On 4th December 2017 the full meeting of Haringey Council was lobbied by campaigners who are fighting a controversial housing development scheme. The North London Labour council has been trying to push through what would be the largest sell-off of public assets in a £2 billion partnership with the private developer Lendlease. Campaigners and experts are concerned that the complicated legal scheme could leave the council with massive private debt and diminished assets, while providing no real assurance of greater social provision of truly affordable housing.
Indeed Lendlease has a track record of promising more than they deliver, as recently experienced at the Heygate project in South London. The StopHDV campaign has been successful in bringing together local residents, Labour activists, LibDem supporters, socialists, and experts, crowdfunding a judicial review of the Council’s decision (which will deliver its verdict in the New Year), and mounting a deselection campaign against pro-HDV councillors. The latter was characterised by corporate media as a ‘hard left’ purge and a Corbynista take-over, but this claim is not really borne out by the sheer numbers of people that turned out to vote, resulting in the deselection of 22 councillors.
Despite calls to stand down immediately, it’s thought that many if not all will carry on another 6 months collecting their salaries and pushing through the HDV plan, but the local residents are now hoping that the legal process will delay progress until the new council is formed in May next year.
More info at stophdv.com
