Protesters outside Wood Green Civic Centre where Haringey Council's Cabinet approved the development
Haringey Council’s Cabinet committee in north London has confirmed
that a £2 billion redevelopment housing scheme in the borough, will be carried
out in partnership with the Australian building company Lend Lease. The company
is the preferred construction management services company of the Trump Organisation,
owned by US President Donald Trump. Lend
Lease was given $200 million to redevelop The Old Post Office, in New York
City, into what will be one of the newest additions to the rapidly growing
Trump Hotel Collection.
The deal with the Labour run council will be 50% owned by the council and 50% owned and
100% managed by the property developer, and there is no guaranteed right of
return for tenants or owners. The joint venture is known as the Haringey
Development Vehicle. A final decision by the council is expected in the summer.
All of these estates in Tottenham are at risk of demolition:
Love Lane, Northumberland Park, Broadwater Farm, Somerset
Close, Lido Square, Moira Close, Brookside House, Turner Avenue, Park Grove,
Tredegar Road, Tunnel Gardens, Leabank and Lemsford, Reynardson Court, Imperial
Wharf, Sky City and Page High.
The construction company has a chequered history, to say the
least. They have admitted
to a huge fraud scheme in New York, in which it overbilled clients for more
than a decade and has agreed to pay $56 million in fines and restitution to
avoid criminal charges. The company also admitted that it evaded government
rules to hire a specified percentage of firms owned by minorities and women.
On the Old Post Office hotel development, the US Labor
Department are investigating
claims that that Lend Lease paid less than the minimum wage to workers on
the project. “It’s yet another example of Donald Trump’s relentless hypocrisy
and gross mistreatment of workers,” said Josh Goldstein, a spokesman for the
AFL-CIO union federation.
Another investigation by the Labor Department is looking
into similar
claims where a sub-contractor employed by the Trump organisation did not
pay the minimum wage to workers on another hotel construction project in
Washington DC. Many of the workers have admitted to being
illegal immigrants, mainly from Mexico.
On top of this an electrical
contractor is suing Donald Trump's Organisation for $2 million, court
documents show. The contractor, Freestate Electrical, alleges that Trump's
company hasn't paid its bills for work it did on the hotel project last year.
In Australia, Lend
Lease has been fined $200,000 in relation to the death of a rail worker and
serious injuries suffered by four others near Maitland. The total amount of
fines issued by the Industrial Court in relation to the incident is now
$660,000 as well as prosecution and court costs in the thousands of dollars.
Meanwhile, closer to home in London, the £1.5 billion regeneration
of the Heygate
council estate in Southwark which was undertaken by Lend Lease, the
council’s documents show the council only got £55m from the 22-acre site,
knowing that it has already spent £43.5m on the project so far, and is expected
to spend £6.6m more before the final demolition. As a comparison, the
neighbouring Oakmayne/Tribeca Square development site, which is only 1.5 acre,
got sold in 2011 for £40m.
Lend Lease is estimated to have made a £194m profit before
any overage profit is shared with Southwark Council, whilst only 45 out of
1,000 secure tenants ever returned to the new homes which had been promised.
A report
by Southwark council officers said Lend Lease baulked at providing social
units as this would require a second lobby and lift shaft to separate the two
types of residents, adding: “not doing so would have significant implications
on the valuations of the private rental properties.”
The company also worked on the London 2012 Olympic Park. It
is not known how much profit they made from the Olympics, but its profits rose
by 28 per cent in 2012 - when it was built – though we know that the project
cost the taxpayer £275m in total.
Haringey Council should stop pursuing this venture and
choose the 100% council-owned vehicle option. This will ensure the council has
100% control of public property and land, as well as enabling the council to
retain profits.
Gordon Peters of Haringey Green Party, who has launched a
legal challenge against the council, said:
“It’s what has been called social
cleansing - and that is exactly what it increasingly is going to be, if not
stopped.”
You can contribute towards the £4,000 cost of the Judicial Review of
Haringey Council's decision here:
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