Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey's Warehouse Districts Under Threat?
An item at tonight's Council Cabinet meeting has thrown into question the future survival of Haringey's two warehouse districts and the artistic communities who live in them.
Both the Harringay Warehouse District and the Fountayne Road community now face an uncertain future following the publication of a Haringey Council report, "Tackling Unauthorised Living in Industrial Areas". (Report attached)
The report, which was discussed at the full cabinet of the Council today, recommends a two-year project costing £600,000 which will seek to deal with "the growing problem of unauthorised residential and live work uses in and around (the) Industrial Sites" in Haringey. The recommended process is "to establish a special multi-disciplinary team to fully investigate and address the problem through a combination of regulation, improvement, enforcement and, where necessary, prosecution".
The alarm bells were ringing for me since earlier in the week I had discovered that these areas are earmarked as being amongst those that will "will accommodate the majority of development in the borough over the next 20 years".
In Facebook and Twitter conversations this afternoon, warehouse residents shared their fears that the vibrancy their communities bring to the borough will be overlooked and their communities sanitised and destroyed.
In response to my Twitter requests to Council Leader Claire Kober this evening to protect these communities, Cllr Kober sought to offer some reassurance:
@harringayonline some people in unacceptable conditions. My concern is for safe, decent properties. No intention to undermine communities
@harringayonline no intention to damage what's good. Priority is to go after rogue landlords just as we do elsewhere in borough
When I asked if she would ensure that warehouse residents will be involved, the Council Leader replied:
@harringayonline don't see any problem involving residents. Will ask officers to consider how best to achieve
I very much hope that the approach the Council takes in this project will support these communities rather than beginning the process of whittling them away.
Tags for Forum Posts: local plan, local plan 2014, site allocation plan, warehouse district
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Permalink Reply by Abi on
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Thanks for taking the time to clear that up, Hannie - I had a feeling it was not an entirely clear-cut case wrt taxation.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Can I please repeat what I hope are practical proposals for moving things forward constructively. And also add a new suggestion about looking into the future.
1. Stop waiting for the Council staff to solve these problems. There are some good council staff who've been working on this. They will assist; but what they can do is constrained by the legal frameworks they have to work within. (Planning; Licensing; Noise Nuisance; Building Control etc.) Also these staff and their resources are shrinking. And they are constrained by the overall political "steer" they may be getting.
2. Local residents - both inside and outside the "warehouses" - can and should ask Haringey staff for information. But it's also possible for residents themselves to become "players" in this game; subjects who decide their own moves, rather than pieces moved about the "board" by others.
3. If people haven't already done so, get offline and meet one another face-to-face to try clarifying and resolving problems. Having got only part-way down the list of all the trades in the "warehouses", the only one I didn't spot was saggar makers bottom knocker. But I'm sure there must be residents with groupwork/mediation skills who could help - without fee - to facilitate discussion and information sharing leading to finding solutions on common interests and problems.
4. The common interests depend partly on how far people are thinking into the future. In other words, different participants in this process are operating on different timescales. For example, some people may be thinking of this area mainly as their home now and for many years to come. While others may be more concerned about keeping their live-work space say, for the next few months, or a year or two.
5. This is especially important in the context of plans for property development, privatisation, demolition, and social cleansing across the eastern part of Haringey. Plans backed by Boris Johnson, and our Tory Pretend "Labour" Council. (And jokingly described by them as "regeneration".)
If you think I'm exaggerating please take a peek at the networking event due to take place tomorrow on board "Clara One". No, I'm really not making this up! The good ship Clare One is a yacht located on the Albert Edouard Jetty Cannes, "one of the most sought after spots at the Palais des Festivals".
I'll bet you're way ahead of me! Yes, it's the closed private Tottenham lunch. And actually I'm miffed that my invitation seems to have got lost in the post. I'd have slept overnight on the bus at my own expense and brought my own thermos flask and sandwiches. (Not a spa in sight.)
So perhaps long term residents in the area need to aim beyond the end of noise nuisance and waste dumping. Vital though this is. And "warehouse" residents might want to think beyond their wish to be left in peace to run their creative businesses for a little while longer. And maybe both could discuss a possible common interest in resisting the machinations of property speculators, developers, and 25th rate on-the-make Haringey politicians. Those people are playing the short, medium and longterm games. In which most of the the rest of us are the patsies who lose out.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Hancher on
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Dear Alan
Thank you for your concise understanding of the greater issue at stake . This is not about Omega Works , we are just the sacrificial lamb.
In 2006 the plan suggested for Omega Works , 66 houses, 5000 sq ft of commercial ,in today' s market ,value would be £36 million .
Density has been increased since then , so the developed sight at Omega , would actually be worth considerably more .
Haringey Inc , is being run as an exclusive Private Club , where the average resident is being treated as cannon fodder for the Developer's .
Where will the Residents of Haringey go when they are displaced from their properties . I don't think many of the current Tenants in the Warehouse's or the adjoining residential terraced streets can afford the properties at Woodberry Downs .
Incidently current rents in all the Warehouses are, pro rata much less than like for like traditionally laid out flats, within the Seven Sister's and Manor House area .
If a Councillor whose experience is in Branding , Advertising and Marketing . Who also works for Ketchum Pheon , why is anybody surprised .
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Permalink Reply by jenny on
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I have asked Haringey council for info re omega works etc. I am constantly in talks with Cllr Goldberg, Eubert Malcolm and Myles Joyce etc
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Jenny , if you are constantly in talks with these Haringey employees , what have they advised you to do ?
Again I offer you to be involved in a dialogue with me , at my Studio , or your house , with some of the current Tenants at Omega , to address your grievances .
There is very few residents at Omega , who would not be sympathetic to your situation , I am sure that a meeting such as this would greatly increase the prospect of resolution to the urgent, complaints relating to noise pollution ,refuse etc
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Permalink Reply by Sharon on
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Jacqueline, didnt you come on to this forum and call Jenny a liar and threaten her with legal action? Tea and cake seems unlikely to me.
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So let's prevent all courteous contact to talk and clarify the issues and find possible shared interests?
Sometimes: "To jaw-jaw is better than to war-war" — Winston Churchill
It seems extremely unlikely that German and British troops fraternised during the informal Christmas truces in 1914. But it seems some did. And the high command, back at the chateaux, forbade it. Not hard to imagine reasons why.
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Thanks for the link Alan, I knew a bit about these truces. quite remarkable. I think we might have to wait at least till christmas before J and J exchange gifts though ;)
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Well, it's a step in the right direction, surely ;)
Sounds to me like both residents and warehouse owners are getting a bum deal in this area. Now that's been established it makes sense that they should try and find some common ground.
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Its the legal tax paying residents of Hermitage road that are getting a bum deal..The landlords bring all this on themselves.Do any of them have planning permission for residential use? Why will no none answer this question..
There isn't any common ground, you obviously haven't had to put up with the noise/rubbish/abuse for the past 6 or 7 years like my family and I have.
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