The Strategic Development Committee voted on the Eric, Treby and Brokesley planning application. The result was 3 votes against the application and 4 votes for.
The efforts of residents and all the local councillors were not taken into account when a political decision was made at the SDC meeting at the Town Hall.
4 Labour votes FOR the plans
3 others AGAINST (Respect, Lib Dem, Conservative).
Big thanks to all who turned up again and again at meetings and those who have contributed time and effort over the last eight months.
19 thoughts on “SDC Meeting Tuesday 15th December”
Elected members, supposedly representing us, back EastendHomes in their conduct of non-consultation. The Labour members of the committee did not listen to residents at all, just like EastendHomes don’t listen.
Lets hope those Labour members are voted out at the next local elections
Alibor Choudhury, Marc Francis, Sirajul Islam, Helas Abbas
Well done and thank you Rachael! At last we have a Labour Councillor who refuses to collude in the conspiracy of silence the Council has been maintaining around the deviant development of its offshoot, EastendHomes.
It was obvious to anyone listening to the debate about Eric & Treby Estates in the Council Chamber last night that something has gone terribly wrong in the making of EeH, as Rachael reported to her fellow Councillors what she has now seen at first hand and EeH residents have been saying since stock transfer:
EastendHomes is an organisation that nobody trusts because EastendHomes is an organisation which lacks any sense of probity.
As a recently appointed EeH Board Member, Rachael told Strategic Development Committee Members she had accepted in good faith EeH’ promise to take unworkable and unpopular plans for Eric & Treby Estates back to full consultation with estate residents. And, like the residents, she had reacted with fury when she found out, too late to do anything about it, that EeH had done nothing of the sort.
Fury is what you get when you abuse people’s trust. Development plans for former Tower Hamlets housing estates will affect residents for generations. Rachael now knows what it’s like to be one of those residents, looking on in disempowered dismay as hastily and badly conceived proposals are approved by a Council in denial that in EastendHomes, it has created a monster which is now out of its control.
Unlike residents, Rachael is in a position to do something about this. She made a commitment last night to channel her anger at the dissembling and deception that is currently the hallmark of EeH into a drive to bring about radical change in the organisation – change in its culture and management ethos to bring it back in line with the Council’s vision for the enabling and genuinely resident-led housing provider that residents were promised in the consultations on stock transfer.
You have our full support Rachael – as residents we are behind you every step of the way, as we know all too well how badly this change is needed. We hope you will have the support of Lutfur and Marc and Rania and all your other Labour colleagues and also Jim’s support, as you guys are answerable to an awful lot of angry people out here.
On East London Advertiser page –
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertiser/news/story.aspx?brand=ELAOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsela&itemid=WeED16%20Dec%202009%2017%3A12%3A38%3A917 –
It refers to 179 homes and £20 million being available to invest in the estates. £20 million divided by 179 homes equates to just under £112,000 per new flat. Considering what flats sell for in the area, this figure seems low. What is the rest of the money being used for?
Also would like to see a breakdown of what the £20 million is being spent on.
Surely you were fully consulted on these proposals? Surely residents had a large say in how they wanted their estate changed for the better? Surely Mile End Estate Management Board had many meetings to discuss the plans as they developed with the residents they represent? And surely your resident representatives on the Board had in-depth discussions with EastendHomes Regeneration & Development Team and raised residents’ concerns with them? Surely all of this happened before Mile End Estate Management Board agreed to the proposals?
Surely it’s a little odd that you have to rely on reports in the local press to find out what has been decided about the estate where you live, which is managed by a resident-led housing provider which seeks to put residents in control?
Perhaps the association could advise on applying for the “Right To Manage” or “Enfranchisement”. I suspect residents / owners of flats in the new blocks will – that’s if buyers can be found – looking at the plans I cannot imagine anybody in their right mind would want to buy in an area which is so overdeveloped.
So much more could be achieved if EEHs would work together with residents.
I must have missed the consultation meetings and don’t know who is on the board.
Maybe all the objections to the council and comments to East Homes were delayed in the post – It is difficult to believe any organisation would want to push ahead with plans that so many people are telling them are wrong.
Similarly I cannot understand how Councillors who will be seeking re-election at some stage would go against local people to the extent they have.
I must still be missing something.
In today’s Daily Mail – and probably in other papers – there was an article under the heading:
“Olympics effect lifts Telford Homes”
– Shares in developer Telford Homes jumped yesterday after the group said business was booming due to demand for housing around the Olympics regeneration area.
Telford said annual profits would be “materially ahead of market expectations” of £7m due to recovery in the housing market in East London and a shortage of supply……………….
How much of that profit is coming from the new builds around Southern Grove – perhaps some of the money Telford Homes and EEH are making should be going back to flat owners in the area by way of subsidising the improvements to the blocks – after all it is these flat owners that are losing the green space around their properties and will have to suffer months, if not years, of building work, noise and dirt.
All great comments, keep them coming.
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This “How to….” may help
Please contact EEHLFA – [email protected] – with offers of help to complete setting up the web-site and organise a launch event for the Mile End Estates!!
EEHLFA is not something that someone is organising ‘FOR’ the leaseholders of Mile End Estates – it is an association OF leaseholders – we need your help to make it happen in Mile End!!
A meeting for Mile End will be arranged in the new year (a certain pre-occupation with building plans recently has meant it’s not been practical this year). Additional talents and ideas are most welcome, please come forward.
They have been invited to the first three launch meetings for the newly formed EEHLFA. Have declined?
This more of a reason to join us if you did not already have one !!!
I didn’t see any formal support against the building plans from EEHFLA.
The approval of the building plans are a big blow to the residents in the Mile End area – including leaseholders.
There is a need for EEHFLA to widen its appeal, also it would help if it listed its policies and some specific details on what it believes EEH should be doing on a website so we can see what its policies are – at the moment appears to be very generic on that it’s fighting EEH but would like to see what it wants in detail. I have read the manifesto, and again it is generic.
Accepting EEH does not listen to residents, and will probably not want to listen to the associations – any message needs to be constructive and publicise via a website, and if residents agree support will grow quickly.
All my life I have worked in third world countries and have had to live with “in your face” corruption and I truly believed that would never happen in England, sadly this council have destroyed my beliefs. This council obviously makes decisions based on either political or financial gain. Roll on the elections to give us some hope of a new purer council.
Has anyone noticed that EEH are closed from 24th December – 4th. January, that a really responsible landlords act! So they leave us in the hands of LBTH emergency services who are in turn subcontracted to another company, heaven help us, cos they wont!
It is not really the PR that has been bad – although that has not been good – the press coverage reflects residents’ reaction and views of the building plans in the Mile End Area.
A simple and very quick way for Paul Bloss to improve his public image would be to put on hold the building plans in the Mile End area and communicate with local residents and take notice of their feedback. The majority of the residents are not against all new build, but believe that the proposed plans take up too much of the open space and lack imagination in the best use of the land available.
The new buildings will stand for a long time and will be one of the major things that Paul Bloss and EEHs will be judged against, and the result based on the current plans is not good.
As to spending millions in the area and believing it will improve the value of owners’ homes, this is not necessarily true – it depends on what the money is spent on, if it represent good value for money and actually adds value to the existing properties – and currently that does not look like the case.
To reiterate to improve Paul Bloss’s and EEH’s public image the answer is simple – put on hold the building plans and consult with / take notice of local residents views.
Hi, machine molle, I’m not sure who you are in real life, but I did say at the SDC meeting that I was furious that there was no resident consultation or involvement in between the first application being rejected and the second being submitted, and I am committed to working to strengthen resident participation within East End Homes. Please do get in touch with me directly if you want to discuss this – my mobile no is 07799 417580 and my email address is [email protected]
Hi Rachael – if memory serves, at the SDC meeting, you said that you had accepted EeH’ promise to consult with residents before submitting revised plans for Eric & Treby Estates ‘in good faith’.
Surely, you were furious with EeH because you felt EeH had abused your, and residents’, trust. And you did not feel that this was the result of some sort of misunderstanding. EeH had made a clear undertaking which, without explanation or apology, it had reneged on. Neither did you see this as an aberration – a one-off event in an otherwise unblemished record of transparent and accountable dealings with its residents. Which is why you also spoke about the need for a change in the organisational culture of EeH.
This is a very strong statement from an elected representative appointed to sit on EeH Board – so please let’s not forget it!
Let’s post the banner headline “Councillor Saunders identifies the need for change in the culture of EeH” – because without this change, any commitment of yours to strengthening resident participation will remain entirely tokenistic.
Just like your own, our experience of EeH’ actions is that they often have little to do with its promises
How are you going to convince anyone to participate in an organisation that operates in bad faith, does not mean what it says and does not keep its word? How can we participate meaningfully in this sort of charade?
I would suggest that a firm commitment to a change in culture is a prerequisite of any discussion about resident participation – I think a great many EeH residents would be very interested in discussing with you what sort of changes both you and they would like to see and how these changes might be brought about.