Letter+to+all+Wards+Corner+Stakeholders+and+local+and+national+government+policy+makers+re+the+WCC+Proposal

From:Wendy Keenan 

To: george.meehan@haringey.gov.uk, Ita.o’donovan@haringey.gov.uk, niall.bolger@haringey.gov.uk

CC: paul.smith@haringey.gov.uk, stuart.cooke@haringey.gov.uk, Michaelp@planningaidforlondon.org.uk, PatrickA@planningaidforlondon.org.uk, richard.barnes@london.gov.uk, joanne.mccartney@london.gov.uk, anthony.bickmore@gpf.org.uk, anthony.bickmore@tfl.gov.uk, charles.stafford@tube.tfl.gov.uk, DWalters@graingerplc.co.uk, AScrivener@graingerplc.co.uk, geoffrey.ocen@haringey.gov.uk, Arleen.Brown@haringey.gov.uk, info@equalityhumanrights.com, blears@parliament.uk, lorna.reith@haringey.gov.uk, phead@stall.conel.ac.uk, rn@havcoharingey.org.uk, pp@havcoharingey.org.uk, glanvillep@parliament.uk, roland.jeffery@princes-regeneration.org, paul.gardner@princes-regeneration.org, Natalia.Fernandez@neweconomics.org, borr@CIVICTRUST.ORG.UK, psquires@civictrust.org.uk, heloise@victoriansociety.org.uk, Richard Parish , emma.williamson@london.gov.uk

Tuesday, 08 July 2008

Dear


 * Wards Corner Site, Tottenham, London, N15

Ref: HGY/2008/0177. Applicant: Victoria Alvarez and Ricardo Pelayo for Pueblito Paisa on behalf of the Wards Corner Community Coalition (WCC)

Ref: HGY/2008/0322. Applicant: Grainger plc. Ref: HGY/2008/0303. Applicant: Grainger plc.**

The above-mentioned applications refer to development proposals for the Wards Corner Site at Seven Sisters.

HGY/2008/0177 is for the restoration of the existing Transport for London-owned buildings on the High Road frontage, including the iconic Wards building. This would bring large areas of high quality floorspace back into use for retail or other purposes. Preservation and restoration of these buildings, and others on the edge of the site, would ensure that the vibrant Latino market would retain its home, and that thriving small businesses will continue to flourish and expand. This is the Community Plan supported by the Wards Corner Community Coalition (WCC).

HGY/2008/0322 is the proposal of Grainger PLC for the demolition of all existing buildings on the site. This includes all buildings on the High road frontage, and numbers 1 and 2 West Green Road, all of which are in a conservation area. HGY/2008/0303 is the proposal of Grainger PLC for a total new-build on the Wards Corner site, with retail units below and a private, gated housing development above in two blocks of 7-9 storeys.

The Wards Corner Community Coalition takes the view that the Grainger scheme for the site will not deliver regeneration for the people of Tottenham and will damage the material, social and economic fabric of this diverse community. Further, the Wards Corner Community Coalition believes the Grainger proposals to be based upon questionable premises and have put forward an alternative vision for the site.

At a meeting on Wednesday 2 July 2008, Paul Smith, Head of Development Control South, for the London Borough of Haringey advised the Wards Corner Community Coalition that the Grainger applications will be considered at a Special Planning Committee meeting on 24th July 2008. The WCC’s alternative plan (Ref: HGY/2008/0177) will be determined later in the year, possibly around September.

The Wards Corner Community Coalition understands that the Wards Corner site has been neglected for far too long and needs urgent attention if it is to play its part in the regeneration of the area. But whereas the Wards Corner Community Coalition believes that the Grainger proposal if implemented in toto would be disastrous for the area, it feels that a resolution of the problems and challenges posed by the site could be achieved with a combination of restoration and new-build - appropriate to cultural diversity, the commercial viability of small businesses, the need for affordable housing and putting sustainability and conservation to the fore.

Accordingly, the Wards Corner Community Coalition request that Planning decisions on both the Grainger and Community Plan applications be deferred, and a steering committee set up to advance a collaborative planning process involving the Local Planning Authority, Transport for London, Haringey Council officers, New Deals for Communities (NDC), Grainger PLC, the Wards Corner Community Coalition, and other development partners as appropriate. The Wards Corner Community Coalition believes that this collaborative ‘multi-partite’ planning process would be able to deliver the over-arching vision of Haringey’s Core Strategy to create a “a place for diverse communities that people are proud to belong to”.

The Wards Corner Community Coalition is supported by the Prince’s Regeneration Trust, the Civic Trust, the New Economics Foundation, the Development Trust Association, the Victorian Society and Planning Aid for London, all of whom are committed to local, regional and central government policies that support the aims and objectives of the Wards Corner Community Coalition. With such support, we believe Haringey, Grainger PLC, Transport for London, and other development partners would receive excellent publicity in the press and in government circles were they to enter into such a collaborative process.

The Wards Corner Community Coalition is aware that this is an unusual step. But these are exceptional times requiring bold solutions especially as, in our opinion, and given the state of the property market, this is not the time to destroy functioning small businesses for speculative development. The Wards Corner Community Coalition feels that all who participate in this proposed collaborative development would have much to gain, particularly Haringey Council. We will be submitting as part of the Wards Corner Community Coalitions’s comments on the Grainger application a copy of this letter with a strong request that it be included in the written report to the Special Planning Committee meeting on 24th July.

Finally, I am sending a hard copy of this email to all recipients with a dvd made for and by the Wards Corner Community Coalition which you are urged to view as documentary evidence of “a place for diverse communities that people are proud to belong to”. Yours sincerely Wendy Keenan Wards Corner Community Coalition 8809 9621