If you want to understand what New Labour Mark II looks
like, then goings on at Southwark Council give you a real indication. The south
London borough
is one of the capital’s poorest. Yet tonight, the planning committee will
rubber stamp a £1.5 billion deal with a global property corporation that
provides just 71 social rented units out of 2,300 new homes.
Anticipating the gold rush, developers Lend Lease have
already started marketing apartments in a tower block that will be built in the
run-down Elephant and Castle area. Prices start at over £320,000 and rise above
£1 million for flats with panoramic views of London .
“With zero affordable housing of any type, all of its 284
units will be luxury flats for the open market and some with access to a
secluded garden on the roof of a 4-storey building beside the tower. We have
yet to see the plans for the drawbridge, moat and boiling oil!,” say
campaigners.
It is part of the so-called master plan for the regeneration
of the area after 13 years of delay. Local campaigners, who have just five
minutes to make their objections plain tonight, are bitter about the deal that
has gentrification written all over it. About 300 local residents have
submitted objections. All have been disregarded.
The campaign group 35
per cent points out that Southwark Council is actually in breach of its own
planning policy which would require about 400 social rented units in the
scheme. There are properties for rent – but they won’t be affordable for most
residents in the borough.
Representatives of local groups who have objected to the plan
have published the points
they would like to make but can’t possible achieve in the allotted five minutes. Apart from the lack of affordable housing,
they are angry that the scheme is car-friendly and anti-environmental in many
ways.
Over 600 car-parking spaces are proposed despite council
policy requiring it to be car free. As they point out, the Elephant has the
highest possible public transport accessibility with excellent tube, train and
bus links so there is no real need for private cars. A new public park will, in
fact, be privately-run and managed.
They point out that the area around the base of a tower
block “is an example of how the public realm can become marginalized through
the impact of tall buildings” and add: “The proposed cafes around the green
space may not be affordable to all local people, and will therefore fail to
create a truly human sense of place and inclusiveness for the neighbourhood.”
But with thousands of local people living in sub-standard
housing, or on waiting lists, it is the housing element that drawn most anger.
In 2010, the developer signed a binding contractual agreement with Southwark,
which guaranteed that 25% of the new homes would be affordable. Half would be
social rented, providing a minimum of 288 new social rented homes out of the
2,300 total. That number has fallen to just 71 – and the council is ready to
give the green light.
Even though the viability of the scheme is described as
“problematic” in the report to the committee, the council is determined to push
ahead. Despite the fact that there is no renewable energy in the scheme, no
local jobs target, a reduction in community facilities and scant regard for cyclists,
Southwark will give its approval.
The shocking, outrageously commercial nature of the project
is right up New Labour Mark II’s street. This is the an example in practice of
the “One Nation Labour” that Ed Miliband rattles on about. As Southwark shows,
Labour is the developer’s friend first, second and last. It’s a public-private
partnership where the public loses all round.
Paul Feldman
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