23+November+2007

COMMUNITY TO CONSULT PUBLIC ON ITS OWN PLANS FOR SEVEN SISTERS REDEVELOPMENT

The coalition of traders and community groups opposed to the scheme favoured by Haringey Council for the redevelopment of Wards Corner at Seven Sisters is to launch a public consultation on its own alternative plan for the site.

In a groundbreaking initiative, the coalition (including the current Wards Corner market traders and 8 local residents associations) **submitted the first part of its own planning application to Haringey Council on 14 November, and is organising a public exhibition of its proposals at Seven Sisters Market. The exhibition will open on Saturday 1 December, and is expected to remain open until at least the end of the year.

As part of the exhibition, the public will also be invited to give its views on the community's alternative plan for the redevelopment.

"We will be asking a full range of questions, unlike the so-called consultation on the Council scheme," said Wendy Keenan of the Fountain** Area Residents Association. "All that asked people to comment on was the design of the pavement area and where to plant some trees, which isn't good enough. Any redevelopment proposal should reflect what the community wants, and that's why we're inviting people to comment on our alternative plan."

Haringey Council's planning brief for the Wards Corner site says that the redevelopment should be a landmark gateway to the Tottenham area.

However, the scheme drawn up by the Council's preferred developer has been criticised as bland, unimaginative and destructive of the site's heritage and its thriving market community. In addition, its two eight-storey tower blocks would be out of keeping with the adjacent Page Green Conservation Area and its anonymous shopping mall would conflict with the planning brief's requirement that redevelopment should acknowledge the richness and diversity of the area's communities.

"We all want to see the Wards Corner site regenerated, but redevelopment doesn't mean razing everything to the ground and starting again" said Joseph Nicholas of the Tottenham Civic Society. "Renovating and reopening the former Wards Department Store building, which is the basis of the community's alternative plan, not only reserves attractive features from Tottenham's past but is more environmentally friendly.

The alternative plan is therefore more in keeping with the Council's wish to become the greenest borough in London."

The community's alternative plan includes the restoration of the Edwardian department store from which Wards Corner takes its name, a revitalised indoor market that promotes the cultural diversity of Seven Sisters and the creation of a new public open space to the rear of the current buildings, all with an emphasis on sustainability. The community coalition is asking for the Council's preferred redevelopment partner, Grainger, to adopt its proposals as the basis for the regeneration.

The shopkeepers and market traders at Wards Corner have not been approached by Haringey Council about the future of their businesses.

"The Colombian community has put heart and soul into the indoor market and everyone can see we've made a tremendous improvement," said Victoria Alvarez of Seven Sisters Market. "Keeping a thriving multicultural market will put Seven Sisters on the map and make it a place to visit." ENDS

Notes for Editors

1.   The former Wards Department Store building on the corner of Seven Sisters Road and the High Road is an early twentieth century example of a steel-framed three-storey structure with large internal spaces -- the only example of such a building in Tottenham and thus a significant part of Tottenham's architectural heritage.

2.   The building is in the Page Green conservation area, one of six that comprise the historic Tottenham High Road corridor, and is locally listed by Haringey Council as making a significant and positive contribution to the conservation area. The Council's own Supplementary Plann