Coldharbour Lane, Brixton - news and updates

[Twattor]

From the research findings of Minton's study,



Why shouldnt people in social housing have caretakers and youth workers in the area they live in?

And why shouldn't Minton have a political position?

Its not utopian to want caretakers on ones estate and youth workers. They were there but its all gradually been cut. In politically driven austerity cuts in case of youth provision.

A point Minton is making is that getting rid of caretakers and youth workers and replacing them with yet more security is a political decision.

She also traces the history of the development of secured by design from US to here by Alice Coleman. Where it fitted in with Thatcherism.

What I was taking issue with in my post 163 is the attitude that "common sense" solutions trump criticism of those with a political axe to grind ( Minton obviously an academic lefty).

As my namesake pointed out common sense is not beyond politics. Its where a political viewpoint is so accepted it appears to be obviously common sense.

But Minton's article has no real basis in anything. She simply asks people if they'd like something back that they had 10 years ago. You could ask the same of daily mail readers.
You can't pass it off as relevant - we are all programmed to be conservative and resistant to aspects of change that we deem to be less good than we're used to, which is backwards. As I said earlier a lot of people would love servants as long as they didn't have to pay for them.

It comes down to whether prevention is better than cure, and where prevention starts and ends.

 

[Gramsci]

But Minton's article has no real basis in anything. She simply asks people if they'd like something back that they had 10 years ago. You could ask the same of daily mail readers.
You can't pass it off as relevant - we are all programmed to be conservative and resistant to aspects of change that we deem to be less good than we're used to, which is backwards. As I said earlier a lot of people would love servants as long as they didn't have to pay for them.

It comes down to whether prevention is better than cure, and where prevention starts and ends.

She is saying that prevention is better than cure. Preventing social problems by, as you say going back ten years, by funding youth workers and caretakers is about prevention.

The other thing Anna Minton is saying is that Secured by Design has a history. Which is a right wing/ conservative one.

So its not that people are inherently conservative. Its the opposite. When asked in Mintons research the reply is that preventation is better.

So you are wrong.

Saying that people who want caretakers and youth workers in the area the live in are conservative/ Daily Mail readers is getting it totally the wrong way around.

Its people like you who are the conservative who can't see why sensible suggestion from residents should not be dismissed as Daily Mail viewpoint.

Sounds like the kind of thing Council officers/ housing association officers would think.

 

[CH1]

Noticed that the marketing suite at "The Edge" was in darkness this afternoon.
Sign in the window said all flats now sold - and referred interested parties on to another Taylor Wimpey development (Osiers Point Wandsworth SW18).

Seems a bit early to have sold everything off, given its only half built?

Surely Anthea can't be right that they've been advertising these flats in the Far East???

 

[editor]

Surely Anthea can't be right that they've been advertising these flats in the Far East???
View attachment 163086

These kind of shitty profiteering landgrabs are all about gifting greedy landlords the chance to acquire more property and squeeze out locals and what better way to do that than invite foreign investment - because they really won't give a shit about the local community.

 

[thebackrow]

There is no social housing at all - the slippery fuckers managed to wriggle out of that commitment.

Barratt Homes, Brixton Square and the fight to retain affordable housing in Brixton. Please sign the petition.

I'm pretty sure that's not correct. The block at the western end was definitely not sold on the open market - I don't know whether it qualifies as social or affordable but it's one or the other.

Secured by Design is a weird one. Traditional back alleys and the like made housing estates easy to walk or cycle around - "permeable". The police then spent a while arguing against that sort of design - it gave criminals easy access to the back of houses, dark alleyways are unsafe due to mugging risk. As a result you get these large suburban housing estates from the 80's onwards that are impossible to walk around, so everyone drives.

Lambeth's policy document seems to be (although this is dated 2008 - may have been updated since).
https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/sites/default/files/pl-adopted-safer-built-environments-spd_0.pdf

I think we'd all agree with this statement from Lambeth's doc "A combination of good design, encouraging pedestrian activity, "eyes on the street" and community involvement is a much more effective way of making the Borough safer, than the negativity of shutters, barbed wire, gated developments and other physical crime prevention methods. These may provide well fortified private spaces, but they result in very hostile public spaces."

 

[editor]

I'm pretty sure that's not correct. The block at the western end was definitely not sold on the open market - I don't know whether it qualifies as social or affordable but it's one or the other.

It's definitely not social housing. Brixton Buzz and Brixton Blog teamed up to oppose the change at the time.

 

[thebackrow]

It's definitely not social housing. Brixton Buzz and Brixton Blog teamed up to oppose the change at the time.

and you may well have been successful - there are a number of flats let by a housing association to families but I have no idea of the lease terms.

There may well be far fewer than originally proposed but there is still a non-private element in there.

 

[editor]

and you may well have been successful - there are a number of flats let by a housing association to families but I have no idea of the lease terms.

There may well be far fewer than originally proposed but there is still a non-private element in there.

We were unsuccessful. Look up the original articles on those sites which documented the wriggling changes that Barretts got away with.

Barratt Homes, Brixton Square and the fight to retain affordable housing in Brixton. Please sign the petition.

 

[editor]

Here you go - Fight for social housing in Brixton: Town Hall, March 12th – update – council caves in

 

[thebackrow]

Got you. So there are 13 housing association properties, with secure lifetime tenancies, but they are now at 'affordable (55% of mkt value) and not 'social' rents. Understandably people aren't that precise (or don't understand the difference) and it just gets referred to as 'social housing'.

 

[teuchter]

Got you. So there are 13 housing association properties, with secure lifetime tenancies, but they are now at 'affordable (55% of mkt value) and not 'social' rents. Understandably people aren't that precise (or don't understand the difference) and it just gets referred to as 'social housing'.

I think that more people are now realising/understanding that 'affordable' doesn't mean the equivalent of social rent and that it can be up 80% of market rate, which is still unaffordable for many people. Developers (and maybe even councils) are quite deliberate in not being precise, because saying that a development is 30% affordable rent sounds rather better than what it means in reality.

 

[editor]

Cops just carted away some bloke who had made himself comfortable on the ledge above the Shrub & Shutter. I saw him earlier and he seemed to be acting oddly.

 

[editor]

Look at the shonkiest of the 'brickwork' on The Edge.

 

[alex_]

Look at the shonkiest of the 'brickwork' on The Edge.

View attachment 167048

Please tell me that isn’t finished ?

 

[CH1]

It's stuck on. Quite possibly fake bricks even. You could observe the process close up when they were doing the Valentia Place block last year.

 

[editor]

Here's another look at that bolt-on 'brickwork'

 

[Rushy]

Brick slip rain screen. I'm not brilliantly keen on "faking it" with materials. But as a finish brick is remarkably good at weathering well in urban environments, which can make many render, concrete, timber, metal facades look dirty and knackered quite quickly. And because there is less material used and less waste it can be quite environmental.

Good article here, which uses the example of Lambeth's new Town Hall.

 

[teuchter]

Brick slip rain screen. I'm not brilliantly keen on "faking it" with materials. But as a finish brick is remarkably good at weathering well in urban environments, which can make many render, concrete, timber, metal facades look dirty and knackered quite quickly. And because there is less material used and less waste it can be quite environmental.

Good article here, which uses the example of Lambeth's new Town Hall.

Although that article describes a slightly different system, where bricks are cast into factory-made concrete panels that are then craned into place.

The system at 'The Edge' is more like what is shown here:



where thin brick slips are glued straight onto insulation panels.

 

[Rushy]

Although that article describes a slightly different system, where bricks are cast into factory-made concrete panels that are then craned into place.

The system at 'The Edge' is more like what is shown here:



where thin brick slips are glued straight onto insulation panels.

You'd know more than me but I thought they looked like pre formed panels of slips with individual slips to join them.

 

[teuchter]

You'd know more than me but I thought they looked like pre formed panels of slips with individual slips to join them.

You might be right and they are preformed panels, but looks like they are backed onto insulation board rather than concrete panels judging by the type of fixings that seem to be attaching them. You can see there's expanding foam been put between the panels too.

 

[editor]

Looks like there's been an incident in Domino's opposite the Barrier Block. There's police and ambulances in attendance.

 

[editor]

Yes, don't mind the pedestrians or mums with prams. You just park wherever you like.



#selfishwankers

 

[Mr Bim of Bar]

 

[Mr Bim of Bar]

Greek grill to open next to Market House on Coldharbour Lane.

 

[editor]

Greek grill to open next to Market House on Coldharbour Lane.

I looked them up. Their other branch has had good reviews and the prices aren't too sky high either. Fuck knows how they can afford the rent.

 

[jimbarkanoodle]

If its the same as the one on Acre Lane, then you do get a decent bit of food for quite a good price.

The times i have gone in there, it appeared as if the owner was doing all the cooking and graft himself.

 

[editor]

Night scene

 

[organicpanda]

last night some twat decided to smash the table in our front yard, loving the vibrancy

 

[sparkybird]

I'm sorry to hear that organicpanda
Was out in Brixton last night for the first time in ages and a bit shocked at the volume of people.... And that was early too!

 

[CH1]

Weird article in the FT today about Brewdog soliciting for investors with Bitcoin buy offering them a free six pack of Cryponite beer.


The reader comments at the end of the FT article suggest that thrusting young brokers think Brewdog's publicity machine is designed to out-fox the common-sense FT in the manner of Micheal O'Leary's Ryan Air ("Spend a pound to spend a penny" for example).