There is now a book that's just come out about the scheme for the Haringey Development Vehicle by the council, and the campaign which grew up against it from community organisations and residents all over the borough. It's by a couple of researchers from University College, and features interviews with a number of locals whose names you may recognize. If you follow the link below you can read or download a free pdf of the whole book called Disrupting the Speculative City, it's not long. It starts with an explanation of the reasons and interests behind the HDV scheme in the first place, and goes on to describe how the campaign against it was organised and grew, and what led to its eventual success.
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This very welcome new book (you can read it online for free) documents the incredible success of the StopHDV campaign in Haringey in 2016-18, against the combined powers of the global developer LendLease and the then-leadership of Haringey Council, who intended to raze to the ground a swathe of buildings in Tottenham and Wood Green – including large council estates in Broadwater Farm and Northumberland Park, and the centre of Wood Green, including the Mall, the Library, Morrisons and other buildings. The authors carried out the research at the request of local Alexandra Park resident Gordon Peters - who initiated the judicial review that challenged the legality of the Council’s actions.
The plan was for the Council to hand over most of their buildings (and some others) - £2 billion worth - to this combined ‘Haringey Development Vehicle’, in which they would partner LendLease 50:50, in spite of widespread awareness that the Council would have little clout in their negotiations with such a massive corporation. Gordon called it “the biggest ever sell-off of public assets in local authority history”. Lendlease’s reputation for defrauding public and private bodies in New York City of $19 million, and of masterplanning the redevelopment of a council estate in Elephant and Castle, with new homes of which only a fraction were at social rent, was not encouraging.
The authors trace the origins of the vast project to the 2011 riots in Tottenham – which was then seen as a ‘terrible basket case of riots, poverty and deprivation’. Property developers looking at Tottenham suddenly realised it was full of assets – in particular transport links, but also the Lea Valley, and panoramic views across London. And so the plans to social cleanse the area were born – creating instead smart housing to bring in a ‘better’ class of people who would spend more and be more tractable than the existing population.
The motivation in the case of central Wood Green had a slightly different slant – the Council hoped that a new CrossRail 2 station would attract masses of people to Wood Green and revivify the shopping area, and that starting work on the transformation of the town centre would increase the likelihood of the station being built there. CrossRail 2 has meanwhile seemingly disappeared over the horizon.
This book focuses on the Tottenham part of the scheme, although the campaign stretched over both areas and was a coalition of different groups. “By building and demonstrating substantial opposition to the plans, StopHDV left local leaders with little choice but to back down”, resulting in the then leader of the Council, Clare Kober, resigning in 2018. Their success against this behemoth (with a sprinkling of luck) is cheering – and this has influenced development strategies since then. Haringey Council, in particular, is working much closer with local people to co-design developments, and is more inclined to favour retrofits over newbuild - for example, the very popular new youth club in Wood Green, 'Rising Green'. But being strapped for cash is of course a major constraint on what they can do.
LendLease still lurks around White Hart Lane – Love Lane and the Peacock Industrial Estate, that encircle White Hart Lane station, are being redeveloped ...
The book is an academic study, but the sections near the end on what can be, and has been, learned from the effectiveness of this campaign are readable and very interesting. In particular the conclusion of Part 2, page 121-123, and the Conclusion to the whole book – subtitled ‘beyond the speculative city?’, page 125+. There are many quotations from local people who were involved in the campaign (and others). The Appendix itemises ‘key tactics against speculative redevelopment’.
Update - LendLease announced in May this year that they are pulling out of the UK and US, withdrawing to their native Australia, within the next couple of years:
https://www.building.co.uk/focus/im-at-a-loss-about-what-to-make-of...
It is thought the amount of hassle that it has had to cope with in this country has a lot to do with its failing profits here - it recently lost a PFI legal case in Leeds that it thought it would win, another was settled out of court (both NHS), it mentioned the costs of repairs to 58 high rise blocks over 11metres tall to meet government requirements, campaigners won a case in the High Court challenging Michael Gove's approval of another scheme in London ...
Maybe things are easier for massive developers in Austalia than in the UK.