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Tell me about BrixtonGreen - a "community led development" on Somerleyton Road

OpalFruit said:
But they have put up a poster inviting local residents to take part / contact them - so if you are a local resident, as well as a member or editor of a bulletin board, you could simply take up their invitation? If interested in the proposal.
Initiatives have to start somewhere!
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Me, I'd read a cornflake packet if it was pinned up somewhere. Seen nothing on the estate notice boards, in the housing office or anywhere else and I live on the estate on the road that they're supposedly interested in. So their efforts to contact the community that live slap-bang on Somerleyton seem frankly ineffectual*




*posh-speak for piss-poor.
 
My guess is this is faux community stuff that will give some academics a worthy project and act as cover for commercial housing being built on the temporary school site (note 'sustainably built housing').
 
Rushy said:
You left out half the statement. Put together I still think it is fair. Do you really think that everyone who looks at this site for the first time would immediately think it is a cauldron of constructive ideas in which they wish to become immersed? The effort required to carry a small number of people can be quite disproportionate to the result.
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I think its a constructive site. Not everything here is serious all the time. In my experience of Coops and local issues u have to wade thru a lot of unconstructive behaviour. Thats how people are. I live with it. This site is more constructive and informative than reading Lambeth Life.
 
memespring said:
My guess is this is faux community stuff that will give some academics a worthy project and act as cover for commercial housing being built on the temporary school site (note 'sustainably built housing').
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The problem is that there has been no debate about Community Shares , Community ownership , Social Return. There is a lot on the web from Think Tanks, Academia and Government about it all. But little on the theory behind it. Its assumed if u use the word Community people will think its a great idea.

As Fenian pointed out what about building Council Housing? Its what Defend Council Housing say backed by detailed arguments.

Here is stab at ideas behind it all:

New Labour and Camerons Big Society overlap. Both think the top down post war Welfare State and Government intervention in the economy (Keynes) leads to dependancy culture. It disempowers people. We would all sit around with our feet up if the Government / Think tanks didnt dream up schemes to make us more "engaged".

Secondly both believe in a social market that puts together business values with Cooperation/ Association. This comes from the 80s Thatcher revolution. Both see that as to extreme but see indvidualist effort at asset building using business values as compatible with Cooperation.

"promoting enterprise, equity and engagement through community shares and bonds"

http://www.communityshares.org.uk/

See here for Red Tory Blonds view. At least he puts forward a theory and argument.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/02/new-conservatism-cameron

From article:

"Community share issuance offers the prospect of popularising local ownership; the melding of time banks with equity investment; the conversion of sweat equity into real wealth. All of the above offer the real opportunity to address the contemporary asset deficit and convert an ideology of ownership into a practised and fully participated reality."
 
New Labour thinking on this goes back a long way. The early NL used Etzioni

Another source of New Labour thinking on community has been the moral communitarians in the United States. 'Communitarianism' has become a popular and influential way of describing political and ideological appeals to community and community values on both sides of the Atlantic. For proponents of communitarian ideas, these appeals rest on a rejection both of the market-led ideology of the new right and of paternalistic and centralised state approaches to welfare of the 'old left'. Thus communitarianism is viewed by its advocates as steering a path between unfettered markets and an overarching state. The most populist moral communitarian commentator of the 1990s was the American sociologist Amitai Etzioni. For Etzioni, societies like the US and Britain are faced with problems of 'demoralisation'--a decline in morality and the absence of a commitment to fulfilling obligations: 'Communitarians call to restore civic virtues, for people to live up to their responsibilities and not merely to focus on their entitlements, and to shore up the moral foundations of society'.9

For Etzioni, the key to the remoralisation of society is based upon the strengthening of morality in and through civil institutions such as the family, education system and voluntary associations; the assertion of public/community interest over special interests; and the reversal of the problem of 'too many rights, too few obligations'. Or, as Blair put it in an interview in the ever virtuous Sun in early 1998, Britons need to 'stop wringing their hands and start taking more responsibility for their own lives'.

from here:

http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj85/lavalette.htm
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/14/david-cameron-big-society-conservatives

Here is good critique of Camerons Big Society by Hilary Wainwright and also can be applied to New Labours half hearted belief in "Mutualism"

But control over what? His idea of the "big society" is pitched at minimising the power of the state, while doing nothing to give people the power to control the private, "free" market and the inequalities it produces.

Without economic democracy, decentralisation of political power will reinforce inequality, shifting power not "from the state to working people" but to those who already have the money, social networks and time to make the system work for them. (See the work of the Equality Trust.)

Cameron says: give public employees the right to form co-ops and take over the department they work for. Why couldn't the government provide support for private-sector workers to form co-ops and take over the factory they work in? After all, surely the way power over the private sector is concentrated in a few hands at the top is utterly incompatible with a democratic society.
 
Gramsci said:
I think its a constructive site. Not everything here is serious all the time. In my experience of Coops and local issues u have to wade thru a lot of unconstructive behaviour. Thats how people are. I live with it. This site is more constructive and informative than reading Lambeth Life.
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Unless you believe the answer to my question is 'yes - everyone' then I don't think our points are mutually exclusive.
 
Excellent posts, thanks Gramsci, really useful. :)

I understand Brixton Green have some 'open day' events coming up - I'll find out where/when etc.
 
TruXta said:
Getting desperate Ed? :p
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Well, seeing I was already on their info-lite website and came across the form, I thought I'd give it a go.
After all, I'm very local to the planned development and I want to know exactly what's being proposed for my neighbourhood.
 
Brixton Hatter said:
Excellent posts, thanks Gramsci, really useful. :)

I understand Brixton Green have some 'open day' events coming up - I'll find out where/when etc.
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Thanks.

I am thinking aloud here. I just think there should be a proper debate on the pros and cons. CLTs have worked in the USA. But the US never had the kind of post war support for Council Housing and the Housing Association movement that there was here.

The Tory/LD government are in the process imo of cutting all State funding to affordable housing providers. HAs in particular whilst borrowing money on there existing asset base also depended on funding from central Government. They are going to be hit really hard. They have already been hit by the lack of long term cheap finance. Some have found the costs of there long term loans go up dramatically in the last few years. Almost driving some to the wall.

I cant see CLTs as working unless they have access to low interest long term finance at fixed rates. Whether that is from Government or the private sector. Im afraid handing power to the people will basically leave them with a lot of problems. Also CLTs that in the end have to become almost like private developers to survive.
 
Discovered they went to the local old people's club who by all accounts were totally underwhelmed. I don't think they sold a single share.
 
Would the person who wrote this comment like to get in contact with me via www.brixtongreen.org. I could then introduce them to some of the remarkable individuals involved in the elderly groups. Many of these people have been doing fantastic work for the community in Brixton for decades, and for the past couple of years have been using their experience to help structure the Brixton Green proposal.

To make our proposal strong we need Brixton people to highlight their genuine concerns and suggest improvements to the proposal and our approach. Quoting negative and untrue hearsay will not make our town a better place.

Brad Carroll, Director of Brixton Green
 
If you would like to meet and hear more about the Brixton Green proposal, we will be holding open meetings 7pm on the first Thursday of every month at Unit 45, Brixton Village starting 5th May.

Our new website will be going up early next week. Please visit it next week to find out more about the proposal so far and have your say.

The more people who contribute their ideas, the stronger the proposal.

What is Brixton Green?
Brixton Green is a registered mutual set up so Brixton people can lead the development of the site along Somerleyton Road.

We're not for profit with an asset lock. This means all our assets have to be used for the benefit of the community.

Brixton Green is owned by local people. Anyone over 16 who lives or works in Brixton can become a shareholder:

• To become a shareholder you have to either live or work within the five wards of central Brixton(Coldharbour, Ferndale, Tulse Hill, Herne Hill, Brixton Hill).
• £1 per share. One share per person.
• Shareholders will not receive a financial return.
• Shareholders can stand for election to the board.
• Shareholder will have a vote at the AGM

Points raised
Press:
We really appreciate the press coverage we've received, however there are some inaccuracies:
• We have never claimed that Lambeth have transferred or sold the site to us.
• We have never described the site as vacant or derelict.

Communication:
We have limited resources, but with our local champions we are trying to ensure that all parts of the community have the opportunity to become shareholders and have their say. Some of the local groups will be holding workshops around the proposal. These, along with our open events and improved website will hopefully help us to reach many of the communities within Brixton.

If you are part of a local group/business who would like a presentation or workshop, please get in touch via our website www.brixtongreen.org.
 
Hello to Brad :)
In general I am very much in favour of increasing good 'affordable' housing for Brixton, improving community facilities and making sure that new developments enhance the local environment, not disadvantage it. Somerleyton Rd is tricky because Southwyck House was built 'facing the wrong way' (motorway :rolleyes:) and there is the railway line. What benefits does your scheme hold in all these respects?

How will residents in the new housing be chosen? Why is your scheme better than a simple HA development? And how do we know the profits won't end up with a commercial developer - or even you!
 
brad said:
Points raised
Press:
We really appreciate the press coverage we've received, however there are some inaccuracies:
• We have never claimed that Lambeth have transferred or sold the site to us.
• We have never described the site as vacant or derelict.
Click to expand...
That may comes from here:
Brixton Green residents develop derelict land

Residents in an area of Brixton are creating a community hub on a derelict piece of land with the backing of the government.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has announced plans to give members of the public the right to reclaim and develop hundreds of acres of unused public sector land and buildings.

The new Community Right to Reclaim Land will help people to improve their local area by using disused publicly-owned land for new development.

In Brixton Green, residents are coming together to turn a large semi-industrial site into a theatre, cafe and homes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12355051
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brad said:
Press:
We really appreciate the press coverage we've received, however there are some inaccuracies:
• We have never claimed that Lambeth have transferred or sold the site to us.
• We have never described the site as vacant or derelict.
Click to expand...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/08/communities

Then he turned his attention to a long, narrow site that includes a temporary home for one of the government's flagship academies, alongside the ubiquitous derelict buildings and waste ground.

and here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12355051

Brixton Green residents develop derelict land

and here

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...er-regenerate-wasted-urban-space-2225102.html

Brixton Green Community Land Trust, has persuaded Lambeth Council to release the plot, which has been vacant for more than 30 years, and is now selling community shares to residents and traders.

The key to the scheme is the release of currently unused land – in this case almost four acres of it, amid dense social housing close to Brixton Market and Electric Avenue – owned by Lambeth Council.
 
Gramsci said:
Brixton Green Community Land Trust, has persuaded Lambeth Council to release the plot, which has been vacant for more than 30 years, and is now selling community shares to residents and traders
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That's just not true. It's never been vacant.
 
Actually, the bit that used to be Community Industry was empty for a while, but that's just a tiny part of what's on Somerleyton.
 
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