Brixton Project ‘community’ group team up with developers to facilitate construction of unpopular 20-storey Hondo tower block

Community groups are concerned that there has been nothing like enough community consultation over the imposition of Hondo’s 20-storey tower over Electric Avenue.

Now an emailed ‘survey’ from the Brixton Project is showing up the weaknesses in the foundations of this corporate project.

A petition against Hondo’s tower has already gathered more than 5,300 signatures, and more than 1,100 objections to the proposed development have been registered on Lambeth’s planning site.

Many other community stakeholders, such as the Brixton Recreation Centre (‘The Rec’) and the residents of surrounding housing blocks have expressed objections to the tower, but have so far been ignored.

The extent of Hondo’s community engagement seems to comprise paying someone to gather signatures of support on a pre-written letter to the council, and now, very late in the day, a new survey and “community co-creation group” organised by The Brixton Project less than a week before the deadline for objections to the planning application.

The Brixton Project has recently distributed a survey to its networks on the proposed tower development. The organisation claims that its survey will “actually respond to the needs of local people” but it is unclear what mechanisms are being used to solicit this opinion-making, and who in the Brixton community is being engaged.

According to documents prepared by Hondo as part of their planning application, the Brixton Project is one of the few open backers of the Hondo tower project.

Given this fact, it is reasonable to imagine that the Brixton Project will feed any results back to Hondo Enterprises to use as evidence of community support at the reconvened Planning Applications Committee (PAC) meeting (at which a decision on the tower will be made), the date and agenda for which has still not been confirmed by Lambeth Council.

Interestingly, one Brixton Project communication states that the meeting will be held on 3 November – but Lambeth Council itself has not yet released this information! A document compiled by Hondo Enterprises’ entitled “Pope’s Road Community and Commercial Use Strategy” clearly indicates that the Brixton Project is working closely with Hondo Enterprises.

At the 25 August PAC meeting, the presentation made on behalf of the Lambeth Council planning team cited the following as a reason that the development should go ahead:

“The ‘Community and Commercial Use Strategy and Management Plan’ that’s currently being developed with Brixton Project with the local community, will look to secure dedicated and curated community floor space within the development that will provide meaningful and ongoing opportunities for the local community and maximise the benefits that the development can bring to that”.

The fact that one group is claiming to represent the interests of thousands of Brixtonians in this murky consultation effort is extremely worrying, given that nearly 7,000 objections have been registered via the council’s website, a popular online petition, and at street consultations held by community groups – all of which provide evidence of strong opposition to the proposed tower
development.

An organiser with Save Nour, the Brixton-based community group regrouping to fight the tower and the lack of proper community consultation, said:

“What is concerning here is that the survey is exclusively about the ‘community space’ in the proposed tower, as if Brixton locals should only get a say about one measly section of an enormous tower block, and are expected to just accept the rest.

The survey and “community co-creation group” may look like it invites input from (a handpicked group of) locals – but if it is really a way to smooth the path of this enormous tower being approved next month, it would be a blow to community representation in local planning.

The objection is loud and clear, and a survey about office space does not substitute for community consultation on whether people want this tower at all.”

Points to note:

The text of one email references “2,000 local jobs” – but with Hondo, Lambeth Council planning officers and Cllr Seedat at the first PAC meeting making much of Brixton’s “excellent transport links” it is doubtful if “local” here means “Brixton locals”.
Given that the Brixton Project is working closely with Hondo Enterprises and its director (Texan millionaire Taylor McWilliams), it is reasonable to assume results of its ‘survey’ will be shared with Hondo to be used to bolster support for the tower at the upcoming Lambeth Council PAC meeting that will either reject or approve the tower – yet this is not made explicitly clear in the communication.
One email refers to circa 2,000 square foot of community space, but this equates to less than 1% of the total floorspace of the proposed building.
No impact analysis has been undertaken to assess the impact this development would have on the local businesses located in Brixton’s historic covered markets and neighbouring areas.
Given that it was issued only a week before the new Lambeth Council consultation deadline (Thursday 22 October), the Brixton Project communication is clearly reactive to the community campaign opposing the tower development. If the organisation cared so much about the community’s views, why did it not conduct its survey far earlier and on a wider scale?
In its planning application, Hondo Enterprises sells itself as having a good rapport with the community, but there is no evidence that they have undertaken any consultation with the Brixton community prior to submitting the planning application.
To object to the tower by the 22 October deadline, send Lambeth planning officer Michael Cassidy an email at MCassidy@lambeth.gov.uk AND submit a comment at https://bit.ly/3l3IBED

[This article by the @SaveNour campaign group]

More info, background and action

Thursday, 22nd October 2020 is the deadline for registering objections to Hondo’s plans on Lambeth’s planning site.

People are urged to write to Lambeth planning officer Michael Cassidy at MCassidy@lambeth.gov.uk – you can use this virtual postcard form to do so – as well as submitting a comment on the planning website.

To ensure that your comment counts, we recommend reading this article: How to object to a planning application – an essential guide to getting your voice heard.

Join the discussion

Join in with the lively forum discussions on the Brixton forum:

Hondo’s huge plans for Pope’s Road, Brixton and the Brixton Project (over 300 posts)
Brixton Village, Market Row, Pope’s Road, Lost In Brixton and Hondo Enterprises’ Brixton empire (over 380 posts)

Have your say about the development

Background

Who’s behind the development?

The planning application says that the scheme “is a joint venture by AG Hondo Pope’s Road BV who have an agreement to purchase the site, currently occupied by Sports Direct and Flannels.”

It goes on to claim that Hondo is part of a property development company who have a “longstanding presence in the borough having purchased Market Row and Brixton Village” in, err, “March 2018.”

Housekeeping DJ and socialite Taylor McWilliams – the sole director of Hondo Enterprises who own Brixton Village and Market Row – is also a director of AG Hondo Pope’s Road BV, along with Robert Tieskens, a director of the Netherlands arm of the monster New York based investment company, Angelo Gordon.