LREF 2016: Regeneration projects are “not just bricks and mortar” and need to embrace co-operation with residents, according to panellists at the Haringey borough briefing.
Alan Strickland, council cabinet member for housing, regeneration and planning at Haringey Council, said that ongoing regeneration in Tottenham, which includes a new football stadium and housing projects with both Argent and Grainger, is based on building a community and working with residents to deliver what the borough needs.
“Residents are involved throughout the process. We’ve got residents on procurement panels. We’ve got residents designing schemes, and residents’ ambitions for change, far from being seen as a threat, have been embraced,” he said.
Developers also have to be aware of what services they are capable of providing and have to be open to working with others. Robert Evans, a partner at Argent, said that his company’s partnership with Haringey Council to deliver 800 homes in Tottenham Hale plays a role in a wider effort.
“It’s a question of having that broader perspective: looking for where things that we are doing could hook up with what Grainger is doing, what other partners are doing, and how we can make small changes that deliver wider benefits,” he said.
“It’s harder in a place like Tottenham than, say, King’s Cross, because no one party owns a big estate that can effect those changes. It is ultimately about working in a partnership with many others, trying to pool your efforts.”
However, he added that only councils like Haringey, which has a regeneration team of 30 and is working with both the private sector and residents, can bring widescale renewal to an area.
He said: “One of the things we look for is the capacity to make things happen. We move beyond bricks and mortar. It comes down to a council’s political capacity to be committed to something, to drive change and work with private sector partners.”
