The Dispatch today spoke exclusively to Labour’s secretary of state for housing as he joined the campaign trail ahead of next month’s local election, writes James Cracknell
Housing Secretary Steve Reed insists he is “keen” to visit Crews Hill where a 21,000-home ‘new town’ is being planned – despite missing the chance to go there today while dropping into Enfield for a photo opp.
Reed arrived in Enfield Wash this morning (Thursday 9th) to help promote his government’s recent announcement that the area would benefit from a £20million cash injection as part of its ‘Pride in Place’ fund, with part of Edmonton also named as one of the chosen areas to receive funding of £2m every year for a decade.
While visiting Enfield Wash, Reed met with Enfield Council leader Ergin Erbil, Enfield North MP Feryal Clark and many other local Labour politicians and election candidates who had gathered for a photo opportunity in Hertford Road.
The Dispatch was invited to the event to speak to Reed about the Pride in Place funding but instead chose to use the ten minutes available to quiz the government’s housing chief on the Crews Hill and ‘Chase Park’ new town, which was named last month as among seven shortlisted sites where the construction of thousands of homes will be accelerated – with “spades in the ground” by 2029.
At Crews Hill and ‘Chase Park’, better known locally as Vicarage Farm, the new town proposal more than doubles the council’s own Local Plan target of building 9,200 homes across the two Green Belt sites in the rural north-west of the borough.
One of many controversial aspects to the development is the fate of Crews Hill’s ‘golden mile’ of garden centres and other horticultural businesses – including scores of family-run firms employing hundreds of local people – which will be forced to leave the area to make way for new homes.
So why has Reed not taken the chance today to visit Crews Hill and see the garden centres for himself?
“I’m not going there today, I’m going to a few other places, but I am keen to get there,” Reed told the Dispatch over a coffee at Best Cafe in Hertford Road.
“It is one of several areas that have been selected for a new town, the first wave of new towns since the post-war new towns, and it is an opportunity to rethink how we live together and what the communities of the future need to look like – it is very exciting for Enfield that one of them is going to be here.”
But does Reed plan to visit Crews Hill and the other six shortlisted new town sites at some point soon?
“I’d like to, if I can, I have probably got a bit of time.”
Asked about the impact on local businesses, Reed said: “I am sure there are all sorts of changes that will need to happen. There will be some businesses that need to relocate but this new town will create many, many more opportunities for new businesses, new jobs for people, new start-ups – none of that is possible without a new town.
“I know you are going to get some people who will look at the negative aspects of it, but they are so outweighed by the positive aspects of it. Of course, businesses that are already there need to be supported.”
At present, however, business owners the Dispatch has spoken to insist they have still not had any communication from the council or government. Asked today about it, Rod Thompson from Thompsons of Crews Hill said: “We are not being supported, we have had no communication, we have not been approached. Since they announced the new town we have heard absolutely nothing.”
The business owner also said he was completely unaware that, last month, Reed’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had launched a public consultation on the new towns programme.
Last year, barrister Matthew Reed (no relation) revealed the council would be issuing compulsory purchase orders to any local landowner at Crews Hill that refused to either sell up to housing developers or to move their business out of the area to enable new homes to be built.
Asked about this point at Best Cafe, Steve Reed said: “I am sure the council will be listening. It’s up to the council, not the secretary of state, to do that work. they can sit down with the businesses, they can talk to the businesses about how they can be relocated and operate somewhere else, but the opportunities here are what we should focus on.
“We have got a housing crisis in this country, including in Enfield; the number of people sleeping rough doubled under the Conservative government, the number of people in temporary accommodation doubled. Enfield Council is paying vast amounts of money to keep people in temporary accommodation, with kids and their parents sharing a single bedroom.
“We cannot go on accepting that substandard level of accommodation and housing for families in our society in this day and age. So this government is going to go ahead and build these new towns and build the homes that they need. That will generate massive new opportunities for businesses to set up.
“For existing businesses that need to relocate, I am sure the local council and their local MP Feryal will support them.”
At this point, Clark sat down at the table and said: “It doesn’t necessarily mean that all businesses have to leave the area. This is why we want local residents, local businesses, to get involved. Because there are 21,000 homes and a whole town, it will need jobs. They might want to see a garden centre there. So get involved.”
But can Reed provide assurance there won’t be a net loss of jobs in the area?
“There will be an increase of jobs because that is what we are putting the new town in place for. Someone has got to build these new towns. There will be businesses in the new towns.
“The taskforce that we set up wanted the new towns to be experimental so the council – or a development corporation if that gets set up – will want to talk to people about what the new town is going to be like.”
The Dispatch also asked Reed about local infrastructure, and whether promised improvements such as a new bus service for Crews Hill would be in place at the same time the first new houses are built, starting in 2029.
“Well, it won’t be for me to decide that, that would be for TfL [Transport for London] who will be engaging with the council and the MP. But absolutely we need to improve public transport and one of the reasons the taskforce identified Crews Hill is that it already has decent public transport in place.
“But with 21,000 more households you will need more and better public transport.”
Crews Hill’s only existing bus service, the 456, runs every half-hour at present and does not connect to the railway station, where trains also only run twice an hour.
Clark said: “Whether it is the buses or the hospital, at Chase Farm, the [government] departments are working together to make sure it is done properly. But my main thing is to make sure residents and businesses get engaged and tell us and help shape what happens in that area.”
As the Dispatch was permitted one final question, Reed was informed that if the Crews Hill new town is built at the same rate as Meridian Water, the council’s flagship housing scheme (301 homes in five years out of a 10,000 target), the new town’s 21,000 homes would not be completed for another 350 years.
Does Reed therefore have confidence the council can successfully lead such a scheme?
“I have been so impressed by the quality of the council leader [Ergin Erbil] and his ambition for this area and the team he has around them and his cabinet,” Reed said.
“But we will work with this council to make sure there is appropriate governance to make sure there is the building rate required.”
Even if Enfield Conservatives – who have vowed to halt the new town – take control after next month’s local election?
“Well I hope that won’t happen, the Tories held Enfield back for 14 years, they cut its funding drastically and failed to fund the needs of the growing population.
“This Labour government has given Enfield one of the biggest increases in funding in the country, we have put our money behind Enfield and we need a Labour council here to help realise its potential – the Tories don’t want to build homes.”
Voters will head to the polls to decide which party they want to control Enfield Civic Centre on Thursday, 7th May. The deadline to register to vote is Monday, 20th April.
To take part in the government consultation on new towns:
Visit consult.communities.gov.uk/new-towns/new-towns-draft-programme-consultation/
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