HOME

about

campaigns

activities

archive

contact

Breaking News ..... March 2012. Headlines: Lorna unanimously re-elected Kid's Film Club. Start delayed (see activities page) Community Rooms; still under threat (see below for update) Will the Council build a new block on the estate?? (breaking news) Packed meeting re-elects Lorna as our Chair Councillor Rhodri Jamieson-Ball, standing, takes the election for Chair About 50 residents turned out on a cold January night for HETRA's Annual General Meeting. The packed meeting was called in response to Homes for Islington's (HFI) move to disbar our long time Chair, Lorna Reid. To underline the importance of the meeting we invited our MP Jeremy Corbyn and Councillors Kate Grocutt (lab) and Rhodri Jamieson-Ball (libdem) and we give them our thanks for coming and playing a key role in the meeting. Residents were angry that HFI, soon be to be defunct, could override our right to choose our own Chair. As the picture (above) shows, Lorna was re-relected by an overwhelming show of hands. Also elected were Sure Boyd as Secretary Suzanne York as Treasurer. Councillor Kate Grocutt addresses the meeting, (left in red) Also featured, Suzanne York, Lorna Reid and MP Jeremy Corbyn in fetching turqoise (right). Don't let them take our Community Rooms Islington Council wants to take our Community Rooms. Latest update, March 2012. HETRA to meet Islington Council. HETRA's committee is due to meet with LBI staff and Councillors on Monday 19th March. We fear that this will be another attempt to force us to give up our Community Rooms in Pitfield House. As the packed meeting in January showed we need somewhere that can accomodate about 50 - 60 people. We're not against moving and have welcomed the suggestion of alternative Community Rooms on the ground floor. HFI had offered us smaller rooms but a detailed look at tne plans showed that we could only accommodate about 25 people. The packed HETRA agm shows that we need a similar sized space. Why are they doing this? This was presented to us by Homes for Islington (HFI) at a meeting with committee members on 30th November 2010. HFI explained that the Council wants to convert the rooms into a residential flat. HFI then told us that the time frame for this conversion work meant that we would have to give up the Community Rooms by April 2011. HFI then suggested that we could rent alternative space at Highbury Grove School, Highbury Quadrant School or at St Augustines Church. What was HETRA's response? We told HFI that while we sympathised with the Council's desire to help the homeless we were not to blame for the lack of council housing. We said that we didn't think residents would want a bus ride to come for meetings, especially in the winter. We feel that giving up our Community Rooms in Pitfield House would undermine our ability to meet with and consult residents. We feel that this is an attack on our local democracy. What HETRA has proposed That the deadline for giving up the rooms be lifted so that we can consult residents on the estate properly. That the Council give us an alternative meeting space on the Estate. This could be in Portacabins or maybe we could turn the Neighbourhood Office into a community venue. What next? We have been lobbying our Councillors and senior members of the Council. This has received some support but we can't report anything concrete back to you. We are starting a campaign on the Estate. We will soon be holding an open meeting with Councillors and Senior staff and we hope that you can all come out and make your voices heard. You won the day when HFI had refused to give us new bathrooms, toilets and a choice of keeping gas fires. Together we can win this one. October 2011 update We have been holding discussions with HFI about an alternative site for the Community Rooms. We have now been offered another flat, on the ground floor which would be good for access. On the other hand, from the drawings we've been sent it looks so much smaller than our current rooms that we couldn't fit enough people in to meet the quota required for official recognition. Our discussions with HFI are 'amicable' and we hope that we can reach a satisfactory conclusion. January 2012 update We're very disturbed that it seems that HFI have approached one of our residents and suggested that they move. Not only might this mean that the queue is being jumped but that any resident who has been approached might feel that unfair pressure is being used to get them to move. The issue rumbles on and we are hoping to resolve it but we must be sure that we get the right deal for residents and that no-one is pressured by HFI latest into moving. A new block on the Estate?? March 2012 We can't say for certain but it has been suggested that Islington Council wants to build a new block on the Highbury Estate. The most likely location is on the site of the old Neighbourhood Office building. A new block on the old Neighbourhood Office site?? We understand the need to do something about overcrowding and in many ways it would be a better use of the space to build on the Neighbourhood Office site. But questions remain. How big will the block be? If it's restricted to the same area as the Neighbourhood Office that could be fine. It could also mean that a purpose built set of Community Rooms could be included. On the other hand one could imagine something like a new block the size of Larchfield House, do we really want that? How many people will be accommodated? Will it upset the balance between green space and buildings? Will we lose play areas and trees? Do people with gardens want to be overlooked? Back view of the Neighbourhood Office. Will we lose green space and trees? Experience from other estates shows that the Council is going for massive new build projects with as much half of the properties being built for private sale. Do we want this on our Estate?? HETRA's committee will keep you posted when we get some definite news.

HOME

about

campaigns

activities

archive

contact