now it has planning permission: renewal rather than the demolition of this vibrant and historic area.
– Scrap the High Rd West proposals for mass demolitions and a Spurs ‘walkway’: create new plans for improvements in partnership with local traders/residents
– Protect Council Housing estates: improvements, not demolitions, displacement and disruption.
– Support community-run Community Centres: give them the extended leases they want, rather than threats of evictions
– Expand health-related services throughout St Ann’s Hospital: to include a new Urgent Care Centre and other facilities on Haringey’s only hospital site, rather than support the selling off of much-needed public land.

Our Tottenham call on the Council to adopt some key ‘quick wins’ to support the local community

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Philip Udeh (Our Tottenham Co-ordination Group), Patricia Pearcy (Tottenham Businesses Group / High Road West) and Paul Burnham (Haringey Defend Council Housing) took part in an Our Tottenham deputation to address the Council Cabinet on 15th July.  See the full written statement below.

Philip Udeh called for a rethink of some of the most controversial and damaging ‘regeneration’ proposals for Tottenham, due to be discussed later on in the meeting, and offered the Cabinet an opportunity to agree to some simple and positive ‘quick wins’ which would demonstrate that the Council was genuinely willing to engage with the community and our real needs. The ‘quick wins’ proposed by Our Tottenham are:

– Help implement the Wards Corner Community Plan now it has planning permission
– Scrap the High Rd West proposals for demolitions and a Spurs ‘walkway’ – create new plans for improvements in partnership with local traders/residents
– Protect Council Housing estates with improvements, not demolitions, displacement and disruption.
– Support community-run Community Centres, and give them the extended leases they want, rather than threats of evictions
– Expand health-related services throughout St Ann’s Hospital, Haringey’s only hospital site, to include a new Urgent Care Centre, rather than support the selling off of much-needed public land. Continue reading →

Upcoming meetings

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Planning policy (14/7), Community Planning (16/7), Co-ordination (17/7)

Our Tottenham Planning Policy Working Group

Monday 14th July 2014, 6.30pm, Kitab Evi/The Garden House, 410 High Road, N17 9JB

We will discuss the latest developments in planning policy in Haringey and in London, and list the forthcoming documents and consultations which are crucial for Tottenham. This is in order to plan for the work to be done in the next months to make sure the voice of Tottenham’s residents and businesses is heard in the forthcoming public consultations. All welcome!

Our Tottenham Community Planning – WORKSHOP

Wednesday 16th July 2014, 6.30pm – 8.30pm @ Upstairs Room, 639 High Rd, N17

Special workshop to share experiences and ideas about how to make long-term community plans for sites, buildings, neighbourhoods and Tottenham as a whole. How do we develop a vision, mobilise public support, build partnerships, win over the relevant authorities, raise the necessary money/resources, and implement our plans?!

Those who have done them and those who’d like to do them are urged to attend! –  Community Centres, Friends of Park groups, local facilities/services, housing estates, social enterprises, contested local sites etc.

Our Tottenham General Co-ordination Meeting

Thursday 17th July 2014, 7pm – 8.30pm @ Tottenham’s Living Room, 639a High Rd, N17

For all those who want to see genuine community empowerment throughout Tottenham.
– Latest Tottenham ‘regeneration’ and development news
– Reports of local activities around housing, planning, economy etc
– Reports from local groups and campaigns
– October 4-11th: ‘Tottenham Community Empowerment Week’ and Our Tottenham conference…

Upcoming Our Tottenham meetings:

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ALL WELCOME!!

 Our Tottenham Coordination Meeting
Thursday 15th May, 7pm
Tottenham Chances, 399 High Road, N17

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Housing Working Group
Tuesday 13th May, 7pm
Kitabevi Restaurant/Garden Bookhouse, 410 High Road, N17

Funding Working Group
First meeting to seek funding for organisations and realisation of major projects (community facilities, Wards Corner etc)
Wed 21st May, 7pm
Lord Morrison Hall, Scales Road, N17

Community Planning Working Group – Training session in conjunction with UCL students
On how to use, edit and update our new online mapping tools
Monday 19th May, 6pm tbc
Date and venue to be confirmed

Wards Corner Coalition granted planning permission!

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WCC after truncated meeting.Fantastic news! Wards Corner Coalition is granted permission for a community-led plan to restore Seven Sisters Market.

‘We are pleased to announce that Haringey Council has given planning permission for the Community Plan for the restoration of the Wards Corner building. This exciting and long awaited plan has been prepared by local Architectural Designer, Abigail Stevenson in conjunction with local community input and submitted by the West Green Road and Seven Sisters Development Trust along with Wards Corner Community Coalition (WCC). A virtual tour of the plan is still hosted in StickyWorld.com a web platform whick provides a forum where people can easily comment and start discussions on a three-dimensional vision of the future. When implemented this plan will build on an existing bustling and culturally unique market, as well as supporting local businesses, creating spaces for start ups and local artists while restoring a beautiful and iconic building to modern day energy efficient standards. It will give Tottenham a building to take pride in and will be vital to the community and all those small businesses that already do so well in this area. ‘

See: https://wardscornercommunityplan.wordpress.com/

Our Tottenham Factsheet ‘Housing: Demolition v Refurbishment’

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Download full factsheet: OurTottenhamHousingFactsheetDemolitions

There is compelling evidence that estate or tower block refurbishment, in all but the most extreme cases, is both cheaper and less damaging to the local environment than demolition and new build. (Anne Power, 2008, “Does demolition or refurbishment of old and inefficient homes help to increase our environmental, social and economic viability?”). Anne Power identifies a list of issues and assumptions that are not addressed in arguments in favour of demolition.

• Demolition breaks up the essential social infrastructure and social capital in neighbourhoods, which take decades to build up again. Facilities and meeting places are costly to reinstate once they have been lost, and young people can become very disorientated as demolition is planned and carried out. Government research about social capital identifies a strong relationship between local social networks and individual well-being and resilience. There is a need for research that looks at the social and financial costs of breaking up local social networks, in particular the impact on young families, children and the elderly. Continue reading →

FURTHER ALTERATIONS TO THE LONDON PLAN – Comments Submission April 2014

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(DRAFT) SUBMISSION FROM THE OUR TOTTENHAM PLANNING WORKING GROUP 14th April 2014

Download full submission here

INTRODUCTION

Tottenham is a great place with a rich social and architectural history, made up of vibrant, diverse and talented communities. We want to ensure this continues. The Our Tottenhamnetwork brings together 40 key local community groups, projects and campaigns standing up for the interests of people in Tottenham, especially around planning and regeneration issues (http://ourtottenham.org.uk/?page_id=31). We work together to fight for our neighbourhoods, our community facilities and the needs of our communities throughout Tottenham. This response, formulated by the Our Tottenham Planning Policy Working Group, is based on the principles embedded in the Community Charter for Tottenham agreed by the Our Tottenham network on 6 April 2013 (available here: http://ourtottenham.wordpress.com/community-charter/). This was followed up by a Community Planning for Tottenham conference in February 2014. We attach as background our recent response to Haringey Council’s consultation on Area Action Plans for Tottenham.

Most local residents and businesses are happy and proud to live, work and invite their friends to Tottenham. It is already ‘a place for diverse communities that people are proud to belong to’, to use the headline of the Sustainable Community Strategy 2007-2016 approved by the Council. Consequently, the aim enshrined in the approach to planning in Tottenham – by the London Plan, the Upper Lee Valley Opportunity Area Planning Framework and the Area Action Plans for Tottenham that Haringey Council has recently consulted on – of attracting new investments, new residents, new businesses and new development to Tottenham 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 which locals 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, and should not be done at the expense of the people of Tottenham. We do not want a form of regeneration which will over-develop Tottenham, which will push up house prices and private rents, reduce the amount of council housing in the area, 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.

OVERALL COMMENTS ON THE FALP Continue reading →

Upcoming meetings

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Tuesday 8th April 2014
Housing Working Group
7pm at 410 Kitabevi Bookhouse Cafe, 410 High Road

Wednesday 23rd April 2014
Community Planning Working Group
6.30pm at Kitabevi Bookhouse Cafe, 410 High Road

Thursday 24th April 2014
General Coordination Meeting
7pm at Tottenham Chances, 399 High Road

Tuesday 29th April 2014
Planning Policy Working Group
6.30pm at Kitabevi Bookhouse Cafe, 410 High Road

 

Yes to the renewal and renaissance of the historic and much loved Wards Corner area!

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Support for Wards Corner Community Coalition application HGY/2014/0575

As logged on the Council’s planning page:   http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/ApplicationSearchServlet?PKID=272550

The Our Tottenham network, involving 40 local organisations, fully supports the Wards Corner Community Coalition and its constructive and inspirational plans for the renewal and refurbishment of the historic and iconic Wards Corner, the vibrant and unique indoor Seven Sisters market, and the neighbouring area.

Their plans must be approved and supported in order to ensure:
– the recovery, preservation and renaissance of one of Tottenham’s key heritage sites
– the protection and enhancement of the interests and diversity of the site’s shopkeepers, traders, inhabitants and users
– the enhancement to the architectural, social and environmental quality and sustainability of the site
– the empowerment of those who live or work in the area

The implementation of the plan will ensure an end to the many years of neglect of the site, and an end to fears of evictions, demolition, displacement and loss.

It will excite those living, working or visiting the area, and inspire people throughout Tottenham, Haringey, London and beyond.

The Wards Corner Community Coalition should be applauded for their love of the site and area, for their care over their plans, for their engagement and involvement of those at the site and of the local communities, and for their determination to protect and improve it for the benefit of the people of Tottenham.

Press Release: Our Tottenham Conference A Huge Success

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Our Tottenham Community Planning Conference SMALLEROn Saturday 1st February the Our Tottenham Community Planning Conference was attended by over 95 people representing 42 local community groups & organisations, residents associations, traders groups, education institutions and London wide networks.

The conference, organised by local residents, brought this diverse range of groups together to discuss the creation of community plans in Tottenham and to share skills and knowledge.

Many success stories from around the borough were shared, including the restoration of Lordship Recreation Ground, the 30 year campaign to retain the green space at Bull Lane Playing Field, and the continuing struggle to implement a community-led plan at Wards Corner.

Breakout sessions discussed issues facing local groups including the on-going consultation on Haringey Council’s Area Action Plan, using the powers in the Localism Act to benefit the community, getting access to funding and developing relationships with the Council. Continue reading →