![]() Haringey Labour moderates mirthlessly claim that the most strident militants are some of the most middle class – owners of valuable homes in gentrified Crouch End and Muswell Hill. The term “social cleansing”, shockingly emotive, has become common currency, including among the liberal intelligentsia that forms the bedrock of Labour’s membership surge. This has often focused on the “regeneration” of council-owned housing estates, their demolition held to facilitate a more general “displacement” of the poor. Meanwhile, a populist narrative, simplistic yet seductive, had taken root in the public mind: ordinary Londoners were being “pushed out” by “rich foreign investors” wanting “luxury flats”. All over London, Labour memberships had swollen with the advent of Corbyn as leader. Kober and supportive colleagues argued that improving lives in the poor parts of Haringey, notably Tottenham where the 2011 riots began, and Wood Green, required huge physical changes that only the HDV could provide. Haringey would provide the stuff developers can’t get enough of: precious, priceless land. Lendlease would provide things local authorities no longer have: lots of money and construction expertise. ![]() This would be half owned by the developer and half by the council. The idea was to form a joint-venture company for that purpose called the Haringey Development Vehicle. Council leader Claire Kober and her cabinet announced the council’s intention to go into business with multinational property developer Lendlease to transform the borough on “an unprecedented scale”. The origins of the plan lie back in 2015, but ructions began in earnest in February. It has become a microcosm of a debate that rages across the country, drawing in beleaguered councils, property developers, social housing tenants, lower middle classes anxious to remain in gentrified neighbourhoods, and the growing army of homeless. Why? At its heart lie basic conflicts about the role of private finance, the use of public land, the functions of local government and the principles that should guide the spatial development of urban areas all over the country. Yet the Labour politicians of Haringey council who have come up with the plan are the targets of venomous opposition – especially from their own party. This fits with a 2014 election pledge to “find new and different ways to generate income”, to “promote economic growth” and provide “decent, affordable homes for all”. The leadership says the plan would create 7,000 jobs and make money for the council too. Their radical solution envisages building more than 5,000 homes for sale or rent, 40% of them priced below market levels, plus a library, a school, a health centre and town centre offices and shops. There is no point tinkering at the edges. Haringey has more than 9,000 households seeking council homes and more than 3,000 people in temporary accommodation, while even in the borough’s poorest areas would-be first-time buyers are faced with prices for two-bedroom flats of around £500,000.
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