Jeremy Corbyn warned that a multi-million pound Shoreditch redevelopment will transform Hackney into Manhattan and lead to mass “social expulsion” from the borough.
The Labour leader drew a parallel between New York and the Bishopsgate Goodsyard development, insisting that the predicted £1m price tag for a one bedroom flat will force more and more people to leave the borough.
“It is totally absolutely immoral and wrong what the government is doing to housing in Hackney,” the Labour leader said.
Addressing Labour supporters in Victoria last week, Mr Corbyn said: “Hackney will look like Manhattan where there has been social expulsion of those living on average or below average income.
“We are living in part of the city where every property speculator is having dreams about how much they can make.”
Jeremy Corbyn
The £800 million Bishopsgate Goodsyard redevelopment promises more than 1,450 new homes and 5½ acres of new public space. Hammerson and Ballymore Group, the joint developers, say it will also create around 5,000 jobs.
But the multi-million pound project has become the focus of a fierce battle between local campaigners and the developers.
Campaign group More Light, More Power claims that only 10 per cent of the housing will be affordable while the East End Preservation Society branded the plans “dramatically out of scale with the surrounding area”.
The developers say flats will be priced according to “future market conditions” but Hackney Council predicts the cost to be £700,000 for a studio apartment and £1 million for a one bedroom flat.
Meg Hillier, MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, said: “There hasn’t been a single unit of social housing built in Shoreditch proper in over a decade and [Boris Johnson] has redefined affordable so it’s anything but.
“We have a Tory government that is hammering the people of Hackney. I have worked as a politician for over 20 years and [currently] my surgeries and the desperate situations are the worse that I’ve ever seen.
“We’ve seen the Tories attacking everybody on housing, welfare and pulling the rug from underneath people who want to achieve”.
Bishopsgate Goodsyard
Mr Corbyn slammed Boris Johnson for overruling Hackney Council and calling for the decision on the proposals to be made by City Hall.
He said: “Let’s bring back that power to local authorities to approve planning within their own borough. We are a democracy, we elect people to make decisions in our interest.
“If the belief is that the duty of a council is to approve a planning application then that is not responsible planning, that is giving the free hand to those that wish to develop something.”
A spokesman for the developers said: “Our vision, which has received welcome support from the Mayor of London, will provide vital new homes and thousands of new jobs to London, as well as London’s first fully elevated publicly accessible park with city views”.
A spokesman for the City Hall said a decision on the plans would be made “reasonably soon.”
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Featured image: Rose Hill
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As an architect I could not agree more. The whole development has no interest in the community. It’s not just the price of the apartments, it’s also the cost of building. A new deal is needed.
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