Fag Packet Towers AKA Apex House – send objections now!

We are regular users of Apex House, which is where the council’s housing office is based.  And we were alarmed to hear the plans for it – both to re-build it as a 22-storey eyesore with most of it being let as privately rented homes by an institutional/commercial landlord.   We’ve spoken to staff at the Housing Office who are also shocked that this is what the land will be used for.  In their informed opinion, the area needs more genuinely affordable social housing – not housing at market rent levels!  But there are no plans for social housing on the site, and who knows what kind of affordable housing.  Possibly only Shared Ownership, which as many of us know, is generally not affordable to current residents of Tottenham.

You can read our previous article about the development here.  But the rest of this article is a plea received from the Friends of Marcus Garvey library to register your objections (or support) by this Friday (30th October).  We have pasted it in full – the only small thing we would disagree with is the idea that Grainger has thrown any crumbs our way – what about the sweeteners they got for the area around Wards Corner? And just how much have they paid for the Apex House site?  They are building an empire in Tottenham, and it is being gifted to them by Haringey Council.  Read on for how to stop them (at least for now).

Text from Friends of Marcus Garvey Library:

Objections to the 22 storey monstrosity which the developers Graingers wish to impose on the beleaguered community of Tottenham must be received by the Council by the 30th of October.  So far there have only been 39 objections to the building which has come to be known as Fag Packet Towers which is planned to be built on the site of Apex House.

It is worth remembering that it is only because the Council declared the Apex House building ‘surplus to requirements’ and needed somewhere to house all the staff that we have been forced to campaign for our library.  It is only because the Apex House staff are being squeezed into the upper floor of the Marcus Garvey library that we are faced with a fifty per cent reduction in library space.

There is a lot we could say about the deal which resulted in the building being sold off by the Council for peanuts.  But let’s focus on the facts, i.e. what’s in it, or rather what’s not in it for Tottenham residents.

We understand that Graingers have thrown a few crumbs our way, but there will be nothing above ground level for Tottenham people.  In addition, the flats in the rest of the building will be totally unaffordable for the majority of Tottenham residents.

What is the point of putting up a 22 storey ‘landmark’ building in an area consisting mainly of modest Victorian terraces?  Clearly that area around the tube does need ‘improving’, but this building is clearly just an extreme example of willy-waving by Graingers.

Graingers need to reduce the size of the building and create something worthy of the people of Tottenham.  We understand that they are supposed to be the biggest private landlord in the UK.  They therefore need to spend invest some of their cash reserves in creating plans for housing the local community can actually stomach and afford.

 Please support the campaign to reduce the size of the building and improve its the aesthetics.  To call it cheap and cheerful is simply being too kind.

 The link to lodge your objections is below:

http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/ApplicationSearchServlet?PKID=284795

and you can also use

HGY/2015/2915 on the Haringey Council Planning web page.

Best wishes

Jasmin Taylor/Chair

The Friends of Marcus Garvey Library

October 27, 2015  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: INFORMATION, LOCAL CAMPAIGNS