This week, Barnet began a public inquiry into one of the largest scale attempts to socially cleanse London that we will have ever seen under a Conservative administration, and it is right that a long-running and simmering issue is now in the national press. It represents an opportunity for residents to bring their fight for fairness and justice against the council before an independent inspector. A third of residents on the estate are non-secure tenants who have been living there for up to 12 years, but will not be rehoused in the new development, and may not be rehoused in Barnet at all. Other homeowners are being offered approximately £170,000 for a two-bedroom property when the average house price in the area is £388,000 – a derisory compulsory purchase order. And many long-term leaseholders are facing bills for tens of thousands of pounds on service charges despite the fact their homes are shortly to be demolished.
In March 2014, I spoke at a hustings meeting at the Barnet Multicultural Centre in Hendon at which the proposals for West Hendon dominated and at which deep anger and frustration spilled out towards political representatives of all parties on the platform, including myself. There, I had the opportunity to hear first hand and speak personally with those whose livelihoods were at threat. This was the first public forum where the local community had the opportunity to express their anger at the proposals and for those who wish to fully grasp the implications of the regeneration plans for residents. Then, as now, the clear dividing line between ourselves and the Conservative administration was that we recognised the housing rights of those whose livelihoods were being threatened, we saw that Barnet and Hendon was their home and we recognised the importance of listening and engaging, as well as responding. The Conservatives chose not to engage then just as they choose not to engage now.
The proposals pushed forward in West Hendon are emblematic of a housing policy in Barnet that is designed to work only for the elite and excludes others – particularly the vulnerable. This was the same local authority, after all, that sought to push domestic violence victims to the bottom of the housing waiting list, a policy that they were later forced to ‘U-turn’ upon. It is also a local authority where the lead spokesperson for housing has already admitted that it wants to focus on housing only for the wealthy in Barnet at the expense of everyone else. These proposals are emblematic of narrow-minded political opportunism which creates physical, social and economic divides across our society, seeking to play groups off against each other for political gain at great social cost to all those who are affected – not just in Barnet but elsewhere as well.
That is why we should support the residents of West Hendon wholeheartedly in their case.
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Reema Patel is a councillor in the London borough of Barnet and secretary of Fabian Women’s Network. She tweets @ReemaSPatel
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