Billion pound vision for Tottenham’s future unveiled

by Flora Drury Wednesday, August 1, 2012
4:30 PM

A billion-pound vision for Tottenham’s future – including a new Tube station, 10,000 more homes and thousands of jobs – has been unveiled by council leaders, almost exactly a year after the riots which threatened to destroy the community.

Cllr Alan Strickland, cabinet member for economic development

“A Plan For Tottenham” was launched yesterday on the site of the former Carpetright building in the High Road, which became an icon of the riots when set alight by arsonists, leaving dozens of families homeless.

With work due to begin on a replacement within weeks that mirrors its predecessor but packs in many improvements, it made a fitting metaphor for Haringey Council’s grand vision to rebuild Tottenham.

The broad, ambitious plan sets out a road map for effectively reinventing the area by 2025, taking in the Spurs development, the Wards Corner “gateway” to Tottenham at Seven Sisters, and the further development of Tottenham Hale.

The council hopes to build stronger communities and create a vibrant cultural heart, and transform Northumberland Park into a seven days-a-week leisure destination.

But there is no guarantee the biggest transport improvements built into the plan will be realised.

Cllr Alan Strickland, cabinet member for development, said: “We believe, as a council, that from now until 2025 Tottenham will be London’s most important regeneration area. A billion pounds is already going into Tottenham, and we hope to see that increase in time.”

Other key points from the plan include:

- Up to 10,000 new “high-quality” homes

- More than 5,000 new jobs

- More than 1million sq ft of employment and commercial space added

- A new lesiure destination in Northumberland Park

- An overhauled White Hart Lane station with improved public space

- A new civic hub and improved open space at Tottenham Green

The council believes Tottenham in 2025 will be divided into separate “destinations”, with Seven Sisters, Tottenham Hale, Northumberland Park and Tottenham Green all having distinct identities.

Cllr Strickland said: “I think [this] reflects reality. We have talked to hundreds and hundreds of residents and businesses and what became very clear is residents and businesses think of

Tottenham as Tottenham Green, Seven Sisters, Northumberland Park.

“It is not about rebranding Tottenham, but it is about drawing on these individual strengths.”

One of the most drastic transport upgrades featured in the plans is a spur line extension to the Victoria line to create a Tube station at Northumberland Park. But the idea, long kicked around, still seems unlikely. A Transport for London spokesman yesterday told the Journal “the investment would not represent value for money and could not be justified when compared alongside other projects which would deliver greater benefits”.

But Cllr Strickland is not worried – already a £5million funding package to upgrade Tottenham Hale Tube station has been agreed, and Tottenham is featured in some options for the Crossrail 2 project.

He added: “Transport is a real priority for us. We want to get our residents into jobs more easily across London, and we want to get people into Tottenham for the jobs we are creating.

“The idea of this plan is to set out very clearly our ambitions. There are longer-term, more expensive aspirations for transport.

“People should be clear while these are aspirations, they are aspirations we are lobbying hard for.”

Bringing big-name retail chains into the high streets is another aim, which the council expects will boost trade for surviving smaller independent traders.

Tottenham will also become a centre for green investment, technologies and jobs, the plan says.

Retro-fitting buildings with greener technology in north London alone could generate 1,000 new jobs over the next decade.

Seven Sisters will become “a focal point” for the creative industries, and a “light-touch” regulatory approach will help encourage businesses to base themselves in the wider area.

With parts of Tottenham among the poorest in the country, the challenge is on.

- What do you think of these plans? Send your thoughts to journal.news@archant.co.uk.