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Brixton Somerleyton Road development, Ovalhouse and Brixton Green - funding, proposed rents etc

Could be worth a bump - this from an email just sent out from Brixton Green:

Next monthly open meeting
Time & date: 6.30pm to 9.30pm Monday 7th November
Venue: Impact Hub, Pop Brixton 49 Brixton Station Rd, London SW9 8PQ (the Impact Hub is at the back of Pop Brixton on the ground level)
Brixton Green hold monthly open drop-in meetings on the first Monday of the month. Our next meeting will focus on how to make the sustainable ambitions happen.
Visit brixtongreen.org for more information

The most peculiar thing about the email is the artwork:
View attachment 94712
Is that supposed to be Somerleyton Road with modern flats and rennovated market barrows? I think we should be told.

Where are the rennovated market barrows?
 
Could be worth a bump - this from an email just sent out from Brixton Green:

Next monthly open meeting
Time & date: 6.30pm to 9.30pm Monday 7th November
Venue: Impact Hub, Pop Brixton 49 Brixton Station Rd, London SW9 8PQ (the Impact Hub is at the back of Pop Brixton on the ground level)
Brixton Green hold monthly open drop-in meetings on the first Monday of the month. Our next meeting will focus on how to make the sustainable ambitions happen.
Visit brixtongreen.org for more information

The most peculiar thing about the email is the artwork:
View attachment 94712
Is that supposed to be Somerleyton Road with modern flats and rennovated market barrows? I think we should be told.
Looks like a bland US university campus.
 
Isn't that an abbreviated version of "Brixton Green" is attempting to set up a Community Land Trust vehicle to collect the freehold rent on the council-built properties to run a community centre once a week in Pop Brixton"?
Who knows what Brixton Green are up to. 'Slippery' is not the word.
 
This is what they say is the relationship between them and the trust:

Screen Shot 2016-11-04 at 11.47.42.jpg

I guess anyone genuinely interested in understanding how it all works will go along on Monday and ask them directly.
 
I received this A5 brochure from Brixton Green yesterday. I live off Brixton Hill, near the prison.

From what I’ve read of them I’m dubious of their motives and methods.
Maybe I’m just a bitter old cynic, but to me this sort of publicity campaign reeks of expensive bullshit, with its computer-rendered utopias and irrelevant photos of smiling families.

What’s their game, exactly?

Brixton Green 1 of 4.jpg Brixton Green 2 of 4.jpg Brixton Green 3 of 4.jpg Brixton Green 4 of 4.jpg
 
I received this A5 brochure from Brixton Green yesterday. I live off Brixton Hill, near the prison.

From what I’ve read of them I’m dubious of their motives and methods.
Maybe I’m just a bitter old cynic, but to me this sort of publicity campaign reeks of expensive bullshit, with its computer-rendered utopias and irrelevant photos of smiling families.

What’s their game, exactly?
Good luck trying to find that out. I don't trust them one fucking inch. Despite all this 'run by local people' bollocks, their chair has no connection with Brixton whatsoever. And the 'shareholders' stuff is utter bollocks too.
 
I received this A5 brochure from Brixton Green yesterday. I live off Brixton Hill, near the prison.
Good luck trying to find that out. I don't trust them one fucking inch....'run by local people' bollocks..
There is a full page advertorial on page 15 of the Brixton Bugle on this topic.
The very last paragraph is an advertisement for a "Transition Director" no salary or job spec though.

The link below may explain what is going on. Rather than any immediate prospect of building work they have apparently been successful in getting a £231,000 grant from "Power to Change" whatever that is. Sounds like a Cameroonian organisation designed to pay consultants to help the poor people to me.

Brixton Green are awarded £231k from Power to Change (funded by the Big Lottery) | Brixton Green
 
I received this A5 brochure from Brixton Green yesterday. I live off Brixton Hill, near the prison.

From what I’ve read of them I’m dubious of their motives and methods.
Maybe I’m just a bitter old cynic, but to me this sort of publicity campaign reeks of expensive bullshit, with its computer-rendered utopias and irrelevant photos of smiling families.

What’s their game, exactly?

View attachment 97102 View attachment 97103 View attachment 97109 View attachment 97111

I see the start date is now 2017.

When we were in court the Council was saying it was much earlier than that. It was one of the reasons we lost.They said they needed vacant possession as works would start soon.

We could not prove this was not the case. After all if the Council say something in court in front of a Judge it must be true.
 
There is a full page advertorial on page 15 of the Brixton Bugle on this topic.
The very last paragraph is an advertisement for a "Transition Director" no salary or job spec though.

The link below may explain what is going on. Rather than any immediate prospect of building work they have apparently been successful in getting a £231,000 grant from "Power to Change" whatever that is. Sounds like a Cameroonian organisation designed to pay consultants to help the poor people to me.

Brixton Green are awarded £231k from Power to Change (funded by the Big Lottery) | Brixton Green

Sophie Macken, Programmes Manager at the independent trust Power to Change, said:
‘We are very proud to be funding Brixton Green at this crucial moment in its development. It takes a lot of work for community businesses to make their ideas into a reality, and this is another exciting step forward. Brixton Green is precisely the sort of ambitious project, shaped and built by the local community, which will help the area thrive even with more tough times ahead.’

This is a quote from one individual. Maybe they did not quite understand. I thought the BG line was that once the project is built there role would be finished. The quote suggests that this is not the case. That the grant is to facilitate BG onto its next stage.

Secondly this is a Council project not a Brixton Green project. The actual role of BG on the Somerleyton Road project steering group is to represent the community. The other two organisations on the steering group are the Council and Oval House theatre. Both the Council and OHT are taking the financial risk of the project. They are raising the funds.They are paying for the architects and consultants needed to get a large project like this off the ground.

So its not a Brixton Green project as the quote implies.
 
This is a quote from one individual. Maybe they did not quite understand. I thought the BG line was that once the project is built there role would be finished. The quote suggests that this is not the case. That the grant is to facilitate BG onto its next stage.

Secondly this is a Council project not a Brixton Green project. The actual role of BG on the Somerleyton Road project steering group is to represent the community. The other two organisations on the steering group are the Council and Oval House theatre. Both the Council and OHT are taking the financial risk of the project. They are raising the funds.They are paying for the architects and consultants needed to get a large project like this off the ground.

So its not a Brixton Green project as the quote implies.
Sophie Macken seems to have spent more years at Directory of Social Change and Drug Science than anywhere else.

Directory of Social Change is an organisation which helps charities and social firms to apply for grants.

Drug Science is an organisation which gives out information about recreational drugs.

I am a bit surprised that she should be "proud to be funding Brixton Green" - but then this probably means that like LJAG, Brixton Green can put in a mean funding application form - well enough done that the funder is proud to fund them.
 
Really disappointed to see the Bugle running a full page piece on Brixton Green - that was written by Brixton Green. An advert that looks like an article. Terrible journalism.
 
Really disappointed to see the Bugle running a full page piece on Brixton Green - that was written by Brixton Green. An advert that looks like an article. Terrible journalism.

I'm not massively surprised at the Bugle pimping PR puffs written by the puffers. It's where their model of journalism was always going to lead - if you take money from the council etc, you pedal hard to avoid offending them, and in some cases will actively go soft on some stories in order to keep them on board.
 
I'm not massively surprised at the Bugle pimping PR puffs written by the puffers. It's where their model of journalism was always going to lead - if you take money from the council etc, you pedal hard to avoid offending them, and in some cases will actively go soft on some stories in order to keep them on board.
I can understand this but this is a whole page of uncritical propaganda for Brixton Green. It's quite shameful.
 
Brixton Green have just put this invite out:

2017 will be a big year for Brixton Green!
This year construction is due to start & Lambeth Council will make the big decision on whether to lease the 304 homes to the new community trust!

25th January Event: Film, Food & Housing workshop
Venue: Pop Brixton 49 Brixton Station Rd, Brixton SW9 8PQ
Time: 6.30pm to 9.30pm Wednesday 25th January

To convince Lambeth to lease the development to the Trust, we must make it the best it can be. This workshop will help shape the details and help make this happen such as: Who will the homes be for? How will it be managed? How will it be run?
6.30pm Welcome and food
7pm Film: "Arc of Justice" The new award winning film of the first community land trust, set up in Georgia USA in 1969 by leaders of the African American Civil Rights Movement.
7.30pm - 9.30pm: Housing workshop

The film might be enlightening or uplifting, but as it concerns a community company setting up some sort of workers co-op in Atlanta for displaced share-croppers in 1969 - against opposition from white capitalists, I wonder how relevant this is to Somerleyton Road?

There is more:
Dates for 2017:
Wednesday 25th January Event
(6.30pm to 9.30pm) : Film, food and housing workshop
Thursday 2nd February: Deadline for candidates to stand for election to be a Brixton Green trustee. Contact us for more details.
Monday 6th February (6.30pm to 9.30pm): Open Project Night @ the Impact Hub, Pop Brixton (Brixton Green attends the first Monday of each month to answer any questions on the project)
Thursday 9th February (7pm to 9pm): Follow up workshop for the 25th January event.
Thursday 2nd March (6.30pm): Election 2017, Annual General Meeting & event.
Monday 6th March (6.30pm to 9.30pm): Open Project Night @ the Impact Hub, Pop Brixton

Before someone takes a Pop at me (haha) I am relaying this for information purposes. I guess people who either know little of Brixton Green, or want to influence it could go to the meetings and pipe up.
 
Brixton Green have just put this invite out:

2017 will be a big year for Brixton Green!
This year construction is due to start & Lambeth Council will make the big decision on whether to lease the 304 homes to the new community trust!

25th January Event: Film, Food & Housing workshop
Venue: Pop Brixton 49 Brixton Station Rd, Brixton SW9 8PQ
Time: 6.30pm to 9.30pm Wednesday 25th January

To convince Lambeth to lease the development to the Trust, we must make it the best it can be. This workshop will help shape the details and help make this happen such as: Who will the homes be for? How will it be managed? How will it be run?
6.30pm Welcome and food
7pm Film: "Arc of Justice" The new award winning film of the first community land trust, set up in Georgia USA in 1969 by leaders of the African American Civil Rights Movement.
7.30pm - 9.30pm: Housing workshop

The film might be enlightening or uplifting, but as it concerns a community company setting up some sort of workers co-op in Atlanta for displaced share-croppers in 1969 - against opposition from white capitalists, I wonder how relevant this is to Somerleyton Road?

There is more:
Dates for 2017:
Wednesday 25th January Event
(6.30pm to 9.30pm) : Film, food and housing workshop
Thursday 2nd February: Deadline for candidates to stand for election to be a Brixton Green trustee. Contact us for more details.
Monday 6th February (6.30pm to 9.30pm): Open Project Night @ the Impact Hub, Pop Brixton (Brixton Green attends the first Monday of each month to answer any questions on the project)
Thursday 9th February (7pm to 9pm): Follow up workshop for the 25th January event.
Thursday 2nd March (6.30pm): Election 2017, Annual General Meeting & event.
Monday 6th March (6.30pm to 9.30pm): Open Project Night @ the Impact Hub, Pop Brixton

Before someone takes a Pop at me (haha) I am relaying this for information purposes. I guess people who either know little of Brixton Green, or want to influence it could go to the meetings and pipe up.
Yet not a flyer or a poster has been seen in the block adjacent to this development, neither have they added it to the Buzz listings or advertised anywhere else - if you hadn't posted it here, I'd had no idea. I doubt if that many local residents read this forum either.

So much for their community engagement skills.

Not sure many of their nearest residents are regulars at Pop Brixton either and I'm not quite seeing their connection to what happened at Georgia in 1969.
 
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Brixton Green have just put this invite out:

2017 will be a big year for Brixton Green!
This year construction is due to start & Lambeth Council will make the big decision on whether to lease the 304 homes to the new community trust!

25th January Event: Film, Food & Housing workshop
Venue: Pop Brixton 49 Brixton Station Rd, Brixton SW9 8PQ
Time: 6.30pm to 9.30pm Wednesday 25th January

To convince Lambeth to lease the development to the Trust, we must make it the best it can be. This workshop will help shape the details and help make this happen such as: Who will the homes be for? How will it be managed? How will it be run?
6.30pm Welcome and food
7pm Film: "Arc of Justice" The new award winning film of the first community land trust, set up in Georgia USA in 1969 by leaders of the African American Civil Rights Movement.
7.30pm - 9.30pm: Housing workshop

The film might be enlightening or uplifting, but as it concerns a community company setting up some sort of workers co-op in Atlanta for displaced share-croppers in 1969 - against opposition from white capitalists, I wonder how relevant this is to Somerleyton Road?

There is more:
Dates for 2017:
Wednesday 25th January Event
(6.30pm to 9.30pm) : Film, food and housing workshop
Thursday 2nd February: Deadline for candidates to stand for election to be a Brixton Green trustee. Contact us for more details.
Monday 6th February (6.30pm to 9.30pm): Open Project Night @ the Impact Hub, Pop Brixton (Brixton Green attends the first Monday of each month to answer any questions on the project)
Thursday 9th February (7pm to 9pm): Follow up workshop for the 25th January event.
Thursday 2nd March (6.30pm): Election 2017, Annual General Meeting & event.
Monday 6th March (6.30pm to 9.30pm): Open Project Night @ the Impact Hub, Pop Brixton

Before someone takes a Pop at me (haha) I am relaying this for information purposes. I guess people who either know little of Brixton Green, or want to influence it could go to the meetings and pipe up.


Got a leaflet about this today.

At least they refer to it as the somerleyton road project.

What did surprise me was this.

" The development is being developed in partnership with Lambeth Council. "

No mention of Ovalhouse Theatre. And well the project is being developed by Lambeth Council with a steering group that comprises Lambeth Council, Ovalhouse and BG ,who the Council appointed,to represent the community.
 
Brixton Green - Job opportunity | Brixton Green

Job title: TRANSITION DIRECTOR

Working For: Brixton Green/ Somerleyton Trust

Salary: £55-60,000 pa, subject to experience.

Job Details

The Organisation

The Somerleyton Trust is an exciting and pioneering response to London’s housing problems which will provide locally accountable, 100% rented housing in the heart of Brixton. The project will be home to over 1,000 people of mixed incomes, at truly affordable rent levels suited to incomes, as well as providing new space for local businesses to thrive.

The Role

We’re looking for a strategic thinker, great manager and passionate candidate to become our Transition Director who will take the lead in shaping the future of the Somerleyton Trust.

The role is to ‘design’ and then implement a viable business plan for the Somerleyton Trust as a new community housing trust. It is expected that this is a 2-year process. The Transition Director will need to have vision, rigour and drive to establish the Trust as a well-governed and locally accountable landlord with responsibilities including:
.....
 
Brixton Green - Job opportunity | Brixton Green

Job title: TRANSITION DIRECTOR

Working For: Brixton Green/ Somerleyton Trust

Salary: £55-60,000 pa, subject to experience.

Job Details

The Organisation

The Somerleyton Trust is an exciting and pioneering response to London’s housing problems which will provide locally accountable, 100% rented housing in the heart of Brixton. The project will be home to over 1,000 people of mixed incomes, at truly affordable rent levels suited to incomes, as well as providing new space for local businesses to thrive.

The Role

We’re looking for a strategic thinker, great manager and passionate candidate to become our Transition Director who will take the lead in shaping the future of the Somerleyton Trust.

The role is to ‘design’ and then implement a viable business plan for the Somerleyton Trust as a new community housing trust. It is expected that this is a 2-year process. The Transition Director will need to have vision, rigour and drive to establish the Trust as a well-governed and locally accountable landlord with responsibilities including:
.....


Two year process. I do hope this will not delay the scheme. Which is already well behind schedule.

Secondly it's up to the Council what the long term management will be. It's them and Ovalhouse who are doing the funding and building of the project. The job description is wrong to say the "Somerleyton Trust" is doing it. I don't understand that. The Trust does not exist.

What happens if the model that BG come up with is not one the Council wants? From there leaflet BG want a long lease. So it is more than a management model. The Council decided to retain ownership of the site to keep it under local democratic control.

I would rather the Council consulted on long term mge. Putting forward different options. The team they hired are capable of doing this.
 
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Secondly it's up to the Council what the long term management will be. It's them and Ovalhouse who are doing the funding and building of the project. The job description is wrong to say the "Somerleyton Trust" is doing it. I don't understand that. The Trust does not exist.
There is a LORD AND LADY SOMERLEYTON'S CHARITABLE TRUST but this is in Suffolk.

Could it be that just as Brixton Green is on the Mutuals register apparently where you have to request information at £12 a page, they might have set up a Somerleyton Trust of similarly dubious transparency on the mutuals register?
 
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