New guide a “rebuke to the Barnet way of doing estate regeneration”

Andrew Dismore, London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden has been praised the new Good Practice Guide to estate regeneration published by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. (link) Mr Dismore says that the Mayor has seen and learnt from the mistakes made in Conservative Barnet Council’s shambolic regeneration programme.

The new Guide recommends that residents must be involved at an early stage to help shape any proposals, with full rights for tenants to be rehoused on newly regenerated estates and a fair deal for leaseholders.

The Mayor has also set out his expectation that demolition and rebuilding should only go ahead after other ways of achieving the aim of regeneration have been considered, and where there is no loss of social housing. The guidelines will be included in the conditions for future City Hall funding for new estate regeneration projects.

Mr Dismore said:

‘These new guidelines will prevent the nasty, bullying tactics deployed by Barnet Council on their so called  “regeneration” schemes in Edgware, Colindale, West Hendon, Dollis Valley and Cricklewood. These have seen estates left to rot; leaseholders offered sub-standard prices for their homes; public land being sold for a pittance with enormous profits for developers; and both secure and insecure Council tenants treated with contempt.

‘Barnet’s “regeneration” has cost a net reduction  of  827 socially rented homes, seen a roof blown off a newly built block with no-one taking responsibility, temporary tenants deported from Barnet, and the inhumane treatment of West Hendon residents, where promise after promise was broken, as exposed on national TV.

‘I have not seen any such problems in Camden, a Labour Council that understand far better the need to consult and involve residents. Camden’s Bacton Low Rise regeneration has been hailed as a model of how to do regeneration properly and sympathetically.

‘Barnet has an abysmal record on regeneration with former Mayor Boris Johnson’s disinterest letting them do  whatever they wanted.

‘Sadiq’s  visit to West Hendon during the election campaign showed him how things can go badly without  tough oversight from City Hall and his new guidance would have avoided all the problems we have seen in Barnet. I am pleased Sadiq is now saying “we have had enough of such failed schemes.’

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