Parents and toddlers occupy London nursery to fight redevelopment
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Version 0 of 1. Parents, toddlers and housing protesters have occupied a north London community nursery closed to make way for new homes in the latest example of grassroots opposition to council estate redevelopment. The nursery – which was shut at the end of March, leaving 15 pre-school children with nowhere to go – has become the focal point for protests against Barnet council’s plans to demolish 400 council homes on the Dollis Valley estate, sell off the land for £11m and build a mix of private and social housing. It is the latest in a series of protests against regeneration of council estates across London. The availability of affordable housing for those on low incomes has been a significant issue in the runup to the general election, especially in the capital, and several housing estate homes have been occupied by protesters. Related: Thousands gather in London to protest against lack of affordable housing An occupation on the Aylesbury estate in Southwark, where 3,500 homes are being built, half for private sale, has recently ended. A group of mothers and children, known as the Focus E15 mums, occupied a flat on the Carpenters estate in east London and a group of protesters and residents occupied several homes in Sweets Way, close to the nursery occupation, where Russell Brand recently staged a protest sleepover. Barnet council promised residents that the nursery, Valley pre-school, would remain open until the end of the summer term, with a private nursery opening its doors in September. However, it closed four months early, on 30 March, to make way for construction work. Nearly 200 families will lose their council homes on the estate when the redevelopment is complete. Most do not know when they will be moved or where to. There are 162 families on the estate who have secure council tenancies and 181 who have non-secure agreements. Those with secure tenancies have been offered a newly built home on the estate, with the London & Quadrant housing association managing the social housing planned in the redevelopment project. Their rents will be higher and it is not clear how secure their new tenancies will be. The non-secure tenants will be rehoused elsewhere. One council tenant, who gave her name as Mina, said she has been an insecure council tenant on the estate for 16 years. “This is my home and where my community is,” she said. “I have two part-time jobs locally and my younger son will be doing his GCSEs soon. I don’t know when the council will be moving me or where to. But I don’t want to leave this estate.” Another, Christine, is a secure tenant and will get a new home on the estate. “I am pleased to be getting a new home but it will be much smaller than my current three-storey council property which has a massive kitchen and bedroom,” she said. “I don’t know what kind of tenancy I will have with the housing association or how secure it will be.” London & Quadrant confirmed that residents who have a council tenancy for life will be transferred to a five-year contract and will pay “target rents” higher than their existing payments. Barnet council’s regeneration brochure lists four council estates in the borough, including Dollis Valley, that are to be redeveloped. Social housing on the estates will be reduced by a third, from 2,671 council homes to 1,844 – a loss of 827 units. However, the council says that many new social housing homes are being built across the borough. The majority of plots on the Dollis Valley estate – 381 – will be turned into luxury homes for private sale, developed and marketed by Countryside. Prices for the private homes range from £300,000 to £900,000. The estate is close to High Barnet tube station and the green belt. The developer’s website describes the new buildings as “a garden suburb for the 21st century”, boasting stylish and contemporary homes in “a fabulous new development ideally located with fantastic travel connections into central London”. Alex Kay, a resident who was on the nursery’s management committee, does not support the occupation of the premises. He said: “Something had to be done with this estate and it’s right and proper that people have decent homes to live in. I do feel for the children left without nursery places though.” Nigel Eades, a longstanding resident on the estate and chair of the Dollis Valley Partnership, condemned the occupation, although he said that the gap in provision for the nursery children was “unfortunate”. He said many people on the estate welcomed the redevelopment although he acknowledged that it would lead to a net reduction in council housing. “It’s a tradeoff,” he said. “It’s regrettable that this has happened, but in the current climate it was deemed the only way this estate could be regenerated.” A Barnet council spokeswoman condemned the occupation and said legal action would be taken to remove protesters. She said the occupation was holding up the building of four-bedroomed homes for tenants on the estate. She said 24 non-secure council tenants had been moved off the estate and allrehoused in Barnet. The council will receive £11m for selling the Dollis Valley estate land, the spokeswoman said. So far, three new properties have been built on the estate – two houses and a marketing suite for Countryside, according to the council. |