HSG REGENERATION SUBGROUP
JULY MINUTES
HIPE
HSG contacted HIPE
. As they understand it (and Tottenham FoE confirm it) the supermarket on the site will definitely be a Sainsburys.
The Planning Application will be in within 6 weeks, for a store of approximately 30,000 square feet -- roughly (and,
perhaps, significantly) the same size as their current Wood Green store.
. HIPE were originally, as their name suggests, conceived as an information exchange. However, they now find themselves
in a situation where people are looking to them to take action.
. They are still mulling over the sort of alternative proposals they might present; for example, a supermarket of less
than 20,000 square feet on the High Street, or turning the Pump House into some sort of Environmental Research Centre.
. There are positive things here to which we might be able to contribute. On the whole, however, HIPE seem to have accepted
the idea that there will be a supermarket and are concentrating on what they can get with it. Naively, in our view, they
even seem to regard Sainsburys as a sort of mother figure around which they and their little schemes can gather...
Assuming -- and it looks like an increasingly reasonable assumption -- that Sainsburys are in position:
. Have they applied for Outline or Actual Planning Permission?
. If the latter, what room for haggling is there around that process?
. If/when they get their supermarket. would the staff be unionised? And what sort of wages would Sainsburys envisage
paying? Does anyone even get to ask questions like this?
The next HIPE steering committee meeting is to be held at 8.30 on Thursday 24th July. Somebody from HSG will try to get
along.
PLANNING
It was agreed that we should obtain a copy of the Unitary Development Plan, which gives a ten-year overview and the
context within which the Haringey Heartlands scheme exists. It costs £20. Lets try getting our grubby hands on a copy
by fair means or foul...
We also agreed to try to get HSG on the mailing list of Planning Applications. This would give us an overview of all
development within the borough.
RESIDENTS GROUP AGAINST MCDONALDS (NOMAC)
HSG attended their meeting. From the floor individuals raised their concerns, which mainly concerned McDonalds'
exploitation of animals and children. The chair kept trying to pull the discussion back to planning issues.
The local Labour Party seemed to come out against the scheme and called for a march, a proposal which was not adopted.
On the whole, the HSG person present felt that the meeting, with its considerable turn-out, had been quite positive.
In particular, there seemed to be a wider grasp of issues than noticed at HIPE. Interestingly, as a general rule, people
on the floor at both the HIPE and NOMAC meetings have seemed more radical than those in and around the chair, who want to
work within the system and who are unlikely to be persuaded that the system itself is designed to work against their
interests.
By the way, who actually owns the Arcade Motors site?
TOTTENHAM FoE
Somebody from HSG sent a message that she had spoken to Tottenham FoE.
. Apparently the Council have met the Housing Associations to discuss the possibility of car-free housing on the Waterworks
site. What remains unclear, however, is how the requirement for residents to agree not to have a car would be reconciled
with the Council's policy of only making a single offer to people on its lists... (There is another question here:
apparently current national planning policy demands a certain proportion of car spaces to residences in any new housing
scheme. Would some sort of exemption be forthcoming?)
. As their support for car-free housing would suggest, FoE seem to take the view that it is a question of demanding
Planning Gain in return for local agreement to the scheme. Again, we're back to asking for a Community Centre in the
shadow of the supermarket...
. On traffic, FoE point to the upcoming EC directive increasing the maximum axle weight of container lorries to 44(?)
tonnes. With residents already worried about the traffic implications of the scheme, it seems reasonable to make them
aware of the sheer size of the juggernauts that are going to be careering round Hornsey High Street...
WHAT SHOULD HSG BE DOING?
- One of our problems is that the probable Waterworks scheme is a far less black and black issue than if, say, someone
proposed to build a nuclear reprocessing plant there.
- Can we -- should we -- demonise Sainsburys as McDonalds have been? The problem is one of class/consumer niche. As a
generalisation, the sort of people who run the show at HIPE meetings don't eat at McDonalds; but they do shop at Sainsburys.
- What are HSG in it for?
- Should we, for purely tactical reasons, concentrate on supporting the NOMAC campaign as being more "winnable"? Chances
are, the Council will throw out the current application, but McDonalds will win on appeal to the Department of the
Environment. From our perspective, that looks like fertile ground: we can, at least, say "told you so".
- It seems to be the general view of the members of the subgroup that the planning process is essentially a PR exercise,
in which the notion of local consultation is little more than a fiction. In the end, what matters is not what the Hornsey
residents really want -- which HIPE are quite capable of deciding for themselves -- but why they won't actually get it.
Perhaps we should be preparing the ground for building an eventual awareness of why campaigns like HIPE's are, by their
very nature, doomed to failure.
- So should we, rather than going into the planning game, leaflet around its wider implications and the reasons why the
odds are stacked in favour of the developers, against those of residents?
- Why do we or HIPE have to come up with alternatives to the scheme? Why is simply leaving the site alone not a choice?
Why is the one absolute certainty that local people will not get what they want?
OUR TRAVELS
We have been unable to contact Haringey Regeneration Community Forum. He will send them a copy of the Newsletter.
We also had no response from the Upper Lee Valley Partnership. After repeated phone calls, we went round, but they
wouldn't let us in! Obviously HSG casts a giant shadow. Over the entryphone, however, they did promise to send him
something. He'll keep after them.
OTHER POINTS
- According to the Haringey Independent, London Lee Valley Partnership have reported interest in creating jobs in
Haringey by companies from as far afield as Russia and India. This does little to raise hopes about wage levels in the
borough.
- Someone has put forward a scheme to rebuild the railway along the Park Walk.
- Hackney Tenants Against Privatisation are looking for information about Estate Transfers (to the private sector)
elsewhere in the country. There is apparently a proposal to transfer Dylan Thomas House to London & Quadrant Housing
Association within the context of the Heartlands regeneration scheme. It would, therefore, seem logical to deliver the
Newsletter round the flats there...
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