Demolition City: A 'regeneration' plan driven by a Premier League football club could force longstanding council tenants and leaseholders out of their cherished homes.
Football: A game of life and demolition?
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| Tottenham residents Theresa and Archie Ward outside Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane football ground © Paul Coleman, London Intelligence 2014 |
By Paul Coleman
Married for 53 years, Theresa and Archie Ward now
face an uncertain future.
The Wards have lived
in their north London home for 44 years.
“We’ve been
very happy there,” says Archie Ward.
“For what
little we’ve got left, we’re very comfortable. Our home suits us.”
Demolition
It's Saturday afternoon, 6 December.
The Wards watch as thousands of Tottenham Hotspur fans stride past to watch Spurs play Crystal Palace in an English Premier League game.
The Wards have come to give their support to a protest by local residents and campaigners against plans by Tottenham Hotspur Football Club to build a pedestrian walkway from an
expanded White Hart Lane railway station to a new stadium.
Tottenham
Hotspur’s plan threatens the Wards’ home on the Love Lane estate.
Some 300 other
homes on the Tottenham estate also face demolition.
The Premier League club’s plan includes building new homes and a leisure centre with a bowling
alley.
Lease
As council
tenants, the Wards originally moved to the Love Lane neighbourhood when their
previous High Cross estate home made way for new roads over 40 years ago.
They rented
their three-bedroom Love Lane maisonette from the local council for 19 years.
The Wards then
bought their council home in 1989 under ‘right-to-buy’ provisions on a 125-year
lease.
“We’ve lived
there as leaseholders now for 25 years,” says Theresa Ward.
“We won’t see the
other one hundred years but we wanted to leave our home to our son. "What will
happen to him?”
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| White Hart Lane station and Love Lane estate © London Intelligence 2014 |
Dismay
The Wards
recall their shock and dismay at being told of the demolition and redevelopment
plans.
“Just two years
ago, new windows and kitchens were fitted in the towers and blocks,” says Theresa.
Initially, Haringey
Council officers told the Wards and other residents - at a meeting in a local
library - that two Love Lane tower
blocks and two low-rise blocks could face demolition.
Later, the
Council told Ward and other Whitehall Street residents that their homes also
fell within Tottenham Hotspur's 'regeneration' plan.
Led to believe
Archie Ward
recalls residents and tenants were told development would take place in three
phases.
“They gave us
the impression we were in phase three but now they’ve switched us to phase
one,” says Archie Ward.
Archie recalls
telling an independent advisor the couple might refuse to move. But the advisor
warned them they would likely be forced out of their home, possibly by
compulsory purchase.
The Wards say
Haringey Council, that backs Tottenham Hotspur’s plans, have led tenants and
residents - many of them recently arrived migrants - to believe they will be
allocated new homes that will be built on the site.
“But they wont
get any new homes,” says Theresa. “Most of these new homes will be for private
sale.”
Worry
The Wards say
the Council has advised the couple to consider selling their home.
Theresa asks:
“But how can we get a good price for a home that everyone knows is going to
come down? And I just don’t know where we’ll end up if we live to see our home
and street being knocked down.”
“I tell Theresa
not to worry,” says Archie. “But what can we do? Even though there’s still one
hundred years on that lease, we’ve got no rights. They’ll get us out - even if
they have to drag us out.”
“We can’t
believe they’re going to tear down all these houses – especially with the
housing crisis they keep going on about.”
Promise
The Wards also
feel Haringey Council and local police have neglected the estate in recent
months.
“When Spurs
threatened to leave Tottenham a few years ago, the Council conspired to promise the club the
earth,” says Archie.
“I just hope these people campaigning here today can stop all
this from happening.”
“We’ve told the
Council we’re happy living in our home,” says Theresa.
“We thought
we’d end our days in our home with nothing to worry about.
“And now all this is happening to us.”
* In September 2014, Haringey Council state in a press release that 'all secure council tenants on the Love Lane Estate would be guaranteed a new home in the new development'.
In March 2014, Love Lane residents urge Haringey to provide them with a 'fair share of the benefits of the redevelopment, adequate compensation, affordable choices, and for residents to be treated sensitively and to be taken seriously'.
Haringey campaigners for more council housing fear Spurs 'regeneration' plans will replace council homes with luxury apartments most local people won't be able to afford.
© Paul Coleman, London Intelligence, December 2014
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