David has written an article for Tottenham Journal outlining why Tottenham needs and deserves an enterprise zone [link].
It was originally published on Thursday 7th April 2011, with photos by Tony Gay.
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THE NEWS that the Spurs board are still chasing their “dream move” to the Olympic Stadium is a bitter blow to our community. A judicial review will only line the pockets of lawyers and leave the club, their fans and the Tottenham community in limbo.
We need the club, the Mayor and the Government to stop squabbling over a stadium in the East End and focus on delivering something for Tottenham. We know what the club means to this area’s history and the local economy, and in the current climate of cuts and redundancies, the planned redevelopment of White Hart Lane could not come soon enough. The club are clear that the costs of the project have escalated beyond what they can afford, but we now know what it will take to fix it.
The club, the council and I are clear that securing an enterprise zone for N17 would not only attract new businesses and create jobs in the area. It will also make the Northumberland Development Project far easier to deliver.
Business rates in the zone are lowered for the first five years, encouraging new businesses to base themselves in Haringey. After five years all rates collected from the business don’t go to the Treasury, they are reinvested in infrastructure and the environment here.
Planning laws are relaxed so businesses can move in quickly and expand rapidly. This is no hand-out. This will kick start a series of regeneration schemes, boosting employment and transforming the borough.
But there is a chance we’ll miss out. The Government buys in to the lazy assumption that the south is rich and the north is poor. The Chancellor is explicit about rebalancing the economy away from the south east, but ignores the fact that London has as many unemployed people as Northern Ireland, Wales and the north east combined.
It is time there was recognition that the wealth of the City of London doesn’t find its way to places like the Broadwater Farm Estate or Northumberland Park. This is the most unequal city in the developed world – London’s richest 10 per cent are worth 273 times more than the poorest 10 per cent.
The Government has to be more honest about where those vulnerable people live. You only need to walk past the boarded up shops on Tottenham High Road to see that capitalism hasn’t just forgotten about Toxteth and Barnsley, it has forgotten about Haringey too. The Chancellor claims last month’s budget was “going for growth”, so why shouldn’t Haringey be part of that vision?
Those out of work in Haringey are some of the youngest and most highly skilled in the country. A young, energetic and enthusiastic labour force is on the doorstep of any new business wanting to set up shop here. We have some of the best transport links to the centre of the largest city in the European Union and half an hour from an expanding international airport at Stansted.
Most importantly, we already have businesses wanting to invest and grow right here, right now. Before the Olympic Stadium debacle, Tottenham Hotspur were on the brink of starting the largest, private-sector led regeneration project in a generation in the most deprived part of Haringey. New stadium, new homes, new supermarket and new hotel will bring a wealth of employment and business opportunities to north Tottenham. An enterprise zone in Haringey will attract other major employers too. Put it simply: when Facebook open up their UK Headquarters, I want them in N17.
Last month, the number of job seekers in Haringey broke the 10,000 barrier, reaching the highest level for 11 years. This borough cannot afford to be cast aside by the Government as the cuts bite. We cannot afford to be left looking through the gates of Bill Nicholson Way, reliving the traumas of the 1980s unemployment crisis and Broadwater Farm riots, and wondering what could have been.
There are 10 more enterprise zones to be announced by the Chancellor in the summer. We have a positive case to make: our borough is not only deserving of a zone, it also has the potential to make the most of one.
