London Assembly: Residents should have final say and ballot on estate regeneration

The London Assembly is asking the Mayor to hear Londoner’s voices and give them more power to decide where and when regeneration should take place in their areas.

A motion, agreed today, called on the Mayor to include this commitment in his final Good Practice Guide, urging him to make London a place where neighbourhoods are designed to answer communities’ needs.

Sian Berry AM, who proposed the motion, said:

The Assembly has called today for something all estate residents should have: a final say on what will happen to their homes and communities.

 Full consultation is vital and a ballot over any major plan to remodel their estates is the only way to make sure councils and housing associations don’t fudge these processes.

The Mayor’s commitment that ‘estate regeneration only takes place where there is resident support, based on full and transparent consultation’ was clear and we are calling now for him to keep his promise to Londoners.

 Tom Copley AM, who seconded the motion, said:

I’m pleased that the Mayor is insisting that there must be no net loss of social housing on estate regeneration schemes in his draft Good Practice Guide. However, I want him to go further by including ballots of residents whose homes face demolition. Balloting is a vital way of ensuring residents have a meaningful say over future plans for their homes and is the best way to ensure a regeneration scheme has legitimacy.

Wherever demolition is an option, there must be a commitment to balloting residents, particularly where a sizeable number of residents have made a request for a ballot.

Through his Good Practice Guide, we now want to see the Mayor working with community groups to develop detailed guidance about a host of issues, such as when ballots take place, who participates and how differences in opinions between residents may be resolved.

The full text of the Motion is:

This Assembly notes that the Mayor’s Good Practice Guide to Estate Regeneration is due to be published soon which will set out key principles to be followed in estate regeneration projects.

This Assembly also notes the Mayor’s manifesto commitment that estate regeneration only takes place where there is resident support, based on full and transparent consultation.

This Assembly believes that a final say for residents is an important way to ensure that resident involvement in plans for their homes is done in a meaningful way throughout the process.

This Assembly therefore urges the Mayor to recommend in his final Good Practice Guide that ballots are used on all schemes where demolition is an option or to include clear guidance that ballots will be guaranteed where a proportion of residents ask for it. Ballots should extend to private renters from non-resident leaseholders and freeholders on estates.

See this photographic essay for an example of an estate that is due to be regenerated LINK

New Information and Advice service for people with a learning disability

From Brent Mencap

Our new specialist Information and Advice service for Brent people with a learning disability aged 18-65 is going live on Thursday January 4th at Brent Mencap. It's only for people with a learning disability (which doesn't include conditions such as dyslexia or dyspraxia nor other disabilities).

As well as a drop in on Thursdays we can give initial information over the phone and get our adviser to ring you back or make an appointment.

Wembley FC 'David' takes on the FA 'Goliath' over club's name

After yesterday's coverage on ITN Wembley Football Club have received massive support on Twitter in their battle with the FA over the club's use of the word Wembley. The FA are citing 'Wembley' as their intellectual property despite not objecting when the name of Wembley FC went forward in 2012.

After the EU ruled in favour of the Football Association Wembley FC were ordred to pay the FA's costs threatening the future of the 70 years old club.

I wonder if they will act against Wembley Matters, Wembley Champions and Wembley Futures?

Here is some of the scathingTwitter reaction:

Before you rent, check whether your landlord has been prosecuted

Tenants are now able to check whether the landlord or agent they want to rent a property from is a rogue thanks to the launch of a new London database.

Brent is one of the first London boroughs rolling out the Greater London Authority's Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker.

The names and addresses of landlords and agents who have been prosecuted for housing offences within the past year have been uploaded onto the database. Their information will remain searchable for a year on the publicly accessible side of the Checker, and for up to 10 years between Councils and the London Fire Brigade.
 
Brent is one of ten London Councils included in this first phase launch, alongside Camden, Greenwich, Islington, Kingston, Newham, Southwark, Sutton, Waltham Forest and Westminster. The aim is for the database to become London-wide, including all London councils.

The Checker has three key parts. The first is a publicly available list of landlords and agents who have faced enforcement action. The second is a private database accessible only to London boroughs and the London Fire Brigade, containing a greater range of enforcement actions. Lastly, there will be a reporting tool - www.London.gov.uk/rogue-landlord-checker - to allow private tenants to make a complaint about their landlord or agent to their local authority.

Cllr Harbi Farah, Cabinet Member for Housing and Welfare Reform, said:

We want to put an end to rogue landlords exploiting the housing crisis by taking money from tenants living in poorly managed properties and in sub-standard conditions. The Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker is a deterrent to any landlord thinking of going down that route. It will also empower tenants to make the best possible choice about who they decide to pay their rent to. 

Anyone is able to access the Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker through a link on the Brent Council website as well as through the GLA website. The system has been designed to allow councils to share information about rogue landlords in order to help potential renters make informed decisions about where they choose to live.

Are Spurs having trouble filling Wembley Stadium or just trying to win over the locals?

I happened to mention to someone  recently that there seemed to be an awful lot of free tickets for football matches at Wembley floating around the borough, but still empty seats at the Stadium when matches were shown on TV. Then I saw this email from Brent Council Housing Resident Involvement (never heard of them before):

Subject: FREE Tottenham Hotspur Tickets - Matches on Boxing Day, 7 January & 13 January

Dear resident,

 

Tottenham Hotspur have advised us that they are keen to ensure that local community groups around Wembley are taking up tickets at their home matches this season.

 

They have offered us tickets at each of the upcoming fixtures below.

 

If you are interested in attending, please respond back with the game you would like to attend and complete the details in the form attached with your information and that of those that will be attending with you.

 

For the game on 26^th December, you will need to be able to able to pick up the tickets on Friday 22^nd between 10am – 12pm or 2:00pm – 4pm

Upcoming Fixtures:

  

Boxing Day, 12.30pm – Southampton

Sunday January 7, time TBC – AFC Wimbledon (FA Cup Round 3)

Saturday January 13, 5.30pm – Everton

Considering how much fuss Spurs made regarding planning permission to hold more full capacity matches against opposition from many local residents LINK it seems odd that there are so many free tickets available. It could be a result of that opposition and residents' demands that Spurs give something back to the community, or is it that they miscalculated their ability to fill the stadium?

Confusion over end date for Wembley High Road sewer works

 Street signs say that the sewer works in Wembley High Road will continue until January 31st 2018 but this is what Brent Council posted on its website yesterday with a completion date of January 5th LINK:

The sewer works on High Road, Wembley, are progressing well and the proposed end date for these works is now 5 January 2018.

To date Thames Water have:

• Removed the traffic island
• Excavated a shaft onto the sewer over seven meters deep
• Tunnelled four meters downstream, towards Park Lane, to a point where there is no concrete in the sewer
• Tunnelled upstream, towards Wembley triangle, eight and a half meters to the lateral connection from the former Brent House site and have tunnelled over fourteen meters to a point where all concrete has been removed.
• Sink another shaft on the sewer
• Replaced the sewer

Next steps:

• Backfill the tunnels

• Backfill the shaft

• Permanent reinstatement of carriageway.

  
   Note: From the top of the 83 bus today (Thursday) it did look as if the backfill works have been completed. I have asked Thames Water for clarification.
  

Brent kids can be 'Super Heroes' - lessons from the St Raph's Movie Fun Day

I think readers will enjoy this video showing the Brent community at its best with children and adults from all communities having fun together with a serious intent behind the fun.

London Mayor torpedoes Barnet's Grahame Park regeneration citing loss of affordable homes

From Construction News LINK

Sadiq Khan has rejected plans for a housing estate regeneration project in north London on the basis that affordable homes will be lost.

The mayor of London said the scheme in Barnet is “a classic example of how not to do estate regeneration”.

The project at the 1970s Grahame Park estate in Colindale includes plans to demolish 692 homes available at social rent and replace them with 1,083 units.

But only 435 of the new homes will be available for social tenants within what is Barnet’s largest housing estate.

Barnet Council approved the scheme, which is being developed by Genesis Housing Association, last month.

However, Mr Khan said after considering the evidence, the council must now work with City Hall planners to redesign the project.

It is the second time this year the mayor has intervened in Barnet, having called in the council’s decision to refuse Barratt permission for 462 homes in May.

The mayor said: “I fully support improving social housing on this estate and across the capital, but this scheme falls far short of what I expect of London boroughs.”

Mr Khan pointed to his London Plan, published last month, which said estate regeneration projects must replace homes for social rent on a like-for-like basis.

He added: “Londoners so urgently need more high-quality housing, not less, which makes this scheme completely unacceptable in its current form.”

Housing estate regeneration is a major issue in the capital, with Haringey Council facing fierce opposition to its £2bn plans to regenerate part of Wood Green in north London.

A Barnet Council spokesperson said: “We are clearly disappointed by this decision. We will now be reviewing this with our development partner to agree the next steps.”

A Genesis spokesperson said: “We are very disappointed to hear this decision and are in close dialogue with Barnet Council and the mayor’s office to review next steps.”

NOTE

Genesis Housing Association is associated with the Brent House development where only 30% of units are 'affordable' (ie unaffordable to most local families at up to 80% market rent) and the controversial Minavil House development where  'affordable' is 60% of market rent but only 13% of the units.  It is also facing a campaign by tenants over the merger with Notting Hill Housing Trust and its move away from its original remit of providing housing at social rent.

It will be interesting to see how Mr Khan treats applications from Brent which don't offer Londoners more high quality homes at social rent.