NO to Tenure segregation in Wood Green!

 

 

Catherine West MP is amongst objectors to a planning application in Wood Green which is the worst example of tenure segregation that we have yet seen.

 

 

Haringey people, please scroll down to find out how to make your objection. Objections will be taken into consideration, right up until this goes to the planning committee. We do not yet know the date of the committee meeting. 

 

 

The developer also wants to use high social and ‘affordable’ rents to exclude lower earners and the poor.  But Catherine says 50% of all new homes must be affordable, and all affordable rents must be at Council rent levels. Let’s get behind out local MP who is speaking out over this.

 

 

HGY/2020/0795

 

Former Petrol Filling Station, 76 Mayes Road, London N22

Applicant: Aitch group and Mura estates

 

 

This site is on the corner of Caxton Road and Mayes Road, next to the Shopping City car park access ramp.

 

 

Tenure segregation takes three main forms in this application:

 

 

• There are two large 7^th floor roof amenity and child play spaces, which are segregated by tenure

 

 

• Access to the 75 flats is from a tenure segregated deck set above a small courtyard

 

• The housing provision is split between market and affordable cores

 

 

Residents and children from market and affordable tenures will be able to look at one another across the roofs (17.6 m apart) and across the decks (11.7 m apart), but no physical contact between tenures will be allowed in these areas. This is unnecessary, divisive and provocative.

 

 

The developer intends to use London Affordable Rent (LAR), known as Mayor’s rent, plus high service charges to exclude the poor from supposedly affordable housing. The minimum income requirement for the LAR properties will be between £36,606 and £40,413 per annum. Two full time jobs will be required per household. Presumably they will not be accepting anyone needing benefit support – yet these are supposed to be social rent tenancies!

 

 

These features of the proposal are all contrary to agreed planning policies. Yet Haringey Council’s planning team has provided a letter stating that the application complies with all relevant policies.

 

 

We have confirmed with Emma Williamson (Haringey Council’s Assistant Director for Planning) that tenure segregation is not supported by any agreed planning policy, Haringey, GLA or national.

 

 

This application follows a series of meetings and discussions between the developer and the borough’s planners. There must be a thorough investigation about how this happened, and about why Haringey Council’s planning team is supporting such an objectionable proposal.

 

 

This controversial application could well become a turning point for housing and planning policies after the Coronavirus crisis.

 

 

The application is currently open for comments, so let’s make sure that the objections are made loud and clear. 

 

 

Go to:

 

http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/Applica...

 

 

The link brings up the application. At the end of the ‘details’ section and before ‘attachments’ there is a button marked ‘Comment on application’. This opens another box with a menu box to tick support, object, do not object or just comment options.

 

 

After you’ve filled in your personal details (as much as you feel comfortable with) and ticked the menu, paste your comments into the box by the left of the Send button. Then hit Send.

 

 

Here is a suggested response:

 

 

—-

 

 

I strongly object to the tenure segregation within this proposal, with housing in separate blocks, separate deck access, and separate roof amenity and child play provision.

 

 

Residents and their children will see one another across the deck and across the roofs, but with physical barriers in place to keep the tenures apart. This is divisive, unacceptable, and contrary to the policies of Haringey Council, the GLA and the National Planning Policy Framework, all of which prioritise inclusive design.

 

 

It appears that the applicant intends to use to exclude lower income households from social rented housing on affordability grounds. We believe that in line with agreed planning policy, social and affordable rental housing must be accessible to waiting list applicants including those with lower incomes or in receipt of state benefit.

 

 

The role of the Haringey Council planning team in bringing such an unacceptable proposal forward should be investigated. Instead of supporting such a problematic application, our planners should insist that new housing developments are socially inclusive, according to the agreed planning policies.

 

 

[ends]

 

 

Please email haringey_dch@outlook.com for more information, news and updates.