Great drawing! Simon On 21 Oct 2014, at 09:34, dave miller <[email protected]> wrote:
> http://davemiller.org/comics/what_sorrow_for_you.png > > Some explanation: > > The top panel shows the Heygate Estate being demolished, and bottom panel > shows anxious residents talking to their local councillor. This drawing is > about greed and speculation, gentrification and social cleansing, how > Heygate’s former tenants have been moved out of their homes to make way for > their richer replacements. > > The text “What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after > field, until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land” - is taken > from the Bible (Isiah 5) > > Some background: > > “This is a situation that divides everyone living in London in two: an > affluent minority benefiting from a booming property market and a majority > struggling under a severe housing crisis. > > Just south of the roundabout in Elephant and Castle, the Heygate Estate has > become the paradigmatic example of the MIPIM-model of property development – > what those profiting from it would like to call ‘regeneration’. Lend Lease, > an Australian developer, are demolishing the Heygate council estate to make > room for 2400 luxury flats. For thirty years, Heygate provided Southwark with > 1200 social-rented dwellings; the new development will contain 79. > > Heygate’s former tenants have been moved out of their homes to make way for > their richer replacements. Those who refused were dealt with via a Compulsory > Purchase Order. Average compensation for a one-bedroom flat was £95,480; the > cheapest equivalents in the new development will cost £310,000. Consequently, > the vast majority have been scattered across south London. > > At a public inquiry into the process, former Heygate leaseholder Terry > Redpath traveled in from Sidcup to describe how he was affected. “I could no > longer afford to stay in the area,” he said. “The compensation I was offered > plus £45,000 of life savings bought me a terraced property 15 miles out of > London.” > > Heygate encapsulates how regeneration works – and why social cleansing is a > more accurate term. > > At a time when millions of Londoners are in acute need of affordable housing, > local authorities are knocking it down and replacing it with luxury flats. An > affluent professional class moves in and, assisted by hedge fund managers > with no intention of living in the homes they buy, entirely displaces the > existing community. > > Meanwhile, most Londoners find themselves with no influence over the way > their city changes, peeking through the window at a process that is selling > off public land and pushing the poorest of them out of their homes.” > > Extracts taken from: > http://leftfootforward.org/2014/10/the-mipim-property-fair-everything-wrong-with-regeneration/ > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
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