The fact that Lewisham Council spent £105k in a single day removing four people from Tidemill Garden has just been revealed in response to a number of FOI requests, and the figures will be made public at tomorrow night's council meeting in response to questions to the council.
The council has refused to provide figures for the ongoing cost of securing the site since the day of the eviction.
But in a deeply cynical move, which will do nothing to improve relations between SE8 and Lewisham's elected representatives, the council has just put out the following press release, which I have reproduced in full.
Counting the cost of the Tidemill eviction
Lewisham Council has revealed the £105,000 cost of evicting the Tidemill protestors in Deptford could help house more than 20 homeless families in temporary accommodation for an entire year.
The Council gave the Old Tidemill Garden Group temporary, meanwhile, use of the garden back in 2012 on the clear understanding they would leave once the development of the site was ready to go ahead. The group agreed to this condition.
The Council had to spend the money to remove campaigners and members of the group after they refused to leave in October.
Councillor Paul Bell, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “It is disappointing that the actions of some activists illegally occupying the site meant we had no choice but to spend this large sum of money which could have been much better used elsewhere for those in real housing need.
“Our housebuilding programme is for the many, not the few, and we won’t let the actions of a small number of people stop us providing decent, secure, social housing for those who need it.
“In the last three years alone private rents have risen by almost three times as much as earnings in Lewisham. We are fighting the housing crisis by building more homes at social rented levels and working with others to do the same. Tidemill offers an unprecedented amount of social housing and we cannot let those who wish to undermine the scheme for their own motives further delay these homes from being built.”
The Council’s housing programme will deliver over 1,000 new social homes over the next four years with 117 due to be available for social rent at Tidemill.
Overall, redevelopment of Tidemill and surrounding areas will provide 209 new homes, 54% of which will be social.
There are nearly 10,000 people on Lewisham’s housing waiting list and over 2,000 households in temporary accommodation because of a lack of social housing in the borough.
Cllr Bell added: “We are sorry for the residents who live locally and are caught in the middle of this ongoing situation. We are trying our best to resolve it.”
Tomorrow's council meeting, which includes not only questions about the Tidemill eviction, but also an item on the arrangements for replacing the sacked chief executive Ian Thomas, looks set to be a lively one.
1 comment:
Very happy to be picking up the ongoing security bill for Tidemill as an LBL council tax contributor. Why should hard-working developers have to cover the costs of securing their sites? More security needs to be provided for selfless LBL councilors who have to face un-vetted members of the so-called public.
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