Say hello to Barratt Homes' 'Brixton Square' on Coldharbour Lane (old Cooltan site)

[Rushy]

Clifton Mansions has exactly the same arrangement, it's just a bit more tightly packed.

I was about to say the same thing. I fail to understand why Clifton is suddenly being labelled as a gated community when it has been all along and the squatter community never did anything to address that in more than ten years. The only difference is that the occupants are likely to be employed middle classes. Whatever anyone thinks of that, it doesn't make it any more or less gated than it was back in the 'good old' squatting days.

 

[editor]

There is no private courtyard in the Barrier Block. There are no communal areas past the entrance and the bit outside the lifts. There is no gate. The green space outside the block is public and accessible to all, as are all the roads and paths associated with the block.

If you think that's exactly the same as an upmarket development in five blocks behind a big gate with a large private courtyard with no public access, that's entirely up to you.

 

[editor]

I was about to say the same thing. I fail to understand why Clifton is suddenly being labelled as a gated community when it has been all along and the squatter community never did anything to address that in more than ten years. The only difference is that the occupants are likely to be employed middle classes. Whatever anyone thinks of that, it doesn't make it any more or less gated than it was back in the 'good old' squatting days.

It wasn't very gated when some of the neighbours decided to use it as a car park!

 

[Rushy]

The green space outside the block is public and accessible to all, as are all the roads and paths associated with the block.

Well - not quite:

 

[editor]

Well - not quite:

View attachment 29826

What's to stop you walking right up there? Nothing, that's what.

 

[Rushy]

What's to stop you walking right up there? Nothing, that's what.

I want to take my car up there. Why can't I? I feel excluded.

 

[peterkro]

I want to take my car up there. Why can't I? I feel excluded.

You ever looked at the Shell centre on the SouthBank that's a gated community not anything like the Barrier block.

 

[editor]

I want to take my car up there. Why can't I? I feel excluded.

At least you can walk along the road and make 'vroom' sounds to yourself if you're that distraught.

You won't be able to do that at Brixton Square mind, on account of it being a gated community with no public access.

 

[MillwallShoes]

I want to take my car up there. Why can't I? I feel excluded.

has anyone got a fob for the little road barrier so rushy can take his car up there?

 

[teuchter]

If you think that's exactly the same as an upmarket development in five blocks behind a big gate with a large private courtyard with no public access, that's entirely up to you.

*sigh*

 

[Crispy]

You won't be able to do that at Brixton Square mind, on account of it being a gated community with no public access.

This is probably the least significant thing that's Bad about this development and the last two pages are a waste of everybody's time and effort.

 

[Rushy]

has anyone got a fob for the little road barrier so rushy can take his car up there?

It's only for privileged residents. According to one of them I should be satisfied with standing there and making car noises.

 

[teuchter]

I thought these communal walkways weren't publicly accessible and that you have to go through the controlled entrances to get onto them. My mistake if that's not the case.

 

[Rushy]

A
You won't be able to do that at Brixton Square mind, on account of it being a gated community with no public access.

Like Clifton Mansions was for the past decade. Except no one complained about it because gated communities are all right when they have an 'approved' type of person living there.

 

[Rushy]

You ever looked at the Shell centre on the SouthBank that's a gated community not anything like the Barrier block.

It is bloody annoying that you can't go straight down to the river from the overpass anymore.

 

[editor]

I thought these communal walkways weren't publicly accessible and that you have to go through the controlled entrances to get onto them. My mistake if that's not the case.

You mean the direct access to the front doors of the flats, yes?

If that's your definition of a 'gated community' then I've been living in them all my life, because I've had to go through at least one other door to get my front door in every flat I've ever lived in - as do most people.

Anyway, I'm done with this bore-a-thon. Here's how a gated community is defined. Make up your own minds if a council tower block fits the description..

In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences.

Gated communities usually consist of small residential streets and include various shared amenities. For smaller communities this may be only a park or other common area. For larger communities, it may be possible for residents to stay within the community for most day-to-day activities. Gated communities are a type of common interest development, but are distinct from intentional communities.

Given that gated communities are spatially a type of enclave, Setha M. Low, among other anthropologists, has argued that they have a negative effect on the overall social capital of the broader community outside the gated community.

Some gated communities, usually called guard-gated communities, are staffed by private security guards and are often home to high-value properties, and/or are set up as retirement villages. Some gated communities are secure enough to resemble fortresses and are intended as such.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gated_community

 

[editor]

It's only for privileged residents. According to one of them I should be satisfied with standing there and making car noises.

No need to cry. You can always park in the nice big illegal parking lot directly outside the block. Lots of space there!

 

[teuchter]

The definition of a "gated community" is not the issue.

The question is why it's ok to have controlled access to those communal walkways in the barrier block (I'm taking it you're now confirming that there is controlled access to them?) but not the courtyard in the Barratt scheme?

What are the justifications for having controlled access to the BB walkways that can't reasonably be applied to the Barratts courtyard?

 

[Rushy]

No need to cry. You can always park in the nice big illegal parking lot directly outside the block. Lots of space there!

If Somerleyton Heights wasn't so damned exclusive no one would have to park in the illegal place. Whilst you all sit in pretty in your Private Estate with exclusive barricaded residents only parking the rest of us are being exploited on the streets.

Anyway - what time do you get up? I'm going to take my van down for a good clean just before.

 

[Rushy]

Given that gated communities are spatially a type of enclave, Setha M. Low, among other anthropologists, has argued that they have a negative effect on the overall social capital of the broader community outside the gated community.

I've never heard of Setha, but Che has always been fairly reliable:

 

[editor]

If Somerleyton Heights wasn't so damned exclusive no one would have to park in the illegal place. Whilst you all sit in pretty in your Private Estate with exclusive barricaded residents only parking the rest of us are being exploited on the streets.

I've no idea why you think you should be able to park for free anywhere you like considering the fact that the residents have to pay for their garage spaces. Are you some sort of special case?

 

[editor]

The definition of a "gated community" is not the issue.

There go the goalposts again!

Just in case you missed it: I can't be arsed with another of your extra-tedious twisty specials.

 

[Rushy]

I've no idea why you think you should be able to park for free [linger] anywhere you like considering the fact that the residents have to pay for their garage spaces [flats]. Are you some sort of special case?

You sound more and more like a 'have' talking to a 'have not'.

 

[editor]

You sound more and more like a 'have' talking to a 'have not'.

I don't have a car - I can't afford such a luxury - but you're welcome to linger around my block if you like, if that's what you're into.

To be honest, I've no idea what you're on about. Why do you think you should be entitled to park in garage spaces that people pay for?

PS I don't have a garage space either but you'd be welcome to use it if I did.

 

[teuchter]

Only if you were so desperate to prove some tedious point or another point you were hell-bent on stretching the commonly understood meaning of a gated community into hitherto unknown and quite fanciful territories.
.

Edit: I thought you were doing a teuchter-style daft twist to suggest that the Barrier Block was some sort of 'compound'.

Anyway, I'm done with this bore-a-thon.

There go the goalposts again!

Just in case you missed it: I can't be arsed with another of your extra-tedious twisty specials.

I thought we had an agreement we weren't going to go through all this kind of nonsense any more? I have been trying to keep to my side of the deal.

If you don't want to discuss the point I raised, which was initially a response to another poster describing the Barratt development as a "gated community", then just don't.

If you do, then perhaps you could try and do it in a constructive way and without misrepresenting everything that I say and you don't bother to read properly.

 

[leanderman]

One could argue that 'Brixton Square' is delivering a broader social mix by providing private housing for apparently wealthy people in an area of largely social housing for apparently non-wealthy people.

And social housing should, by the same token, be the only development allowed in exclusive areas such as Chelsea.

 

[editor]

I thought we had an agreement we weren't going to go through all this kind of nonsense any more? I have been trying to keep to my side of the deal.

If you want to think that the Barrier Block is a gated community directly comparable to Brixton Square, then you go right ahead.
I don't care what you think. End of. Bye.

 

[editor]

And social housing should, by the same token, be the only development allowed in exclusive areas such as Chelsea.

If only.

 

[Winot]

I don't have a car - I can't afford such a luxury - but you're welcome to linger around my block if you like, if that's what you're into.

To be honest, I've no idea what you're on about. Why do you think you should be entitled to park in garage spaces that people pay for?

PS I don't have a garage space either but you'd be welcome to use it if I did.

I think it's safe to say that Rushy is not being entirely serious.

 

[editor]

I think it's safe to say that Rushy is not being entirely serious.

Well he could still use my garage space. If I had any.

As an aside, there's a whole floor of the Barrier Block that has been unused since the day they built in. I've been inside and it's huge. It couldn't be used for housing (there's no windows) but I've been seeing if there's any way it could be put to community use. Loads of obstacles to that though.