tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post8348176353369337429..comments2024-03-13T10:28:38.211+00:00Comments on OPEN Dalston: The twelve days of ChristmasAbout OPEN Dalstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13209133949209769082noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post-26045994158231994582014-01-23T20:59:47.627+00:002014-01-23T20:59:47.627+00:00I agee we desperately need more homes, but there i...I agee we desperately need more homes, but there is evidence that housebuilders are landbanking & drip feeding the market to keep prices high.They sell to cash rich investors who leave flats empty. They blame the plannning system for being unable to build but I suspect they just want free reign to do whatever they want. Its complex, but dont you think some control is needed in environmentally sensitive areas like Dalston?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post-63682129714043691372014-01-23T18:29:32.773+00:002014-01-23T18:29:32.773+00:00There's a housing crisis in London. A look aro...There's a housing crisis in London. A look around at what's on offer at the moment shows a huge number of dilapidated properties at astronomical rents or prices. It won't get better until there is increase in the supply of housing. Not building at the top of market only pushes demand down the market anyway. Much of the existing market housing that was affordable is now unaffordable due to lack of building. Most of Dalston was once fields 150 years ago. I share some of the concerns about the quality of the developments but at the end day housing trumps all of them.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12940818056188297697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post-57349881552550747582014-01-08T22:09:42.330+00:002014-01-08T22:09:42.330+00:00Your suggestion that OPEN is against all developme...Your suggestion that OPEN is against all development is very wide of the mark . Take for example our post "Dalston RIP? It's so not over!" of 13.1.13 which acclaims the growth of Dalston's small independent businesses. We laud those as positive examples of 'micro-regeneration' and Dalston's resurgence.They are well known locally, we all have our favourites, and they don't need this blog to help publicise them. On this blog we try to make local people aware of the big top-down 'Regeneration' schemes - like those by TfL, Taylor Wimpey, Rothas and Criterion - and the many damaging consequences and missed opportunities which they entail. They are £multi-million schemes, with massive PR resources, and the developers both offer financial inducements to the Council and make threats of appeals if rejected.We make no apology for oppposing such schemes.They have insufficient benefit to our community and, once made aware, local people object and oppose them in numbers - even if their views are routinely ignored. If you think there are better ways to combat or improve these schemes, then get involved. However your unwelcome suggestion, that if we don't like it then we should leave Dalston, is simply defeatist. OPEN Dalstonhttp://opendalston.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post-90328766412289631982014-01-08T10:29:04.954+00:002014-01-08T10:29:04.954+00:00The Kingsland Shooping centre is hardy a hub for i...The Kingsland Shooping centre is hardy a hub for independent shops at the moment anyway? KFC, Costa Coffe, Burtons, Holland&Barrett, JD sport, Three mobile, EE mobile, Carphone Wearhouse, Iceland, Superdrug, Specvavers, Sainsburys, Matalan...<br />There's no reason why the independent traders in the hallway can't carry on their business in a new, better designed centre?<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post-81335969781575508122014-01-07T21:47:42.948+00:002014-01-07T21:47:42.948+00:00Apologies if you felt I was patronising. This was ...Apologies if you felt I was patronising. This was by no means the intention. It is simply that I cannot believe that you think that ALL commercial development in Dalston in the past decade has been negative. The execution of Dalston Junction station (and that ludicrous one-bus bus station) was clearly not optimal, but the fact of it has clearly been a positive. Likewise there have been terrible developments (like the ugly block with the silly wind turbines next to Sainsburys) but there is also Bardens, Birthdays, the Three Compasses, Tina We Salute You, The Farm Shop, Broadway Market etc Surely on balance things are better?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post-21003024382847249772014-01-04T08:36:06.922+00:002014-01-04T08:36:06.922+00:00Anonymous asks "why you simply don't leav...Anonymous asks "why you simply don't leave?" I've always lived in Dalston, my kids were born here and go to local schools, I love the independent shops, the market, the music clubs, the buildings, the buzz. Why should I leave? Because some greedy developer wants to exploit the area for excesssive profits? I have a right to stay, object and demand restraint and better design, even if my and others' views are routinely ignored. These developments offer nothing for my family, or I think local people, and so sadly my kids will have to leave Dalston and find homes elsewhere. I remember when politicians were elected to serve and protect local communities, not serve developers and protect house prices.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post-48496414577986891482014-01-02T17:03:15.620+00:002014-01-02T17:03:15.620+00:00So, Anonymous moved here in 1999 and found Dalston...So, Anonymous moved here in 1999 and found Dalston Lane "rough and dangerous". I remember it well. 1999 was when Hackney Council evicted the music clubs from the old theatre buildings and left them to rot, become derelict and a magnet for junkies before demolishing them. Thanks Hackney. Still, at least in 1999 there was some life left in the Dalston Lane georgian houses but the Council then ran them down, allowed them to become derelict, sold them off and now they are all to be demolished as well. Thanks Hackney. There is a pattern here, whereby ignorance, incompetence, greed or whatever creates a situation where the opportunities for imaginative solutions which meet local needs are lost and we are left only with developers' top-down impositions. Thanks again Hackney.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post-65158100289234573632014-01-02T11:41:11.178+00:002014-01-02T11:41:11.178+00:00The developers mantra is "There is no alterna...The developers mantra is "There is no alternative" (ie TINA rules) and, if criticised, they claim, as you do, that objectors must be against change. For example, when OPEN campaigns for retention of at least some of the historic character and identity of the area we are told we just want to live in the past. But the issue is not development per se, but how it can be done to maintain diversity in the built, natural, social and economic environment. Despite your patronising references to OPEN's "sensible and worthy" campaigns, your essential point is "Go elsewhere" and thus, presumably, allow developers to proceed unchecked and regardless of local people's views.OPENDalstonhttp://opendalston.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14932341.post-64492044140357979412014-01-01T19:18:34.559+00:002014-01-01T19:18:34.559+00:00If Dalston really is so awful these days, I do not...If Dalston really is so awful these days, I do not understand why you simply don't leave. The fact is that much - not all, but much - of the development which has taken place has been positive. When I moved here 15 years ago, Dalston Lane at night was a rough and dangerous road to navigate at night. This has now changed for the better.<br />Many of the things OPEN Dalston campaigns for are sensible and worthy, but this and other articles give the impression that you are opposed to any change, thereby allowing your opponents to disregard and marginalise your views.<br />Far more constructive, I would have thought to accept that some development has been and will be for the better. It will never be perfect, but sometimes change is for the better.<br />Happy New Year!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com