Written
by Gordon Peters
I
am a former social services director in London and now retired from twenty
subsequent years as a consultant in health and social development with
particular experience in policies aimed at reducing poverty and inequalities,
acting for governments in Europe and Asia and with UK donors.
As
an active member of Haringey Over 50s forum in north London and chair of the
Older Peoples Reference Group in the borough I took up the challenge posed to
living conditions of vulnerable people, particularly frail elders, by the
establishment of the Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV), the intended new
Limited Liability Partnership owned 50% by the Council and 50% by Lendlease,
the Australian multi-national corporation.
Many
individuals and groups have joined in this campaign, now called StopHDV which is supported
by both the constituency Labour Parties and the two MPs, despite which the
current leadership insists it must go ahead. It is also supported by the
LibDems and Green Parties, and by the tenants and residents federation, and
trades unions including my own, Haringey Unite Community branch, and many
affiliated campaigns and individuals.
The
Judicial Review on the Haringey Development Vehicle takes place in the High
Court on The Strand in London on 25 and 26 October, and I hope some supporters
can make it to that, either outside from 9 to10 am or in the public seating
from 10 am.
The
challenge is to Haringey Council setting up a supposedly 50/50 partnership with
the Australian multi-national corporation, Lendlease, to take over land and
property belonging to the Council, involving demolition and regeneration of
estates as well as business premises and private houses in 'red-lined areas’.
If it goes ahead it will be the biggest such transfer of local authority
resources to a private entity in UK history. Lendlease have now joined Haringey
as a defendant of the HDV in court.
None
of this would have been possible without the amazing support from the several
hundred people who have contributed through our crowdfunding to raise £25,000.
£20,000 of this is required for our community cap on any awards which will be
requested of the judge. The solicitors
for the case, Leigh Day, and the barristers have put a great deal of work in to
it, and as a result I am now asking for another £5,000 to make up the fees and
costs accruing.
I
hope you will make another donation, small or large, if you possibly can.
I
am unhappy with the HDV model and its governance arrangements as chosen by the
Council and about the process followed including lack of consultation on this
vehicle, loss of democratic control over the homes and other public assets
involved, and the Council’s failure to ensure that the HDV will comply in
future with obligations such as the Human Rights Act, the Freedom of
Information Act and the Public Sector Equality Duty.
In
summary the claims are challenging:
1]
this being set up as a partnership[LLP] rather than as a company as it is
acting for a commercial purpose;
2]
the HDV not having been consulted on and the manner of its development up to
the July 2017 Cabinet decision;
3]
the public sector equality duty of the Equality Act 2010 having been
inadequately addressed;
4]the
decision to establish the HDV as
constituting a strategic move on behalf of the Council not having been
taken to full Council.
Haringey
and Lendlease maintain publicly that thousands of homes and jobs will be won
for the borough from the HDV investment, and yet none of the risk to the public
purse nor viability assessments, nor due diligence carried out, has been shared
beyond the few members of the Cabinet.
And
the Leader of the Council’s insistence is on continuing despite the Council’s
Overview and Scrutiny Committee, across party lines, demanding a halt for
further examination, and despite a week of expert witness scrutiny by the
Housing and Regeneration Panel, objections by tenants and residents and deputations by groups, and Call-ins of
the decision to proceed.
If
the HDV goes ahead the Council will be committed immediately to transfer its
entire commercial portfolio to the HDV in return for £45 million investment
from Lendlease and its first category of land in Wood Green estate and Wood
Green Civic Centre.
It
then intends to transfer up to £2 billion worth of property which includes the
demolition of Northumberland Park estate, next to the new Tottenham Hotspur
stadium, and some surrounding leasehold housing, together home to several
thousand people, some of them single pensioners who will be at great risk if
moved.
Other
areas in the west of the borough are also scheduled for development. Beyond that
intentions are outlined in the next categories for Broadwater Farm in Tottenham,
and then potentially for any land and property
‘under-used’ or considered ‘surplus’.
The
Council outline a Right of Return and detailed consultation to come on localities
affected, but once the HDV is set up and going these will amount to ‘paper
promises’ at best, as alternative approaches such as estate refurbishment and
local community–backed plans are ruled out.
Moreover
Lendlease as the commercial partner in the HDV have been exempted from certain
requirements of Council policy so that guarantees within direct Council
oversight, including security of tenure, no longer apply.
The
legal argument here is a matter of widespread concern at a lack of
accountability and democratic process, and indeed relates to a concern for the
fundamental rights of people to a home and support in their community.
It
has ramifications far beyond Haringey regarding the ways in which social
housing and truly affordable housing are being squeezed out by corporate
actions in collusion with councils, many of them Labour councils, as the record
of Lendlease in Southwark shows all too dramatically. All evidence to date
points to a further loss of homes for poorer people and an influx of better off
rented and purchased homes in new high densities which deny or destroy existing
communities.
The
HDV has not been able to demonstrate in any way how its establishment and
operation will change things for the better, especially in such an
unpredictable economic climate, and the Council putting all its development
‘eggs in the HDV basket’ in such an untested way is being irresponsible with
public money. That is why it must be stopped, and the Council think – and
listen –again.
Gordon Peters in a
member of Haringey Green Party and a Green Left supporter
Maybe related to this case, this sounds similiar to what has been going on Cornwall for a while now. It may be that the poorer areas of the UK are being made richer by forcing out the poorer people. Here in Cornwall, even the very rare affordable homes are out of the reach of the average person, except here it seems to be the developers that gain. When developments are refused here, the developers go to appeal and permission is granted. The poor can no longer afford to live in Cornwall, our health and council services being so bad, only the rich can afford to live here. Yet they insist on huge developments, which makes no sense. You are not alone in your battle, it may be happening in other places of the UK as we speak.
ReplyDeleteprivatisation is being forced through in so many ways - always in the interests of the wealthy and counter to the interest of "lesser" people. The majority is being cheated and Council housing sold off for profit. The "right to buy" must go OR be replaced by a "right not to sell" if there's ever to be a rescue service for the helplessly poor.
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