Haringey Development Vehicle

On Tuesday 17 July Haringey’s Cabinet decided not to proceed with the Haringey Development Vehicle. Leader Cllr Joseph Ejiofor said:

The preference of this administration, as stated in our manifesto, is to build council homes on our own land. We firmly believe that what is currently public land should remain in public ownership. We are committed to building new, affordable homes over the next four years – including the delivery of 1000 new council homes – and we start from the principle the council should be delivering those homes itself.

The proposed Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) has shown how strongly opinions differ about the best way to tackle those important issues. Building on the commitments we made during the recent elections, we have now taken decisive action to set a new direction for the council, with this final decision that the HDV will not now go ahead. We know a decision like this should not be taken lightly, in the same way that we know we have a duty to listen to all voices in our local communities.

We are obviously concerned at the threat of protracted legal action by Lendlease, however the people of Haringey elected us to govern their borough, and to take decisions that are in the best interests of all Haringey’s residents. As set out in the Cabinet report, this is an informed decision which we are taking with our eyes open.