Rushcroft road: notice to quit

[Casaubon]

Hi, I'm from the Lambeth Weekender local paper (but the U75 editor said I could post on here!). We're writing a feature about 'squatting - is it a blight on the community?' following the recent change in the law and are looking for someone to speak for squatting. Maybe someone from Rushcroft Rd or Clifton Mansions? Casaubon are you still around? We need to speak to you tomorrow as we press tomorrow night (June 8). Would just need 15 mins with you on the phone. Could you email me megan@myweekender.co.uk or call me or Martha on 0207 231 5258. Thank you!

Hi
I'm still around, but I think I've missed your deadline.
I was a 'short life' tenant, not a squatter, so I couldn't speak on behalf of squatters.
I'd be happy to give you my (mostly positive) opinions on squatting in Rushcroft Rd and Clifton Mansions.
Casaubon

p.s. Hi Gramsci, how's it going?

 

[editor]

Makes you wonder what joys will be contained in the Future Brixton Masterplan that is currently being whizzed up by the

"cooperative council"

 

[Winot]

I actually think that's a pretty impressive response from the Councillor.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I actually think that's a pretty impressive response from the Councillor.

Impressive is as impressive does.

 

[Gramsci]

I actually think that's a pretty impressive response from the Councillor.

He could explain why his party when in power did little to build new Council Housing or provide funds for Housing Associations to do so.

Blaming it all on Tory cuts is only part of it.

Other than say that the Council is under a lot of pressure (true) he , as a member of the Labour party, does not say how the Labour party will deal with the housing crisis in this country.

The legacy of the Labour party in power is that Housing Associations now have to behave more like private developers.

The last government poured money into banks using "Quantitative Easing" ( which is were it stays as economists reckon banks have been using it to save there industry). That money could have been used to build new affordable housing. As any Keynesian would tell you this would leave a lasting asset for the country for the long term. Also it would help the construction industry and provide jobs. As I heard the economist Krugman say last week the problem is lack of demand in the economy. The Government can step in to increase demand.

 

[Gramsci]

"Because there is so little capital available to do this there is a need to dispose of some of the properties so we have the money needed to refurbish the rest and bring back them back into use as council flats (off the top of my head I think 24 flats will be brought into use, but I might be wrong). It will cost a lot more to refurbish these properties – frankly it’s not particularly economic when compared to the rental income they will generate as social housing – but we took the decision to refurbish these homes precisely because of the point you make about a shortage of social housing in the centre of Brixton – particulalry large family-sezied properties. Local ward councillors were particularly vocal about this, and they were right to be."

from Brixton Blog Cllrs reply

The problem with saying this is that, the Cllr seems to be unaware, you cannot ringfence money from sales of some Council stock to use to refurbish remaining nearby housing.

This means that it is not definite that there will be money to refurbish remaining flat on RR.

He says (off the top of his head) 24 flat will be kept.

That remains to be seen in the long term. The properties need to be surveyed to see how much it will cost first before any definite decision is made.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I actually think that's a pretty impressive response from the Councillor.

Impressive in what terms, please?

 

[ViolentPanda]

Impressive is as impressive does.

Quite.
Anyone can chunter out a line of bullshit. What would be impressive is if any of his glib off-the-cuff assurances are held to.

 

[Gramsci]

Quite.
Anyone can chunter out a line of bullshit. What would be impressive is if any of his glib off-the-cuff assurances are held to.

Quite.

We should all remember his statement 24 flats to be kept as affordable housing.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Quite.

We should all remember his statement 24 flats to be kept as affordable housing.

I've taken the liberty of making a series of 4 screen-grabs of his comment/reply on BrixtonBlog, just in case his claim w/r/t "24 flats" is somehow edited or amended in the future to reflect a different amount.
I suggest that other posters may wish to the same, in the spirit of community solidarity and democracy.

 

[Gramsci]

I've taken the liberty of making a series of 4 screen-grabs of his comment/reply on BrixtonBlog, just in case his claim w/r/t "24 flats" is somehow edited or amended in the future to reflect a different amount.
I suggest that other posters may wish to the same, in the spirit of community solidarity and democracy.

Good idea. I was thinking of something like that today.

I remember that Elmwood House in RR was sold ages ago. Many years later a Council Officer denied / had no knowledge of its sale. The money from it was promised in the ,same way as now, to be put towards doing up the remaining blocks.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

We should all remember his statement 24 flats to be kept as affordable housing.

It would be interesting to find out how many existing Lambeth tenants there already are.

 

[Gramsci]

It would be interesting to find out how many existing Lambeth tenants there already are.

on RR?

There is one person who owns his flat. The rest of his block is squatted. Heard he is pretty cool about that.

All the remaining Council tenants were moved years ago.

There were some mixed in with the S/L

 

[Mrs Magpie]

There are council tenants too on Rushcroft Road too, I believe.

 

[Gramsci]

Hi
I'm still around, but I think I've missed your deadline.
I was a 'short life' tenant, not a squatter, so I couldn't speak on behalf of squatters.
I'd be happy to give you my (mostly positive) opinions on squatting in Rushcroft Rd and Clifton Mansions.
Casaubon

p.s. Hi Gramsci, how's it going?

thanks for asking. Im hanging in there.

Hope ur ok

 

[Winot]

Impressive in what terms, please?

I think he makes a robust and well-argued case that a housing policy based on fairness and need must inevitably mean that squatters have to be moved out once the council is in a position to take back control of the properties, and he makes his case (a) without villifying squatters and (b) whilst admitting that the council is at fault for having taken so long to take control.

If the council were now to convert the properties over to 100% properly affordable social housing, then I suspect most people would back him to the hilt (feel free to disagree).

Of course, no such thing is going to happen, and if as it appears he has changed his tune then that is not so impressive.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I think he makes a robust and well-argued case that a housing policy based on fairness and need must inevitably mean that squatters have to be moved out once the council is in a position to take back control of the properties, and he makes his case (a) without villifying squatters and (b) whilst admitting that the council is at fault for having taken so long to take control.

You see, I don't find that at all impressive. Since when should anyone be impressed by a councillor reciting "the book" on how things are supposed to be done.
I suppose it's impressive that a Lambeth councillor would actually know that there was an official way of doing things, but still...

If the council were now to convert the properties over to 100% properly affordable social housing, then I suspect most people would back him to the hilt (feel free to disagree).

Of course, no such thing is going to happen, and if as it appears he has changed his tune then that is not so impressive.

People would back a council and councillors that put the interests of Lambeth residents and tenants first, I agree. There aren't too many examples of them putting anything but their own political careers first, though, unfortunately, whichever party they represent.

 

[Gramsci]

If the council were now to convert the properties over to 100% properly affordable social housing, then I suspect most people would back him to the hilt (feel free to disagree).

Of course, no such thing is going to happen, and if as it appears he has changed his tune then that is not so impressive.

The Cllr says some of the properties will need to be sold to do up the rest. I was thinking yesterday what happened to the money from the ones that have been sold? At least 3 blocks in RR have been sold by Council and also Clifton Mansions around the corner.

I would have thought that this adds up to a fair amount of money to do up the remaining flats.

Seems to have slipped the Cllrs memory that there should be, following his logic of ringfencing sales, a pot of money already.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

The Cllr says some of the properties will need to be sold to do up the rest. I was thinking yesterday what happened to the money from the ones that have been sold? At least 3 blocks in RR have been sold by Council and also Clifton Mansions around the corner.

I would have thought that this adds up to a fair amount of money to do up the remaining flats.

Seems to have slipped the Cllrs memory that there should be, following his logic of ringfencing sales, a pot of money already.

You're absolutely right. But I thought I read somewhere that they (councils) can't ringfence money from sales of property. Does anyone know whether this is the case or not?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

You're absolutely right. But I thought I read somewhere that they (councils) can't ringfence money from sales of property. Does anyone know whether this is the case or not?

CH1 will know.

 

[Gramsci]

You're absolutely right. But I thought I read somewhere that they (councils) can't ringfence money from sales of property. Does anyone know whether this is the case or not?

no they cannot ringfence. See my previous post on this #96

 

[Brixton Hatter]

no they cannot ringfence. See my previous post on this #96

So the Cllr is talking bollox? All the rhetoric about using profits from the sales for 'improvements' must therefore be spin, deployed to support the argument for a sell-off.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

So the Cllr is talking bollox? All the rhetoric about using profits from the sales for 'improvements' must therefore be spin, deployed to support the argument for a sell-off.

Jeremy Paxman said the best advice he was given for interviewing was to think "Why is this bastard lying to me?"
I find it useful when reading something like a long blog comment from a councillor.

 

[Brixton Blog]

It is incorrect to say that when Council tenants left they were squatted. For many years they were Short Life. The Short Life in Rushcroft road and Clifton Mansions was run by London & Quadrant and RSL. It was never Short Life Coop.

For many years the Rushcroft Road Action Group (RAG) tried to get the Council to acknowledge there Short Life tenancies were secure tenancies. This took years of legal wrangling. A long story. Eventually the Council rehoused most of the Short Life. When the Short Life left the properties were then squatted as the Council didnt secure the properties either for sale or rehab for Council tenancies.

So this is a second time an established community has been moved on.

Hi Gramsci,

Apologies and thanks - I have just updated the article to include short-life housing in the history of Rushcroft. Sorry it took me a while.
For those worried, something might happen to Cllr Robbins' comment, while we would obviously never delete it, I have also kept it in form of the email notification and would be happy to pass on to anyone who needs.

Thanks
Zoe

 

[Gramsci]

Zoe has got back to Council on the flats that the Council says it will retain. This was put on Brixton Blog yesterday:

http://www.brixtonblog.com/lambeth-...l-housing-after-rushcroft-road-evictions/5794

 

[editor]

What percentage of the original community would 24 flats represent?

 

[wurlycurly]

Zoe has got back to Council on the flats that the Council says it will retain. This was put on Brixton Blog yesterday:

http://www.brixtonblog.com/lambeth-...l-housing-after-rushcroft-road-evictions/5794

I broadly support the Rushcroft Road squatters but recently discovered some of them are sub-letting rooms for up to £400 a month. This has been going on for years. Seems to go a bit against the grain of what squatting is all about

 

[Gramsci]

What percentage of the original community would 24 flats represent?

None that I can see. From the long winded piece the Cllr put on BB prieviously the original community will not get any of these refurbished flats.

Well its on record now that 24 flats wont be flogged of to developers. Have to see what happens in the future.

 

[Winot]

From the long winded piece the Cllr put on BB prieviously the original community will not get any of these refurbished flats.

Wasn't the point of the piece that the original community would have their housing needs assessed by the same yardstick that is used to assess everyone else's? Do you disagree with that principle?

 

[peterkro]

I broadly support the Rushcroft Road squatters but recently discovered some of them are sub-letting rooms for up to £400 a month. This has been going on for years. Seems to go a bit against the grain of what squatting is all about

Have you got any evidence of this,if so name and shame them Lee stylee.