Brixton news, rumour and general chat - August 2014

[Rushy]

I don't know but was it not part of the 60s building spree? Whole streets and areas were purchased for bulldozing and building new (e.g. St Matthews Road) but some weren't. Key central areas became short life because they had the potential for town center expansion but less central parts were returned to housing.

 

[editor]

This post is where the aggressive tone was introduced to what was a perfectly reasonable discussion. Shortly thereafter, SpamMisery gets banned for being "disruptive".

I know you're desperate to have a go at me and keep on disrupting this forum, but that really is not an "aggressive" post at all. I asked him to back up his claim. There were several reasons for his ban, which included several warnings and a PM warning for his disruptive conduct across multiple threads, and his response to those contributed to his ban. If you have any further questions, PM me or take them to the feedback forum please.

 

[editor]

This is true. But my general point obtains, just about - that social housing should not be built only in 'cheap' areas.

Indeed. And it was never meant to be that way.

 

[gabi]

never one to agree particularly much with editor but SpamMisery was being a cunt. I reckon that should be written in to the FAQ as a reason for banning. Although that would probably result in about 3 posters left here i guess.

 

[editor]

never one to agree particularly much with editor but SpamMisery was being a cunt. I reckon that should be written in to the FAQ as a reason for banning. Although that would probably result in about 3 posters left here i guess.

There is (more or less): "Don't act like a dick and we'll all get along fine."

 

[editor]

Not much Brixton stuff here, but this is a useful guide:
Open House London Weekend 2014 – The Brixton Buzz guide to the best Lambeth locations

 

[ViolentPanda]

Adding in maybe one or two thousand right to buys - which council tenants gain from - that is a fall-off of around 4 per cent (35,000 to about 33,500).

I don't know where you're getting your maths from, but there's no addition to the social housing market through Right-to-Buy, however you try to spin it. As I said earlier, the property isn't lost to use, but it is lost to social housing use. "Council tenants" don't gain from RtB, because if you exercise the right, you're no longer a council tenant.

And the pace of social housing new-builds may be picking up to close the gap entirely.

The pace of social housing new-build, whether by RSLs or local authorities, is miniscule measured against demand, and any attempt to "close the gap" needs to be measured against ever-expanding need, which new-build doesn't even keep up with.

I would like to see a lot more social housing built however.

So would I.

 

[ViolentPanda]

But the majority of people don't think like you, VP.

I'm aware of that, and that's one of the great successes of Thatcherism - to take people who saw no lack of dignity to living in social housing, and who were, for the most part, concerned for their fellow denizens, and turn some of them into people who looked down on those who weren't owner-occupiers; who decided to put their own advantage before the needs of others. The death of altruism.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Pre-Thatcher, a lot more would of though.

Quite, and did. When my best mate's gran bought her council maisonette in Battersea, she was the only person in her block to do so. Most of her neighbours were horrified, because they saw the ramifications, both for themselves as council tenants with families, in possibly-diminishing social housing stock, and for her if she fell behind on her mortgage or similar.

 

[ViolentPanda]

So why on earth should that bother you?

And what does the style of architecture have to do with anything? Would it be OK if they were living in Victorian or Modernist homes? Georgian style does not automatically equate to some kind of luxurious living.

What SM is manifesting is that phenomenon the likes of us council estate creatures are always accused of - it's "the politics of envy", except that for people like SM, it's perfectly permissible for them to manifest envy. After all, poor people getting to live in decent architecturally-interesting housing? It's an abomination!!!

 

[teuchter]

never one to agree particularly much with editor but SpamMisery was being a cunt.

On this thread? Didn't really look like that to me.

 

[boohoo]

On this thread? Didn't really look like that to me.

He did say he was drunk and he was antagonising however I think he's a bit fed up of being told he is wrong because he has a difference of opinion and when he does ask something genuine, he gets pulled apart and dissected and thrown to the lions.

 

[boohoo]

What SM is manifesting is that phenomenon the likes of us council estate creatures are always accused of - it's "the politics of envy", except that for people like SM, it's perfectly permissible for them to manifest envy. After all, poor people getting to live in decent architecturally-interesting housing? It's an abomination!!!

But it's hard not to be envious when you are not particularly well off, working really hard and not benefiting from a low rent by having a council house.

 

[happyshopper]

The sewer is the old river.

I thought the river and the sewer were separate. The river flows into the Thames without any treatment.

 

[OvalhouseDB]

As I understand it the River Effra is now a culverted storm sewer. So not actual sewage.

It does indeed run into the Thames, just upstream but almost underneath the MI6 building. It runs under Ovalhouse, seperately from the sewage sewers.

 

[Rushy]

As I understand it the River Effra is now a culverted storm sewer. So not actual sewage.

It does indeed run into the Thames, just upstream but almost underneath the MI6 building. It runs under Ovalhouse, seperately from the sewage sewers.

Subject of a great Time Team - where they carbon dated the timber jetty posts which stick out of the mud close to the Effra exit point at low tide and dated them at 3500yrs old. Then accidentally snapped one off.

http://www.vauxhallandkennington.org.uk/firstbridge.shtml

 

[friendofdorothy]

I helped dig up a blocked drain about half way up Railton Road years ago. Go down a bit and its wet clay. The sewer is the old river.

Some of the river Effra runs along Dulwich Road as a surface water drain with tributaries joining it at Brixton water lane - not sure about Railton Rd.

 

[boohoo]

Subject of a great Time Team - where they carbon dated the timber jetty posts which stick out of the mud close to the Effra exit point at low tide and dated them at 3500yrs old. Then accidentally snapped one off.

http://www.vauxhallandkennington.org.uk/firstbridge.shtml

I though they snapped the Roman one rather than the neolithic.

 

[boohoo]

When I finished my studies shall we walk the Effra?

 

[Rushy]

I though they snapped the Roman one rather than the neolithic.

Quite possibly - the series was over 10 yrs ago so I'm quite hazy!

When I finished my studies shall we walk the Effra?

Great idea. I'm in!

 

[ViolentPanda]

But it's hard not to be envious when you are not particularly well off, working really hard and not benefiting from a low rent by having a council house.

It should be simple not to be envious if you actually bother to analyse the issue. Anyone who does so will arrive at the inescapable conclusion that it's Conservative policy that has meant they're having to pay out ridiculous percentages of their wages as rent, not those of us whose misfortunes are great enough that we actually warrant local authority social housing. Blaming others for that is both lazy and misguided.
And I say "misfortunes" advisedly, with regard to the bulk of new council tenants in the last 20 years, because even back when I got my place nearly 20 years ago, you had to be a medical or psychiatric case and be living in extremely adverse conditions to get enough points to get a place in Lambeth.

 

[ViolentPanda]

He did say he was drunk and he was antagonising however I think he's a bit fed up of being told he is wrong because he has a difference of opinion and when he does ask something genuine, he gets pulled apart and dissected and thrown to the lions.

He was also replied to politely and given decent answers to his question.

And everyone, including the editor, gets "dissected" on here. It's part of the dynamic.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Subject of a great Time Team - where they carbon dated the timber jetty posts which stick out of the mud close to the Effra exit point at low tide and dated them at 3500yrs old. Then accidentally snapped one off.

http://www.vauxhallandkennington.org.uk/firstbridge.shtml

That Tony Robinson is a fucking Jonah!

 

[boohoo]

He was also replied to politely and given decent answers to his question.

And everyone, including the editor, gets "dissected" on here. It's part of the dynamic.

It's a tiring dynamic.

 

[ViolentPanda]

It's a tiring dynamic.

I don't disagree!

 

[friendofdorothy]

When I finished my studies shall we walk the Effra?

Yes I walk along parts of it most days - in fact my daily route to work takes me along the Effra. Can't recall where it starts though.

 

[boohoo]

Yes I walk along parts of it most days - in fact my daily route to work takes me along the Effra. Can't recall where it starts though.

It starts near where I live.

 

[RubyToogood]

I'd just like to draw the attention of Brixton residents to tomorrow's SE London drinks, a mere 10 minute train journey away: http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/se-london-drinks-friday-29th-august-dulwich-wood-house.326215/

 

[Gramsci]

But it's hard not to be envious when you are not particularly well off, working really hard and not benefiting from a low rent by having a council house.

I was in a office in Mayfair recently. The two receptionists were complaining about there neighbour who lived in social housing. I really do not understand this especially when one works in Mayfair.

Perhaps its because I am around central London a lot the thought of being envious of someone who is maybe a little better off than me does not cross my mind.

Its what those in power want.

It really is gross the wealth I see around Mayfair.

 

[Gramsci]

Given the stupid values of that site I'd much rather see a contribution towards housing elsewhere nearby. The prices there are 5 million for a one bed flat up to 65 million for a single floor (I'm ignoring the £140,000,000 rumours). Within half a mile of SW1 you could buy 160 x 2 bed flats for the value of one floor. The immediate area is already devoid of anyone but the oil type rich (who don't seem to bother living there) so sticking a couple of isolated families in there on principle doesn't seem like best use of resources.

The Candy Brothers One Hyde Park development did that

It was an issue at the time. From the Evening Standard article:

Furthermore, the developers threatened to scrap their plans if the affordable homes had to be built alongside.

Labour peer Lord Campbell-Savours, who obtained correspondence sent to Westminster council, has accused designers the Candy brothers, working with Guernsey developer Project Grande, of seeking to "bully" the borough into minimising the amount of social housing.

He said: "Candy & Candy set out to prove that if they had the affordable development in Knightsbridge it would so undermine the retail value of their flats it would be more feasible for them to do commercial development. They were able to bamboozle the council into giving them permission to build off-site."

This does not have to happen. I was talking to a planner who worked on the Regents Place development and British Land did put affordable housing on site.

The Candy Brothers built One Hyde Park as a secure place for the uber rich. They did not want any social housing onsite as it would put off buyers. I agree with leanderman that place like Knightsbridge should have affordable housing in large developments onsite.