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=Wards Corner battlers take fight to Mayor= Tottenham Journal (Wednesday, 3 December, 2008)

ANGRY residents met with City Hall chiefs to demand a block on plans to demolish a historic site at the heart of Tottenham.

The Wards Corner Community Coalition (WCC) met Sir Simon Milton, Boris Johnson's deputy mayor for planning and policy, last Wednesday.

They appealed for the Greater London Authority to block developer Grainger's plans to bulldoze the Wards Stores building, dubbed "Haringey's Harrods", and replace it with a seven-story tower of 197 flats and retail units.

Roy Jose, of the WCC, said: "The best case possibility is that he will turn the Grainger plan down and we can keep the building.

"Our fall back position is that local businesses and the market can be saved and have an affordable place in the new development."

Hundreds of Latin American traders from the Pueblito Paisa market fear they will be priced out if the new development goes ahead.

The WCC has criticised the Haringey Council planning committee hearing that approved the Grainger scheme as a "terribly poor democratic process".

An alternative development plan for the Wards Corner site, developed by the WCC, is believed to be due before the council's planning committee in the near future. Tottenham Conservatives has backed the WCC and is planning to run on a "stop demolition" ticket at the upcoming Seven Sisters ward by-election, triggered by the death of Councillor Fred Knight.

Justin Hinchcliffe, chairman of Tottenham Conservatives, said: "Boris Johnson could reject this monstrous decision and that's what we're lobbying him to do."

The Tottenham Civic Society fears the scheme could put the area's status as West Green Road and Seven Sisters Conservation Area at risk.

Chairman Matthew Bradbury said: "The existence of the conservation area in that part of Tottenham is under threat. We have called for the site to be restored sensitively, preserving the historic buildings."

But developers Grainger said the decision to pass its scheme was a "vote of confidence" for Tottenham and hopes for a new era of co-operation with the community.

David Walters, development director for Grainger, said: "We will work closely with the market traders so that the new Seven Sisters Market is tailored to the needs of the local community and is a place for everyone to enjoy.