Here’s how we reported on the many changes taking place around our town during the past month at Brixton Buzz.
We celebrated May Day at Brixton Buzz by attending the Prince’s ward by-election hustings being held over in Kennington. Housing, education and Lambeth Council cuts to public services were the main issues of interest to the electorate. It was ‘reassuring’ to see that Brixton isn’t alone in being concerned about recent Council policy. What we can see happening up at Cressingham is also being played out over at Knight’s Walk. Solidarity is key to keeping these campaigns connected.
But housing in Lambeth isn’t all about estate regeneration / gentrification. Down at Somerleyton Road there is ambitious talk of ‘co-operative models’ and ‘communities enabling regeneration.’ There is also third party interest groups such as the mysterious Brixton Green helping to ‘facilitate’ all of this rapid gentrification. We took a look at the start of the month at how Cllr Jack Hopkins believes that Somerleyton Road can deliver 50% ‘affordable’ housing.
Housing action wasn’t limited to campaigns aimed only at Lambeth Council’s gentrification agenda. Brixton Buzz also reported how residents of Dorchester Court at Herne Hill were organising against rent hikes and the landlord leaving the estate to fall into disrepair.
A musical interlude followed from Alabama 3. But there was to be no escape from the gentrification issue. Brixton’s finest published a video for the You are the One, a song that reflects on the true soul of Brixton and how we need to fight to hold on to this.
If anything positive can be found out of the hyper gentrification that is changing Brixton then it is the creative fightback. Following Alabama 3 came Potent Whisper teaming up with Lara Lee to release a very direct message that addresses many of the issues coming out of Reclaim Brixton.
If you prefer the ballot box response to change, then we also reported on the results of the General Election in the three constituencies that cover Brixton. Streatham, Dulwich & West Norwood and Vauxhall all returned Labour MP’s with increased majorities. We reflected on the success of Chuka Umunna, Helen Hayes and Kate Hoey and what the results might mean for Brixton. We found some hope in Kate Hoey, who unlike *ahem* others, wasn’t putting together her Labour Leadership bid before their own count was even called.
Meanwhile more direct action was taking place over in Loughborough Park with the resistance coming from the Guinness Trust residents. With the threat of eviction from their homes hanging over them from a ‘social housing trust,’ the residents took the fight to the street. It was to be the first of many blockades that followed throughout the month.
Footage and photos from April’s Reclaim Brixton continued to appear a month later. We were particularly impressed with the short film put together by Reel News. Unlike other reporting of Reclaim Brixton elsewhere, thankfully Reel News took a more objective analysis and looked at the issues, and not the ‘violence’ angle that distorted much of the mainstream media reporting.
Back in the Westminster world of careerist politicians and Streatham MP Chula Umunna rather fancied his chances of becoming the future Leader of the Labour party. He stated that he “frankly wanted to get out of London” as he launched his campaign via a shaky iPhone video shot in Swindon. Our man in Streatham / Swindon then toured the TV studios, took a look at the increased scrutiny that would come his way, and then three days later though bugger this for a game of soldiers and pulled out. It was all most odd.
We had no hesitation in helping to put across the message that Brixton Cycles is possibly under threat. One of our favourite Brixton businesses is facing an uncertain future as fancy housing is planned for the current Stockwell Road site where the worker’s co-operative trades out of.
Grow Pop Brixton came close to completion mid-May. We’re still not entirely sure how a community supported gardening project suddenly became a business park, with what appears to be an absolute waiver to the original planning application, not to mention the terms under which the lease was ‘won’ in a Council competition. And so we sent our reporter Andrea along to a Q & A session hosted by Cllr Jack Hopkins. “Getting on and up in the world” appears to be the new Pop mantra.
It was with a sense of great disappointment when we heard that Lambeth’s Children’s Services has been downgraded by Ofsted from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’ in only a three year period. Something has clearly gone wrong with a frontline council service that should protect some of the most vulnerable in our community. We hope that Lambeth Council is able to address the Ofsted concerns immediately.
Having smoothly handled the election PR for Labour’s Neil Coyle over the borough border, Cllr Jane Edbrooke then turned her attention back to her day job as a Lambeth Cabinet member. The Portfolio Holder for Communities will hopefully be spending the next month carefully taking on board the wishes of residents who took the time to respond to the rambling Cultural Consultation. We reported how Cllr Edbrooke noted that this has been an “emotive” issue.
With planning permission expected to be heard in the next few months for Your Nu Town Hall, we took a look at Cllr Paul McGlone’s claim that 47% of the 194 new homes will be ‘affordable.’ The comments in our piece pointed towards 28% being a more likely figure.
There was also “uncertainty” coming from Cllr Jack Hopkins concerning the future of the traders threatened with eviction at Brixton Arches. We reported how the Cabinet member for Jobs and Growth told Full Council that he was unsure about the rent rise level that Network Rail will hit the traders with. He was also unsure about any compensation for Brixton traders who find themselves priced out of the fancy new arches.
We were incredibly proud to announce later in the month that Brixton Buzz is putting on a major benefit gig to help raise funds and awareness for all those in our area suffering at the hands of hyper gentrification. A brilliant Brixton bill of Alabama 3, Fat White Family Band, Misty Miller and Lara Lee & Potent Whisper will play at the Electric Brixton on June 11th. You can buy tickets for the fundraiser over here.
One of our most popular stories for the month looked at the salaries that Council staff are paid at the Town Hall. These ranged from £16,678, all the way up to £180,000 that new boy Sean Harriss is able to trouser in his role as Chief Exec. In total 17 Council staff pull in a £50k+ salary. The average salary is £36,681.
Back over at the arches and we were able to update on the latest communication sent out by Network Rail to the local Brixton traders. In retrospect it now seems that the meeting of 24 February which Lambeth Council arranged appears to have achieved nothing more than allowing Network Rail more time to back its tenants into a corner.
Sticking with Brixton Station Road and we reported how Brixton Rec Users Group has published a detailed response to the proposals put forward by Lambeth Council for the future of the Rec. BRUG opened the report by apologising for the comments that would follow – the Rec campaign group could find little enthusiasm in some of the proposals being put forward by Lambeth Council.
We returned to Somerleyton Road towards the end of the month to look at some of the strange goings on at No 6 Somerleyton, a supposed community space ahead of the regeneration of the road. The space is managed by the increasingly mysterious Brixton Green. We have attempted to put some of these concerns directly to Brixton Green. But the contact from on the Brixton Green website isn’t working.
Mmmm…
And so that way May – what can we expect from June?
Each month when we round up these retrospective pieces we are always shocked at the increased level of change that is taking place around Brixton.
Housing issues over the past month have continued to be of great concern to some in our town. Meanwhile down at Pope’s Road and the Grow Pop Brixton party appears to be quite literally a different word for some.
June should be all about counting down and preparing for the ACE Lambeth County Show, and looking ahead to Splash later in August. It is also expected to be the month when the results of the Cultural Consultation are made public. Plus Cabinet should finally receive the paper on the future of Cressingham Gardens.
We will continue to report how our town is changing. We will celebrate all that remains brilliant about Brixton; but we will also keep a check on those what want to change Brixton with agendas and motives that might not always be completely clear.
