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Council execs flog our flats at Cannes expo

Haringey tenants' fury at Labour-led sales jaunt

A Labour London council jetted its chief executive out to a yacht on the French Riviera yesterday in a bid to flog off desperately needed council housing to profiteers.

Haringey Council boss Nick Walkley attended the private "working lunch" on high-end property developer Arup's Clara One vessel in Cannes as part of a push to shore up controversial development plans covering some of the borough's biggest estates.

And he was joined in the exclusive resort city by Haringey executive member for housing and regeneration Cllr Alan Strickland, who spent Thursday talking up a storm on a panel titled "Transforming Tottenham" at international real estate show MIPIM.

The executives' jaunt comes after Haringey announced redevelopment plans which campaigners believe will lead to the demolition of thousands of council homes to make way for deluxe apartments.

Haringey tenant and Defend Council Housing campaign group member Paul Burnham was outraged at the move.

He said: "It is so cynical to sell off our estates at Cannes like this. Haringey's housing plans aim to price local people out of our own area.

"Instead of demolition and private redevelopment, we need new council housing for local people - including the 9,838 households on Haringey's waiting list.

"We don't have any Tory councillors in Haringey, so why is a Labour council doing the Tories' dirty work?"

Haringey Labour councillor Alan Stanton was also despairing of Labour's actions, saying it followed a Tory-led practice of pushing ordinary people out of the capital.

He quipped: "Take a chunk of Tottenham. Take two or three. We've plenty to dispose of, for next to nothing."

Cllr Stanton described the plans as "social cleansing" and said Haringey's leadership needed to get its priorities in order.

He said: "We do need new homes for Tottenham residents. But not red-rosetted Tory displacement and social cleansing in the interest of profit developers."

Mayor Boris Johnson has led the campaign for London councils to attend MIPIM as part of a growing trend of private development that is decimating London's social housing stock.

Activists worry it is making the capital an exclusive haven for the rich.

London Labour Assembly member Tom Copley says the solution is to bypass private investors.

He said: "It is time the Mayor took a stand and used his considerable financial firepower to directly build the houses Londoners so urgently need."

Mr Johnson has pledged to tackle the lack of affordable housing in the capital by encouraging private investors to build 42,000 homes per year. He is expected to fall well short of the target.

Forty three per cent of Londoners already fork out 25-50 per cent of their pay on housing, while 23 per cent spend over 50 per cent.

Haringey will join other local authorities in London on April 1 at a "speed dating" event for private construction companies.

Profiteers will mingle with council officers in the hope of finding the "right match" for developments that will earn them a fortune and force rents up for ordinary people.

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