Open+Letter+to+LBH+Sep+2012


 * Open Letter Calling for LBH to Reconsider Development Agreement with Grainger **

13th September 2012

Dear Councillor / Legal officer,

The Wards Corner Community Coalition (WCC) has become aware that London Borough of Haringey (LBH) is currently in negotiations with Grainger PLC to renew the Development Agreement committing them to working exclusively together to bring forward development at Wards Corner, Tottenham. LBH's legal department have confirmed to us that they have been instructed to renew it.

We are concerned that LBH council are following this course of action without any pause to consider whether, in the light of all that has passed, choosing Grainger as the sole development partner for Wards Corner is necessarily the best option for Tottenham.

Grainger's proposals, in their various incarnations since 2008, have been met with comprehensive opposition from a range of groups including traders, residents, national heritage bodies and planning experts and have led to 3 split decisions at planning committee meetings.

Throughout this time the WCC have approached LBH with proposals for collaboration to solve the disparity between Grainger's vision and that of local people, including with investment interest from major bodies such as the Princes Regeneration Trust and with community funded proposals for alternative schemes. Sadly we have been told that whilst LBH is subject to the Development Agreement their hands are tied. When we approached the LBH in 2008 with an offer of investment from a client brought to us by the Princes Regeneration Trust, we were told that no LBH representative could engage with us on the matter as long as the Development agreement was in place.

The WCC are calling on LBH to hold in abeyance their plans to renew the development agreement for the following reasons:

1. Following overwhelming opposition to Grainger's schemes and clear desire from local organisations to collaborate with both LBH and Grainger to regenerate Wards Corner, the Development Agreement should be redrafted to include local community groups as development partners.

2. The WCC have initiated a Judicial Review of LBH's decision to grant permission to Grainger's application for planning consent at Wards Corner (HGY/2012/0915 and HGY/2012/0921). LBH should abstain from renewing the Development Agreement until the Judicial Review has been completed. This is the second claim brought against an LBH decision regarding planning consent for development at Wards Corner. The previous claim (R(Harris) v LB Haringey [2010] EWCA 703) was successful and led to the quashing of LBH's decision to grant permission to the Grainger application HGY/2008/0303.

We want to see the council take this opportunity to engage in a proper public conversation – a conversation which should have taken place in 2004 before the Development Agreement was prematurely signed. This conversation should consider the pros and cons of demolition and new build versus renovation on the Wards Corner block. It should examine the different options and consider who is affected and how – who gains and who loses. This would be in keeping with the spirit of inclusion, genuine consultation and care which we see as being the professed goal behind the recently published Plan for Tottenham and other Haringey Council initiatives.

The WCC view is supported by many experienced and prestigious town planning experts who recognise that neighborhoods often gain more long term benefit by demonstrating respect for existing cultures and spaces through nurturing them back to renewed splendor, rather than smudging them out.

We are well aware that Councillors and our MP feel great and justifiable pressure to be seen to be making progress with the rejuvenation of the Wards Corner block. We simply ask you to recognise that the most sustainable and effective regeneration at Wards Corner will come from proper collaboration between all stakeholders, this includes the land owners, LBH, the local traders, residents and the many communities who rely on and utilise the site.

We urge those making these decisions in Haringey council to not renew the Development Agreement and to commence work with all stakeholders to find a solution that meets the needs of the people of Tottenham. The future of more than 50 small businesses, numerous homes and a retail centre with a strong, distinctive sense of culture and history are all at stake.

Wards Corner Community Coalition