Council plans to replace public housing with private flats

Submitted by Janine on 1 January, 2005 - 10:33

Hackney Council has revealed its plan to demolish Marcon Court and replace it with private flats for sale. After failing to properly maintain the estate for twenty years, the council now wants to bulldoze it and create a new development, three-quarters of which will be private, with only 30 Council flats.

The estate is located very close to Hackney Downs station, a short commute from Liverpool Street station and the City of London. So the Council sees the estate as a prime site for money-making. All it has to do is sweep the area clean of working-class Council tenants and let the stockbrokers move in!

Below is the text from a recent Tenants' & Residents' Association (TRA) leaflet which explains the issue in more detail. You can contact the TRA c/o Janine Booth, Chairperson.

    COUNCIL REVEALS PLAN TO DEMOLISH MARCON COURT AND BUILD PRIVATE FLATS
    T.R.A. vows to fight this scandalous plan

    What Hackney Council plans for your home
    124 private flats for sale + 30 flats for Council tenants

  • Tenants to be evicted and temporarily rehoused whilst Marcon Court is demolished.
  • Leaseholders to be forced to sell their homes.
  • No community hall = no space for youth club, baby & toddler group, residents’ parties, or TRA meetings.
  • Green space reduced to about a quarter of its size, and only accessible to residents of flats.
  • Twice as many flats, but a fraction of the facilities.
  • Aspland [the neighbouring] estate residents will lose access to green space and have a less pleasant, more crowded environment.
  • Many residents’ impovements to the estate - such as the gardening club’s work - to be destroyed.
  • This is only one option - but it is the one which the Council has concentrated on in presentations, and is the only one for which it has produced detailed drawings.
  • Having neglected Marcon Court for 20+ years, the Council now wants to use it to make money from private developers building expensive apartments for City commuters.
  • The TRA is determined to fight against this, and for what residents want and need - refurbishment of the existing estate and no loss of Council housing or facilities.
  • We can stop the Council’s plan and win a better future for our homes.
  • To do this, we need all residents to unite and stand up for our rights - we need your involvement.

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