Wards Corner Community Coalition

(WCC) Tottenham, London

RGS-IBG

26 August 2009

Wards Corner – The site

A vibrant but poor area of London which despite the lack of money has managed to become the centre for many people, including the Latin American population in London.

As a result Tottenham has a unique sense of community

Although the site and its people have been deliberately neglected, residents and traders are very committed to it, investing their time, energy and money

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Wards Corner

• Town Centre• Huge Transport interchange • Within a Conservation area • Unique, diverse, culturally-rich • Mimi-UN• Huge Potential

2003: Haringey Council and New Deal for Communities (NDC) produced a development brief for Wards Corner and chose to partner with developers Grainger PLC

June 2007: After no real community consultation/participation Grainger revealed very worked up plans

2003 – 2007: Setting the Scene

The community was not impressed, in fact they were outraged by the plans!

No Consultation Huge disparity between the community’s

vision and Council/Developer’s vision Nobody could identify in anyway with the

proposed development Plans were about delivering profits and not

about developing the community The Council were working against rather

than with the community

Community’s Reaction

As the Council had blocked its ears to the community, market traders and local Residents Associations got together and decided that the community “needed to make the case for themselves and create a campaign based around a clear and bold vision statement” and would “Need to have a proven Plan B”

The Resident Associations and market traders invited several local trader and civic groups to contribute to a ‘wish-list’ for the site

10 Residents Associations, the Haringey Federation of Residents Associations (HFRA), Tottenham Civic Society (TCS), Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC),

Pedro Achata Trust, Pueblito Paisa, the Tottenham Traders Association, Tottenham & Wood Green Friends of the Earth, Sustainable Haringey, Living Streets, Seven Sisters

Permaculture.

An architect was commissioned...using the ‘wish-list’ an Alternative Plan began to take shape

Origins of the Alternative Plan

3rd Oct 2007: A Significant Moment

A public meeting was called by the traders and voluntary groups where an outline ‘Alternative Plan’ was presented to the Council, NDC and the community

Presentations were also made by several local trader/civic groups 150 people attended

Subsequent to this meeting it became apparent the Council were not going to support the aspirations of the Community and two realisations emerged:

1. People collectively felt ignored and irrelevant.  We wanted a different way of working to achieve the shared desire to improve Tottenham 

2. Although our groups – trade, resident, civic, historic buildings, sustainability - had their individual focus  their vision and concerns were related

The WCC was born out of this realisation

Tottenham is fortunate – it has many self-organising groups (RA, Civic and Trader) all of who are passionate about their locality Have a great ethos of self-organising, self-empowerment, great

autonomy from the Council

The WCC connects, develops and empowers individual Grassroots groups Great pool of support Allows us to build resources locally and autonomously from the local

authority

Joining the Dots...Forming the WCC

Wards Corner Community Coalition (WCC)

The WCC is a network of networks We represent many different voices and positions but what

underpins us it our goals and principles – holds us together ...even after >2 years with all these different qualities we still

manage to meet at least once a week

diverse, diffuse, non-hierarchical , flexible, immediate, considerate, non-political, multi-layered, inclusive, adaptable, seek-consensus, evolving, friendly, open, community, active, activists, informal, formal, self-empowered, self-empowering, empathetic, self-organising, self-educating, connected, resourceful, dreamers, rationalists, planners, organisers, artists, fundraisers, traders, bakers, cynical, autonomous, radical, conservative, transparent, cooperative, confusing, sharing, humble, arrogant, fearless,, conspiratorial, fearful, enduring, non-party political, passionate, committed, self-reliant, cohesive, environmentalists......

So how do we work?! We do not have leaders or appointed

officers ...people do not occupy a fixed position

People do tasks as needed

We do not have a traditional structure or way of working - this affords us flexibility and the ability to adapt

WCC: No Leaders, No Appointed Officers

We are demonstrating that all the things that are not possible in Council/Developer’s model is possible in an alternative model

Council-Developer’s: Model of development was demolition and total new-build with no regard

for community Rigid and incapable of factoring in the community’s voices in a

meaningful way

Our Reaction: We arose and work in direct opposition to the existing model that the

Council/Developer operates by, which is not inclusive, open or respectful Explains why we were not working or behave in the same rigid structure

as they are We have gone beyond just fighting an unwanted development,

we are fighting for a new way of doing things, a new model – by being proactive, not just reactive

From Irrelevant to Relevant

Networking

The WCC networks with grassroots organisations, national organisations and unaffiliated people, all of who share our philosophy and principals. 1.Weekly open meetings2.Utilizing all local community facilities and resources3.Utilizing established networks and resources 4.One-on-one conversations5.Having a presence at all community events 6.London Mayoral and local Council hustings7.Leafleting8.Public Meetings9.Workshops10.Hosting Cultural music events11.Media

The WCC Wiki-site

Repository of our inputs and ideas and story - A permanent record of WCC

Transparent - available for all Fantastic tool for communication – local and

global No webmaster...editing is collaborative, allows

people to take ownership of the creative process

Networking…Community Engagement/Support

Public Meeting – Feb 08

>350 people attendedWards Corner Hug - July 08

>500 people attended

Fundraisers, Community Festivals, Workshops, Judicial Review, Press etc.

....Always well attended and supported

...Community engaged with in several ways, Input fed into the Alternative Plan

...Great show of community ‘togetherness’

Developing the Alternative Plan: Glasshouse

Workshop

Glasshouse: Championing a collaborative process We invited Haringey Council, the NDC and Grainger

along with key Tottenham stakeholder groups to participate in two days of training with East Architects and the Glass-House in community-led design for regeneration.

This was an opportunity to clear all the cobwebs, wipe the slate clean, look at the site with fresh eyes and work together to realise our different aspirations by approaching options with an unfettered mind.

Although the Council and NDC were a no-show, it was a successful workshop

The Future: Developing the Alternative Plan

The alternative plan progresses and the community’s voices are still wanted . . .

Three architects have volunteered their time to map what people have to say about their current relationship to the site and what they desire for the future. 

This will feed into the ongoing process of building up a community design statement that can be translated into spacial plans.