ISLINGTON

INDEPENDENT WORKING CLASS ASSOCIATION

Finsbury’s Lib Dems plough on with gentrification plans

4th May 2008

Before the last local elections, the IWCA warned that if Finsbury's Lib Dems were re-elected they would continue their relentless march of gentrification, ousting shops and amenities servicing the needs of the local working class community and replacing them with exclusive services for Finsbury's luxury apartment residents.

As predicted, Lib Dem councillors have continued to approve planning applications for blocks of high  priced private flats across Finsbury. With one of the Lib Dem's £70,000+ a year officers, Andy Murphy, in place as chief officer and spokesperson for EC1 New Deal, they also have control of what's left of the project's £53 million to assist them in their task.

Whitecross Street:

Whitecross Street market rejuvenation became not about encouraging more stall holders with goods affordable to the 71% of EC1 households that survive on an annual income of less than £10,000, but rather about funding an exclusive farmers' market.

Items on sale included wood pigeon and roast plum pie at £5.10 a slice, Norwegian winter rosemary bread at £3 a loaf, Morecambe Bay potted shrimps at £2 an ounce and cheeses costing almost £16 a pound!

Spa Park:

Proposals to upgrade Spa Park at first attracted local residents to join the EC1 New Deal ‘steering group'. They were enthusiastic about the idea of replacing the old, worn out football pitch with a grassed one for Clerkenwell's young people as part of plans to ensure residents of all ages would use and take pride in their park.

Their enthusiasm, though, soon waned, as the views of councillors and the owners of Exmouth Market's expensive cafes and restaurants took precedence over those of local residents, the people the New Deal funding was supposed to benefit.

It became clear that the real plan was to squeeze out local children and their parents into a smaller space across the road, leaving the park like a back garden for those living or wining and dining in Exmouth Market.

The football pitch idea was dismissed with the suggestion that the Finsbury Estate's new kick about  space was enough for Clerkenwell's working class kids.

Exmouth Market:

Since the Spa Park makeover, Debenham's property company, which owns many of the shops in Remaining shops that service the needs of the local working class community are again under threat. The video shop has already gone and plans approved by the Lib Dems will see the upgrading of shop fronts at the east end of the market and penthouses built above. The café, hairdressers, jeweller's, baker's and shoe repair shops will have to go while works are carried out. Whether they will be able to afford the price of returning is questionable.

Elections 2010:

What is clear is that until enough of Finsbury's working class majority vote for an alternative party that will articulate their views and argue their case in both the council chamber and outside, their very existence in Finsbury will remain at risk.

There are only two years until the next local elections. A few hundred extra votes, on top of the 3,000 votes accrued by the IWCA last time, would ensure 6 IWCA councillors to represent Finsbury's working class community.

We need support and help from residents on each housing estate - now, as well as later, in the run up to the elections.

Do contact us if there is an issue on your estate or in your locality that needs to be raised publicly.

05 August 2008 06:33