{"id":3534,"date":"2021-08-18T14:52:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T13:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/?page_id=3534"},"modified":"2021-08-18T15:16:32","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T14:16:32","slug":"regeneration","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/index.php\/regeneration\/","title":{"rendered":"Regeneration"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Regeneration
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The area\u2019s regeneration <\/strong><\/h3>

The Charity\u2019s working area remained in one of the most stubbornly poorest areas of East London. \u00a0Up to 2007 there had been 11 years of the Government\u2019s Single Regeneration Programme that barely dented the situation.\u00a0 The Council had got nowhere and in a frustrated moment one of its chief housing officers dubbed the locals as being \u201cnot normal\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>

But in 1999 the Jubilee Line came to Canning Town: that brought long term consequences.\u00a0 Property prices were buoyed by the better transport links and consequently in 2000 Newham Council developed a regeneration plan involving the demolition of 2000 council built homes and the building of 10,000 private dwellings.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Initially local people, the vast majority of whom were secure council tenants approved so long as their rights were to be observed and the demolished council homes were replaced with new stock.\u00a0 They thought the regeneration was a fair swap for having their existing blighted homes brought up to standard.\u00a0 They believed there would be a standard decanting operation where phases of demolition would be followed by new build for those tenants to be rehoused and so on.\u00a0 They thought they had signed up to a right to return to the area and in a survey 80% wanted to return.<\/strong><\/p>

Then, soon into the process, there was a significant change of leadership in Newham with an elected Mayor taking the reins of the regeneration.\u00a0 The word \u201creturn\u201d somehow changed to mean that tenants could \u201creturn\u201d as council tenants as if they had ever stopped being council tenants.\u00a0 From then on tenants were to be offered accommodation somewhere else, indeed anywhere else so long as it was out of the area.<\/strong><\/p>

Council tenants could only be removed if they were offered alternative secure tenancies and so there was no option but to offer them first dibs on any properties that became available.\u00a0 That meant there was precious little left for the housing needs of local people. \u00a0Newham generated by far the highest number of children in unsuitable and temporary accommodation which is a well understood marker of distress.<\/strong><\/p>

It became clear that standard decanting was out and demolition to make way for overwhelmingly private flats (with the nearest walking distance from the tube) was in.\u00a0 In the rush to pave the way for the developer whole blocks were cleared too early and the empty dwellings it became a scandal.\u00a0 The Council\u2019s solution was to lease these blocks to a private landlord who used insecure tenancies so the homes could be cleared at short notice whenever the land was required without a Council duty to rehouse those families.\u00a0 In the interim the private landlord doubled the rent: the difference paid by the taxpayer via housing benefit.<\/strong><\/p>

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Martin Jones has dedicated his time to working for the tenants cause without ever thinking of his own circumstances.\u00a0 He kept a track of the reams of papers and rules that governed the regeneration process.<\/strong><\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The regeneration quickened after the credit crunch with tall blocks mushrooming near the station.\u00a0 This was when the Charity\u2019s General Manager helped local tenants to represent themselves.\u00a0 The residents made some gains but they were de-recognised.\u00a0 Subsequently, the Charity learned that the Council had insisted that the Charity\u2019s General Manager shall not be spoken to.<\/strong><\/p>

In 2018 there was a complete change in administration when a new executive Mayor was elected in Newham.\u00a0 She and her colleagues inherited a big mess with few resources to deal with the problems.\u00a0 The focus of the regeneration moved to Custom House and PEACH took on the issue of housing rights and, supported by a new Mayor, the community won significant changes.\u00a0 The contract with the private landlord has recently been terminated and the private tenants put into the vacant blocks have been declared assured council tenants.\u00a0 A Regeneration Steering Group was established by the Council and this gives a legitimate voice for residents in the regeneration process.<\/strong><\/p>

The housing question has not gone away and has been spurred on by the new Cross-rail station at Freemasons Road where land prices are again being inflated.\u00a0 The pressure for more private dwellings continues.\u00a0 Around St. Luke\u2019s hundreds were built with none of them for social rent.\u00a0 One whole development of 300 units was sold off plan in China.<\/strong><\/p>

Now, the plan is to split the regeneration in to two parts with the focus being on Custom House.\u00a0 Some of the original tenants are concerned that the split and other changes might set them back and that now they will have to compete for fewer dwellings with more people.\u00a0 Tenants in Canning Town who were left in stalled parts of the regeneration now fear they will be left for a third decade without planned maintenance.\u00a0 There are some good signs but the very real fears of tenants remain.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regeneration The area\u2019s regeneration The Charity\u2019s working area remained in one of the most stubbornly poorest areas of East London. \u00a0Up to 2007 there had been 11 years of the Government\u2019s Single Regeneration Programme that barely dented the situation.\u00a0 The Council had got nowhere and in a frustrated moment one of its chief housing officers …<\/p>\n

Regeneration<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3534","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3534"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3552,"href":"https:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3534\/revisions\/3552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chctcrp.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}