Campaign victory: u-turn over Lovells' sell off? December 2006

Events in Little London have taken another dramatic twist. Last Thursday (14th December), a press release (see below) from the Leeds Lib Dem Group (part of the ruling council coalition) declared a last minute stay of execution for the three Lovells tower blocks in Little London. The flats had originally been ear-marked for sale to a private developer for refurbishment as private homes with the money raised being invested in paying for the £215 PFI scheme over 20 years. Now it has emerged that selling off the Lovells is no longer necessary to finance the PFI scheme and new options for the tower blocks are being prepared for consultation in spring 2007.

Incredibly, the Lib Dems are trying to claim credit for this u-turn, stating that it was due to their 'pressure'. This is nonsense and shows how politicians cannot be trusted. During the February consultation, the tenants and residents of the Lovells said 'no' to the sale of their homes and were simply ignored by the Council. We campaigned for months, went to the High Court, collected a huge 500-signature-strong petition, ensured constant media spotlight on the issue and made it clear to our local Lib Dem councillors that they would suffer at the next election. If the Lovells are no longer going to be sold off it is because of the tireless campaigning of tenants and residents. It is also clear that the council is going to make far more money from big pieces of development land that will be cleared by demolishing the Carlton Towers, the maisonettes and the shops, community centre and housing office.

The campaign fights on to stop the PFI and ensure decent, council housing and community facilities for everyone in Little London.

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Local Councillors win stay of execution for Lovell Park Towers

Following representations from local Liberal Democrat Councillors plans to sell off the Lovell Park Tower blocks in Little London to developers have been put on hold. New options are being worked on for consultation in spring next year.

Cllr Kabeer Hussain (Lib Dem, Hyde Park & Woodhouse) said :- “the recent success of the PFI bid to bring nearly a thousand homes in the Little London area up to decency standards, and build over a hundred new properties; does not depend on the Lovell Park Tower blocks being sold off to private developers for refurbishment and resale. In our view it’s therefore essential that we consult with residents in the blocks as to the best way forward.”

Cllr Linda Rhodes-Clayton (Lib Dem, Hyde Park & Woodhouse) added “as local councillors we’ve fought for the best deal for local residents and our first priority was to achieve the maximum possible investment for addressing the backlog of repairs the current administration inherited. Now that the Government has agreed to an investment of over £95 million in the PFI scheme for the area outside the Lovell Park Tower blocks we need to rapidly get on and find a solution for the blocks themselves.”

Cllr Penny Ewens (Lib Dem, Hyde Park & Woodhouse) summed up the outcome as a ‘win, win’ solution for local residents. “We seem to have achieved a real result, the investment and the opportunity to revisit the controversial proposals for the Lovell Park Tower blocks, without blocking the vital work for other properties. As we have always said, we put a high priority on consulting with local residents, and this proves that brings results.”

For further information please contact :- Please do not give out numbers to the public
Cllr Kabeer Hussain on 07709176007 (m)
or Cllr Linda Rhodes-Clayton on 07850733140 (m)
or Cllr Penny Ewens on (0113) 294 6976 (h)
Alan Kimber on (0113) 2474832

Emergency Meetings called in response to PFI decision

Following the official news of the PFI decision, Save Little London Campaign is holding two very important meetings over the next few weeks.

Tuesday, 5th December - 5pm onwards in The Rifleman Pub

'How do we respond to the PFI?'.

We are going to talk frankly and openly over a few drinks about how highs and lows of the campaign, what we have learned and what we do now.

Wednesday 20th December - 6.15pm at Space@Little London
(behind Little London Primary School, Meanwood Street LS7 1SR)

EMERGENCY PUBLIC MEETING
'Save Our Homes, Save Little London'

With Guest Speakers:

John McDermott, Leeds Unison
Stuart Hodkinson, PFI researcher at Leeds University
Plus: free legal advice

· Are we being told the truth about what will happen?
· Carltons to be demolished, Lovells to be sold off - who else will lose their homes?
· What is the Private Finance Initiative and how will it hurt the community?
· What compensation will people get?
· Can we still stop the PFI and get the investment the area needs?
· Free tea / coffee

Contact us at savelittlelondon@gmail.com or on 217-8608 if you want more details.

Latest newsletter now out

For full PDF (large) version click here
SAVE LITTLE LONDON NEWS
Issue 5, 1 December 2006

PFI gets green light - estate on red alert to save our homes

So it’s finally happened.

After nearly 6 years of delays, dishonesty and downright deception, this week the government ignored our opposition to the PFI and approved the Council’s plan to ‘regenerate’ Little London.

The decision was made after a legal challenge by a tenant to the ‘Comprehensive Regeneration’ scheme in Little London was rejected by the courts last week. The tenant lives in one of the Lovell flats and will lose her home under the council’s plans.

What clinched it, however, was the council’s promise to the government that it would foot the bill as the cost of the PFI scheme continues to spiral out of control.

That’s right, Little Londoners, YOU will pay for the demolition of your home, the fat cat salaries of consultants, accountants and lawyers, the profits for the banks, developers and architects who will now feast on our community like vultures.

It’s not just the people in the Carltons and Lovells who will be affected. Those of us who get to stay and have our council homes refurbished will also be in for a shock - see our Swarcliffe story inside.

Leaked documents in our possession reveal that the council has agreed to sell more land and reduce the promised improvements if the cost of the regeneration increases again.

Save Little London refuses to accept defeat. We won’t allow the council to demolish and sell off public housing- our homes - just so that corporations can profit.

The estate is now on a ‘red alert’ - we have to fight to save our homes and our community from the bulldozers.

What PFI will mean for Little London

DEMOLITIONS
Carlton Towers, Carlton Carr and Garth will be bulldozed
Community centre and shops to be flattened
All to clear land for private developers to build new housing that we won’t be able to afford

EVICTIONS
Tenants and lease-holders living in Carlton Carr, Garth, Towers and the Lovells will be forced to leave their homes and community
All to allow wealthier city workers to move in and yuppify the area

A LIVING NIGHTMARE
Builders trampling through people’s homes for months, baths that don’t fit, kitchens left unusable, floorboards through ceilings, roofs not properly sealed, dust and dirt everywhere
Just ask Swarcliffe!

How the council has lied to us all

Porky pie 1: ‘We’ll honour the vote’

Back in 2001, Leeds City Council promised to respect the vote on PFI. However, when we voted ‘no’ to PFI the council suddenly had a bout of amnesia and refused to accept the result. So it held another vote, this time cutting out some of the ‘no’ voting streets from the PFI.

Porky pie 2: ‘We won’t demolish Carlton Towers’

One of the council’s promises that swung the second vote was that Carlton Towers would be saved from demolition. Now the council wants to flatten them again.

Porky pie 3: ‘The PFI will benefit all of the community’

How will the regeneration benefit the 300-400 homes that will be evicted from their own community? The truth is this scheme is an attack on working class people. The council has said publicly that it wants to ‘change the mix of people’ living here - that’s social engineering.

Porky pie 4: ‘PFI isn’t privatisation’

PFI involves selling off public services and assets to private companies. It is privatisation.

Porky pie 5: ‘PFI is the only game in town’

A lie. The council chose to use PFI—it did not have to.

Porky pie 6: ‘The estate will be constantly maintained and invested in for 30 years’

Untrue. Now we learn it’s only 20 years - that’s 10 years less investment than we were promised.

The Swarcliffe PFI disaster coming to our estate

Back in 1999, the council made exactly the same kind of promises to the people of Swarcliffe. Here’s what has actually happened:

Massive delays: 3 year wait for work to begin caused by contract wrangling

New private homes built first... PFI companies only motive is profit – so up went the new private housing for the wealthy arrivals.

...after 18 months, not a single council home finished: there are 1600 houses to renovate on the estate. At this rate, it will take them 31 ½ years to finish all the refurbishments – that’s 2037.

Appalling standards: the council has fined the contractor for shocking work, including:
· Walls and ceilings smashed in
· Cracked walls and chronic damp ignored
· Baths and doors that don’t fit
· Bathrooms and kitchen left in chaos for months

Insulting compensation: after your home has been destroyed, you will get just £110 of B&Q vouchers to redecorate your whole house. You can’t even get this money in cash to pay someone to help you. What good is this to a pensioner, a pregnant woman, a disabled person?

Parking privatisation: half the garages have been knocked down in one area, while the rents have increased for those remaining. Cars are forced to park on the streets, increasing insurance rates.

The Rumour Mill
· The council is emptying Lovell and Carlton Towers, Carlton Garth and Carr - each time a tenant moves on, their home is being shut up. There are mice infestations growing in the Lovells · Carlton Barracks and Blenheim School could be sold off and demolished to make way for more student flats
· It’s being said that a new community centre is no longer in the PFI plans

What on earth is ‘PFI’ and why do we oppose it?

The Private Finance Initiative is a really bad way of paying for public services. Instead of government or council using our taxes or borrowing money to build and run new schools, hospitals, or council homes, a private consortium of banks, developers, accountants and firms does so instead…for up to 35 years!

The problem is that not only do these companies make huge profits, it also costs them far more to borrow than a government or council. These profits and extra costs are then paid for by us through government subsidies. PFI thus transfers wealth from poor tenants to rich shareholders!

The fraud doesn’t stop there. Because PFI schemes are so expensive (about 30% more than normal) government won’t give local councils all the money they need to pay the private company. So councils are often forced to sell off land or property to raise the money themselves – this is exactly what’s happening in Little London.

The Carltons are being demolished to clear a huge development site for a private developer to come in and build private homes that it will sell on for a huge profit. The Lovells are being sold off to raise money that will then be paid to the private company running Little London estate for 20 years!

As costs rise, the council must keep finding the money from somewhere—more land sales, more public service cuts.

How can we stop this PFI madness?

- Legal challenge

There are strong grounds for taking the council to court for its misleading consultation and its disregard for people’s basic human rights.

If you are interested in taking Leeds City Council to court, get in touch.

Lobby the government, your councillors and MP

Send 100s of emails and letters to your so-called elected representatives demanding they investigate what is going on.

Make an appointment with Hilary Benn MP to explain why the PFI is wrong for the community.

- Write to the media

The British press loves a scandal, especially involving politicians and corrupt local councils. Hostile media coverage often forces decision-makers to change their minds. Write letters to the local and national press, ring radio phone-ins, invite journalists to investigate Leeds City Council’s behaviour.

- Get campaigning

Join the Save Little London Campaign. We can achieve far more working with each other than we can by ourselves. Our regular meetings are a source of solidarity and support. Over the next few months, we plan to hold public meetings with other tenants’ groups, lobbies, demonstrations, community events and film nights as part of a high-profile campaign. Joining the Save Little London Campaign is FREE

- Link up with others

Hook up with other anti-privatisation campaigns in Health, Education, Local Government, and other public services.

Get involved in the new grassroots City Wide Defend Public Housing Network.

Do your homework

Start investigating the companies that might takeover the estate, look at their record on standards, employment, their profits etc.

KEEP FIGHTING

Leaked documents reveal soaring costs of Little London PFI

Save Little London has been leaked confidential financial documents [1] warning of huge potential cost rises to the PFI housing regeneration scheme that could threaten further homes and public assets in our community.

The documents were part of a recent report by housing officers to Leeds City Council's Executive Board on 15 November 2006 explaining why the PFI scheme was again delayed and the cost implications. The information in the confidential documents is explosive. It shows how much the PFI scheme is actually costing and the extraordinary way in which it will be financed.

The True Cost of the Little London PFI

We can reveal that the PFI will not cost £85m as we were told during February's consultation, nor £95m as the council is now telling is, but an enormous £215m over a 20 year contract period. The public figure of £95m is the amount of 'PFI credits' the government will give to the council to part fund the scheme. PFI credits are the estimated 'capital investment' needed in Little London - new buildings, refurbishments, physical improvements etc.

However, because the council must pay the private sector to run the investment scheme and then manage the estate for 20 years, the true cost of the PFI is another £120m. This figure does not represent any investment in the area - just the amount it costs to pay the private sector to carry out this investment and improvements over 20 years.

How the Little London PFI will be financed

The documents reveal who pays for PFI. The Government will put in £7,922m a year or £165.385m over 20 years; Leeds City Council will put in £1.521m a year or £41.445m over 20 years, and have to find an additional £8.930m in interest payments.

So how will the council find £1.5m a year?

Just under £1m will come from the council's existing housing budget - that's the account into which we pay our council rents and the government pays subsidies. But the extra £0.5m will have to come from what the documents call "other resources".

In other words, the government has deliberately under-funded the PFI scheme so that the council has to find money from other budgets. Given that councils are already cash-strapped and in debt due to government under-funding, this inevitably means either cutting services elsewhere or selling off land and other public assets to raise the cash.

So now we realise the real reason why the council’s regeneration scheme involves selling off three Lovell multi-story tower blocks to a private developer, and demolishing 152 other council properties in order to create a major development site for new home building. These sell offs and demolitions are about raising 'capital receipts' - the money raised by selling of council assets such as land and buildings - to part-fund its financial contribution to the PFI scheme.

Delays, rising costs and more bad news

Incredibly, the leaked council documents reveal that because the government has taken so long to decide on whether to approve the PFI scheme, Leeds City Council has had to find an extra £149k per year for the 20 year duration of the PFI contract, or £2.98m. This is because any delay in a PFI scheme will massively raise the overall costs.

Why does this happen? PFI involves a long contract – in this case a 20 year contract – in which future costs must be predicted now. Each delay changes the future cost, usually by increasing it because of predicted inflation rates and so on.

The government’s incompetence has meant that the PFI regeneration will not start before January 2009. This means that the expected increase in capital costs by the new estimated start date of service will have risen from 15% to 17%.

If this was just a one-off increase caused by an unexpected, one-off delay, the medicine might not be so hard to swallow. But this is PFI where escalating and unforeseen costs are the rule, not the exception. It’s no surprise then that the leaked documents alert the Authority’s Executive members to a number of future scenarios under the “sensitivity analysis” that could place the affordability of the PFI scheme in doubt.

For example, an increase of the inflation rate by just 0.5%, combined with a rise in building costs of 0.5%, and a further 6 month delay due to difficult contract negotiations, would increase the Council’s contribution by some £364,000 a year for 20 years – that’s an extra £7.28m. In the worst case scenario set out in the leaked documents, a moderately changing economic environment could add an extra £600,000 a year of Council contributions over 20 years – that’s an additional £12m on top of the present £30m figure. [2]

In an alarming development, officers have convinced the Council to "agree that, should any affordability gap arise beyond this level, to make a commitment to supporting this project through other mechanisms including capital receipts from the area or through reviewing the project scope without impacting on value for money".[3]

This means that the Council could be forced to sell off – or give away as is often the reality – more land to the PFI contractor and chosen developer, or change the specification of the PFI scheme to reduce costs and/or increase capital receipts for the project. Or what is also called writing ‘a blank cheque’ from the public purse to the private sector.

Nightmare scenarios

Save Little London cannot see how the Council can raise any more capital receipts from Little London or change the project scope without radically changing the regeneration scheme we were originally promised.

Scenario 1: the council drops its affordable housing promise

The council promised to place up to 75% to 80% of the new and refurbished private housing on the estate in so-called ‘affordable’ schemes. By breaking this promise, more profits could be generated from the regeneration for the private sector, off-setting rising costs.

Leeds City Council has a history of allowing private developers to get around their statutory requirement to provide 25% affordable housing in city-centre schemes of 25 units and over by accepting one-off commuted sum payments. The Council’s record of then translating those sums into affordable housing has been poor.

Scenario 2: the council reduces promised refurbishment standards to council homes

The council promised that some 910 council homes would be refurbished to a standard above the government’s own Decency level. Councils are obliged to bring all their properties up to the Decency standard by 2010. By committing to do more than it legally has to, Leeds City Council could easily turn round to tenants and say that ‘due to unforeseen financial circumstances, we are only able to meet the Decency standard’.

Look at any PFI scheme and you will find allegations and evidence of contractors cutting costs and increasing profits by using inferior materials, cheap and unskilled labour, and changing the design of a hospital or home to reduce the amount of money spent on it. Go to the Swarcliffe estate in Leeds where a PFI scheme is currently going on and you will see how this works – the standard of refurbishment is so bad that the council is refusing to sign off a single home until things are improved and has fined to contractor.

Scenario 3: the council reduces the number of homes to be refurbished

Similar to above, the council might suddenly decided to reduce the PFI area in order to cut out a number of houses and make the scheme less expensive. In 2002, the council changed the PFI area to exclude Woodhouse from the scheme when a number of streets voted no in the controversial ballot. So it can happen.

Scenario 4: the council demolishes more council housing to sell land to developers

The Council may suddenly discover asbestos or severe structural damage in properties previously given a clean bill of health, prompting their demolition to clear more land for developers. In the confidential report, Council officers point out to the Council’s Executive that the Council could reduce its annual revenue contribution to the project by around £70,000 a year for every £1m additional capital receipt allocated to the scheme. This is a not-so-subtle way of telling the council to sell more land to the private sector.

Corporate profiteering

Private developers will not be the only corporations to benefit from the outsourcing of public services under the Little London PFI scheme. Since December 2000, when the Council first decided to initiate the PFI bid to Central Government, the following companies have been contracted to provide various services to Leeds City Council in preparation of the Little London regeneration programme:

· Gleeds – the Council’s technical advisors, they have jointly developed with LCC Output Specification for the works covered by the Project Agreement;
· PricewaterhouseCoopers – financial advisors to the project
· KPMG, – the City Council’s external auditor: has assessed the overall project
· Kings Sturge – has carried out stock condition and valuations
· Banks of the Wear – consultancy employed as the Independent Tenants’ Advisor in 2005-06
· CHS – consultants employed as Independent Tenants’ Advisor in 2001-02
· DLA Piper – the Council’s external legal and commercial advisors

In addition to the £ms already spent through staff time, consultation events and consultancy costs, Leeds City Council estimates that it will need to spend £3m during the procurement period and has already allocated £1.3m from the Housing Revenue Account for 2006/7.

Running down the estate to force people out

As public money is wasted on consultancy and legal fees, as well as the continual delays to the PFI scheme, tenants and residents accuse the Council of deliberately running down the estate further to ‘persuade’ those it wants out to leave. Leeds North West Homes, the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) running housing in the area, has apparently stopped all new lettings in any of the properties scheduled for sale or demolition. Each time a tenancy turns over the property is closed up and secured from the outside.

We argue that this is “constructive eviction” – the council is deliberately creating lifeless ghettos that will be attractive to squatters, drug addicts and mice infestations and convince those remaining to get out as soon as they can. The ALMO has even been denied funds from central government to carry out improvements or basic repairs to council stock before the PFI regeneration. Broken windows that need new frames are simply being nailed shut and empty properties that need anything more than minor repair work are not being re-let.

Enough is enough

The leaked documents contain a glimpse of the future horror in Little London under PFI – we have to stop this crazy scheme from happening.

Notes

[1] Leeds City Council (2006), Report of the Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing to Executive Board. 15 November 2006. Subject: Little London Housing Private Finance Initiative – Outline Business Case update. Appendix 1 (not for publication, Exempt/Confidential – Access to Information Procedural Rules 10.4 (3)
[2] The Council report outlines the following four key variables that could affect the affordability of the PFI: (i) Inflation: the affordability of the project is assumed on a 2.5% inflation rate.; if inflation was to rise to 3%, Leeds City Council would have to find an extra £58,000 a year on top of the £561,000.; (ii) Subsidy Rate: if the subsidy rate was cut from 6% to 5.9%, this would reduce the Council's subsidy rate by £54,000 a year; (iii) Increased Build Costs: if building costs increased by 1.5% above the current forecast, this would cost the Council an additional £209,000 a year. This is considered unlikely by the Council’s advisors, Gleeds, but an increase of 0.5% – scored as a ‘medium chance’ – would add £66,000 a year to the cost; (iv) Procurment Delay: a year long delay - which could realistically happen as part of a judicial review - would cost an additional £266,000 a year.
[3] P. 100, Leeds City Council (2006)

PFI scheme given government green light

This morning the Save Little London Campaign was sent a press release via a journalist from Leeds City Council announcing that the government had finally approved the PFI scheme for Little London. This comes after the failure of a High Court challenge by a tenant and the council's agreement to guarantee to fund the escalating costs of the PFI revealed in documents leaked to Save Little London.

We have pasted the press release to this news item below and will shortly be making a statement. The campaign is not over. It has only just begun.

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Leeds City Council
29 November 2006

LITTLE LONDON IS ALREADY CHANGING AS £90M FUNDING BID IS APPROVED

The government has given the go-ahead to Leeds City Council’s plan for a £95m Private Financial Initiative (PFI) scheme which will transform one of Leeds’ most deprived areas.

Residents are already seeing changes due to an environmental pride team dedicated to the area and extra police patrols, looking to tackle crime and grime issues.

Plans for the comprehensive regeneration of the Little London area, to the north of the city centre, are now set to become a reality. The scheme was backed by residents in the area in February, when a huge door-to-door consultation exercise was undertaken. Almost two thirds of those who responded were in favour of this option.

The regeneration will include massive improvements to all council homes including new kitchens, bathrooms and windows. There will be substantial environmental improvements to provide more useable local space for local residents.

As well as refurbishment, the area will also see new-built homes, either for sale or rent. These will be developed on sites throughout the estate and will be replacing some homes lost through demolition of present stock which has been deemed unfit for refurbishment.

The next step in the process will be to appoint a contractor, who will deliver this vision of a transformed Little London.


Councillor Les Carter, executive board member for Neighbourhoods and Housing, said: “This is fantastic news for the people of Little London and for Leeds, this scheme promises to deliver vastly better housing and a cleaner, greener Little London for the next 20 years.

“I am delighted that the government have approved funding for what is a groundbreaking project that will make a massive difference for everyone living in the area.

“There are those that have fought every step of the way to stop this scheme, but we are convinced that this is the only solution we have to dealing with the issues we know people in Little London are concerned about – poor housing, anti-social behaviour, crime and public facilities.”

Members of the community are being asked to get involved in the scheme through a number of groups to be set up, looking at communication, the appointment of a contractor and delivery of the scheme. If anyone is interested they are asked to contact Dayle Lynch on 0113 305 9495 or dayle.lynch@leeds.gov.uk

Our Homes are not for Sale - Public Meeting in Little London 19 July

The Save Little London Campaign in conjunction with Amicus trade union has organised a city-wide public meeting on housing and public service privatisation and how to beat it on Wednesday 19 July in Little London.

It features Dick Banks, Amicus convenor for local government in Leeds, who will speak about current government policy to decimate council housing in the country and the Defend Council Housing campaign.

Also invited to speak are tenants' representatives from Swarcliffe estate in Leeds, the first housing PFI undertaken by Leeds City Council and a total disaster. It took nearly 6 years for a contract to be signed and although a majority of tenants were in favour, there is now growing alarm by locals as to shoddy work being carried out by PFI contractors and the string of broken promises about what they would get. They will be joined by speakers from Little London, Osmondthorpe and a range of defend public services campaigns.

The aim of the meeting to bring together local people in Little London with tenants and campaigners across the city as we are all facing the same fight with privatisation and PFI and working together can only make us stronger. We are planning a special presentation on what is happening to tenants in Swarcliffe. Our hope for the evening is that we can brainstorm on where next for the campaign.

There will be free tea, coffee and snacks.

Meeting details:

Wednesday 19 July, 7pm-9pm
Space@, Little London Community Primary School
Oatland Close, Leeds

Our Homes are not for Sale: Challenging Privatisation in Leeds

Featuring Dick Banks
Amicus convenor for local government in Leeds

Plus
Speakers from Swarcliffe Tenants and Residents Association, Osmondthorpe, Save Little London Campaign, education workers fighting PFI and city academies

For more information, email savelittlelondon@gmail.com or ring 07775886617

Our Cities are not for Sale - Public Meeting 12 July

Housing, hospitals, schools, water, energy – all the things we depend for our daily lives – are being privatised so that big business can profit. But across the world from Bolivia to Britain people are organising, fighting back and proposing better alternatives. These are the things we have fought hard for and won. Don’t sit back and let them take our cities and resources from us.

Two public meetings in Leeds will bring people together to discuss what’s happening and plan how we can respond.

The first meeting of the 'Our Cities are not for Sale!' events takes place on 12 July at the 'Common Place Social Centre' in the city centre. It features high-profile Bolivian trade unionist and anti-privatisation campaigner, Oscar Olivera Foronda, who is visiting Leeds as part of a nation-wide tour to deliver a message of solidarity and hope: ‘If we can beat privatisation in Bolivia then you can do it in Leeds’.

Oscar Olivera (pictured above) is the executive secretary of the Cochabamba Federation of Factory Workers in Bolivia and spokesperson for the Coalition in Defence of Water and Life (known as ‘La Coordinadora’). He will speak about the popular uprising against privatisation in Bolivia since 2000 that recently swept the socialist president Evo Morales to power.

The charismatic activist, known as ‘El Chato’ to his comrades, helped lead a mass movement in Cochabamba against US multinational Bechtel who had taken over the water systems as an IMF-imposed condition for debt relief. As part of a corrupt deal, Bechtel raised water rates sky-high and took over communally-constructed and managed water supplies run for centuries by its people. Thousand of citizens protested for weeks despite huge government repression. Olivera emerged from hiding to negotiate with the government and in April 2000, ‘La Coordinadora’ won its demands when the government turned over control of the city's water system to the organisation and cancelled the privatisation contract.

The meeting has been organised by the Save Little London Campaign with support from Leeds Unison, World Development Movement and the Common Place social centre. During the event, Oscar will be joined by a trade activist campaigning against the harmful trade role played by the European Union in Latin America, a Venezuelan worker in Hugo Chavez's nationalised oil industry, a local trade unionist from Unison talking about privatisation in Leeds and a speaker from the Rossport Solidarity Camp in Ireland who will explain how they are supporting local people’s fight against oil giant Shell's plan to build an unprecedented high pressure gas pipeline through the hamlet of Rossport.

Save Little London campaigners aim to use the opportunity of Oscar’s visit to link the struggles of people abroad to those closer to home and launch a city-wide anti-privatisation network aimed at stopping the PFI regeneration scheme in Little London and supporting all other campaigns to defend public services in the city. The 12 July public meeting will be followed a week later by a city-wide anti-privatisation meeting in Little London. 'Our Homes are not for Sale - Challenging Privatisation in Leeds' will be held on the 19 July at 'Space@', behind Little London Community Primary School. Details above.

Meeting details:

Wednesday 12 July 6pm-late

Fighting the privatisation of resources: voices from the frontline
@The Common Place Social Centre

Featuring Oscar Olivera
Spokesperson for the Coalition in Defence of Water and Life (‘La Coordinadora’) in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Plus

Nick Buxton, trade activist based in La Paz, Bolivia
John McDermott, local trade unionist, Leeds Unison
Fin, Rossport Solidarity Camp against Shell, Ireland
speaker from Venezuela

++ Film screenings, food, and benefit party

The Common Place, 23-25 Wharf Street, Leeds
www.thecommonplace.org.uk
For a map, click here

For more information, email savelittlelondon@gmail.com or ring 07775886617

---------------------------------

The Common Place is an autonomous social centre based at 23-25 Wharf Street in the heart of the city centre – see our website www.thecommonplace.org.uk for directions. Its aim is to create a place in which people can collectively recover those things being eroded by the market society: a sense of community and solidarity, affordable food and entertainment, a non-commercial place to relax, talk, meet people or find information on political campaigns, issues and actions.

Doors will open at 6pm on Wednesday 12 July. The evening will begin with a short film on the popular uprising in Brazil followed by speakers and discussion from 7pm until 9pm. The event will climax with a Fiesta for Water and Life benefit party with drinks, food and music, featuring an acoustic set by American folk singer, Tom Neilson (http://www.tomneilsonmusic.com). All monies raised will go to supporting La Coordinadora in Bolivia and the Common Place.

Oscar Olivera is the executive secretary of the Cochabamba Federation of Factory Workers in Bolivia and spokesperson for the Coalition in Defence of Water and Life, known as ‘La Coordinadora’. He worked in factories from the age of sixteen. He took his first leadership role in the labor movement twenty five years ago when he went to work in a shoe factory. For more information about Oscar http://www.narconews.com/Issue34/article1049.html

La Coordinadora achieved the first major victory against the global trend of privatising water resources sparking off similar struggles including in Uruguay where campaigners inspired by Cochabamba's fight secured a referendum victory that changed the Constitution to say that water was a public right and could not be privatised. The victory also gave new energy to Bolivia's dynamic social movements who in a series of nationwide struggles overthrew two Presidents in 2003 and 2005, and helped secure a resounding victory for Bolivia's first ever indigenous President, Evo Morales in December 2005. Oscar Olivera also continues to head La Coordinadora's work to develop a water system that relies neither on corrupt government management nor on transnational corporations.

Local campaigners will launch a city-wide anti-privatisation network at the meeting. The aim is to link campaigns to defend council housing, the NHS, education, post offices, libraries, playing fields and all public services and space from privatisation under one umbrella – Our Cities are not for Sale – bringing together trade unions with tenants, teachers, lecturers, administrators, doctors, nurses, librarians, cleaners, council workers and students.

Our latest newsletter is now available

As we don't have our own server space, our newsletters are kindly hosted by the Autonomous Geographies Project at the University of Leeds, which is examining the PFI scheme in Little London. We'd like to make it clear the views in the newsletters DO NOT necessarily reflect those of the Autonomous Geographies Project. They are just doing us a favour.

Issue 3 of Save Little London Campaign News is now available for download here:

Save Little London News, 1, March 14

You can also now download Issues 1 and 2:

Save Little London News, 2, April 1

Save Little London News, 3, June 10

Meeting and Contact Details

Regular Meetings

Save Little London normally meets every first and third Monday of the month, 7pm, in The Rifleman Pub on Carlton Parade in Little London (LS7 1HA, 0113 245 3760).

See map of where The Rifleman is by clicking here

We’re all a friendly bunch and aim to make these meetings a social occasion. There is an open agenda - come along with your ideas and get involved. Please feel free to ring us beforehand if you plan on coming. Free drink for first timers!

Contact Details

Ring Steve on (0113) 217 8608
Email us: savelittlelondon@gmail.com
Write to us: Save Little London Campaign, c/o 96 Lovell Park Towers, LS7 1DR

Community Day Big Success

Saturday's annual Community Day in Little London was a huge success. Blessed with beautiful sunshine all day and a nice strong breeze (which caused havoc with the stalls), hundreds of residents turned out and had a brilliant time.

The area was transformed - a giant marquee beating out music, a dozen stalls, a booming barbecue, a giant diversity of people mingling together. It must have been quite a shock for the Council to discover that there really is a community down here. Time and time again they have spoken of the need to 'create' one. Thanks, but no thanks.

The Save Little London Campaign stall went really well and the t-shirts proved a big hit with all ages and sizes. We gave away all 125 and were delighted to see them being worn throughout the day. Loads of new people signed up to find out more about our campaign, 100s of newsletters were distributed and we made some great new friends.

A common theme emerged from our conversations - that people still had no idea what was really going to happen to the estate, despite the Council's 'consultation' exercise, and were really angry to discover that the Lovells were being sold off, and Carlton Towers demolished.

Below are some photos from the day. Let's hope they want become distant memories of what our community used to be.

Little London Community Day this Saturday

This Saturday, 10 June, between 12pm and 5pm, is Little London Community Day. It is a chance to celebrate the rich diversity and talents of the people who live here and begin a new effort to rebuild our much maligned community for the benefit of all. With the diastrous PFI regeneration scheme hanging over us, this year's community day will also have a deeply political feel to it.

The annual event is very much a grassroots community initiative. Organised by Community Action Little London and Servias (CALLS), a resident-led group with a full-time worker, Community Day began in April 2000 as part of the ‘Planning for Real’ process. This involved local people creating a 3-D model of the area, which we used to pinpoint problem areas and then suggest the priorities for action and the appropriate group to carry them out.

Six years on and almost everything demanded by the local community has been ignored by the local council. That's why Community Day is so important. It is about the community 'doing it for itself', bringing together local artists, musicians, poets, dancers and activists to put something on by ourselves for ourselves - which is why it is such a great day to be involved in.

This year's event has been many months in the making and features an extravaganza of home-grown talent. Musical performances on the Marquee Stage include drummers Leeds Silver Sparrow Steel Pans, the Salvation Army brass band, the Little London Community Primary School choir, the reggae beats of Unity Band, the African rhythms of Burkina Faso act Baba Kone and urban acts Cauz n Fx, DMW and C-AG. They will be joined by the poetic skills of Leeds Young Authors, the artistic wizardry of Little London Arts and the spectacular spins of anti-violence break dance crew, Breakers Unify. A prize for community heroes will be presented at the end of the day.

There will also be a variety of activities for all ages and the entire family, from crazy golf and face-painting to bingo and football flag making. Massage and fitness sessions will be on hand to counteract the waist-widening effects of the home-baked cake stalls. Plus workshops on mosaic-making, bongo-drumming, break dancing and mask making. And, just in case there is the odd football fan, the England-Paraguay match will be screened live in the Community Centre.

Save Little London Campaign will be at the heart of the Community Day. We'll have our own stall and tent - right next to our traitorous landlord, Leeds North West Homes! We've gone and raided the bank to print special T-shirts saying 'Stop PFI! Decent Homes for ALL', stickers and window posters for tenants to show how they feel. We've also produced our third newsletter, which you can download here. Right after the screening of the football, we're taking over the Little London Community Centre to show films on tenants resistance to housing privatisation.

Our aim is to talk to as many tenants and residents as possible, give them accurate information about the current stage of the PFI, listen to and respect their views and encourage more people to get involved in the campaign. Understandably people feel that there's nothing we can do anymore - the Council has made up its mind and if it hasn't listened for the past six years, it isn't going to start listening now. Our aim is to convince people that when they stand up to power, when they organise effectively, democratically and imaginatively, anything is possible.

We stopped the Transatlantic slave trade, we won the right to vote, we stopped Hitler, we won the welfare state and the right to social housing, we stopped the Poll Tax...the list is endless. In the past few years, tenants up and down the country have defeated their Councils' attempts to privatise their council homes - in Waveney, Cannock Chase, Selby, Mid Devon, Sedgefield, Ellesmere Port & Neston, Kingston, Wrexham, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Dudley, Camden, Southwark and so on. All have voted NO to privatisation!

PFI is back-door privatisation - it means that instead of the Council or ALMO running your homes, a private company does for 25-25 years. Instead of rents and council tax being re-invested in council homes, they are used to pay greedy shareholders fat profits. PFI in Little London also means the direct sale of three tower blocks of flats to a private developer. This the worst form of stock transfer - instead of being the tenant of a private landlord, tenants are simply forced to move out of their homes and into a new council housing somewhere else. In Leeds, there is a huge demand for such housing, yet the Council is cutting its housing stock by 10,000 over the next few years.

Campaigning ideas and resources

If the PFI scheme did not eventually go ahead, Little London would still qualify for £20m to bring homes up to the Decency standard by 2010. Leeds’ six ALMOs, including Leeds North West Homes, will soon be merged into three, meaning that more money could be available to invest in Little London without requiring people to leave their own homes. We could also pursue alternative regeneration schemes such as tenant self-management.

For all of this to happen, however, we need to build a strong campaign. This page sets out some of things that we can all do right now.



5 Ways to Fight Leeds City Council and PFI.

1. Get your elected representatives to “represent” you!

They may be next to useless, but YOU pay their wages, they’re supposed to represent YOU! Write to your local MP, Hilary Benn, and tell him that the Council seriously misled you about the planned Comprehensive Regeneration of the estate. There are countless examples of how they conned people into stating a preference for the PFI (see the end of this post). Ask him to complain on your behalf to both Leeds City Council and the Department for Communities and Local Government.

CONTACT DETAILS
Hilary Benn MP
2 Blenheim Terrace, Leeds,
LS2 9JG, BennH@parliament.uk

You should also complain to the ward's local councillors. However, be warned, they have been totally behind the PFI as it is a policy of the ruling Lib-Dem/Tory/Green coalition that run Leeds City Council. Not only that, but they seem totally unware of what PFI is, how it works and it will mean for the estate. We recommend that you go for a more direct route this time - tell them that if they don't come down to the estate and listen to people's concerns and arguments, you will be campaigning to vote them out during the next council elections in May 2007.

Cllr Kabeer Hussain, Lib Dem
4 Beck Rd, Leeds, LS8 4EJ,
kabeer.hussain@leeds.gov.uk

Cllr Linda Rhodes-Clayton, Lib Dem
237 St Wilfrid's Avenue, Leeds, LS8 3PS
linda.rhodes-clayton@leeds.gov.uk

Cllr Penny Ewens, Lib Dem
3 Holmwood Drive, Leeds, LS6 4NF
penny.ewens@leeds.gov.uk

2. Lodge a formal complaint against Leeds City Council

First of all, make an official complaint to Leeds City Council about they way they have treated you – they are obliged to investigate the issue and respond. While you’re at it also complain directly to the government.

Department for Communities and Local Government
Eland House, Bressenden Place
London, SW1E 5DU
ha.pf@communities.gsi.gov.uk

Leeds City Council
Freepost RLZR-ELTX-RUEH
PO BOX 657, LS1 9BS
complaints@leeds.gov.uk

If this doesn’t get you anywhere, then take your complaint to both the Local Government Ombudsman (who investigates if the council has treated you unjustly) and the District Audit Office (which investigates whether the Council has misspent taxpayers’ money – YOUR MONEY).

Local Government Ombudsman
Anne Seex
Beverley House, 17 Shipton Road
York YO30 5FZ
01904 380200, enquiries@lgo.org.uk
Advice line: 0845 602 1983
www.lgo.org.uk

District Auditor
Adrian Lythgo
KPMG, St James Building
St James Square, Manchester, M2 6DS
0161 838 4000, adrian.lythgo@kpmg.co.uk
www.audit-commission.gov.uk

3. Take legal action against the Council

We’ve been advised by solicitors that Leeds City Council may have broken the law over the way it misled tenants over the PFI scheme. Your human rights may have been violated. Contact Save Little London Campaign (see our contact details above) for more details. If you have a low income or on benefits, you might be entitled to legal aid.

The main challenge could be through 'Judicial Review' - read more about what this is by clicking the link.

4. Use the Media

The British press loves a scandal, especially involving politicians and corrupt local councils. Hostile media coverage often forces decision-makers to change their minds. Write letters to the local and national press, ring radio phone-ins, invite journalists to investigate Leeds City Council’s behaviour. Use our list of media contacts below.

Newspapers
Local
Asian Express verity@asianexpress.co.uk
Asian Leader newsdesk@asianleader.co.uk
Leeds Student editor@leedsstudent.org.uk
Leeds Weekly News lwneditorial@ypn.co.uk
Metro (Leeds) karen.joyner@ukmetro.co.uk
Morley Today editorial@morleytoday.co.uk
Press Association paleeds@pa.press.net
Yorkshire Evening Post yp.newsdesk@ypn.co.uk

National
Financial Times nick.timmins@ft.com
Guardian home@guardian.co.uk
Independent news@independent.co.uk
Mirror mirrornews@mirror.co.uk
Morning Star newsed@macunlimited.net
Observer news@observer.co.uk
Red Pepper news@redpepper.org.uk
Socialist Worker reports@socialistworker

Useful journalists
George Monbiot g.monbiot@zetnet.co.uk
Polly Toynbee polly.toynbee@guardian.co.uk
Nick Cohen nick.cohen@observer.co.uk
Peter Lazenby peter.lazneby@ypn.co.uk
Hilary Wainwright hilary1@manc.org
Seumas Milne seumas.milne@guardian.co.uk
Joel Turner joel.turner@ypn.co.uk
Matt Weaver matthew.weaver@guardian.co.uk
Matthew Tempest matthew.tempest@guardian.co.uk

Radio
Local
Aire FM aire.news@radioaire.com
Galaxy 105 news105@galaxy105.co.uk
BBC Radio Leeds radio.leeds@bbc.co.uk
Pulse Radio news@pulse.co.uk

National
Radio 1 newsbeat@bbc.co.uk
Radio 2 tim.collins@bbc.co.uk
Radio 4 midday@bbc.co.uk
Radio 5 fivelive@bbc.co.uk

TV
Local
Calendar calendar@yorkshire.tv.co.uk
BBC Look North look.north@bbc.co.uk

National
BBC Breakfast breakfast@bbc.co.uk
Channel 4 News news@channel4.com
Five News news@five.tv
Newsnight newsnight@bbc.co.uk
Sky News news.plan@bskyb.com

5. Join the Save Little London Campaign

We can achieve far more working with each other than we can by ourselves. Our regular meetings are a source of solidarity and support. Over the next few months, we plan to hold public meetings with other tenants’ groups, lobbies, demonstrations, community events and film nights as part of a high-profile campaign. Joining the Save Little London Campaign is FREE.

We meet every first and third Monday of the month, 7pm, in The Rifleman Pub. We’re all a friendly bunch and aim to make these meetings a social occasion.

Leeds City Council to go ahead with PFI - 500 residents ignored

Despite a 500 strong petition from tenants and residents, the total opposition of the Little London Tenants and Residents Association (LLTRA) Commitee and Save Little London Campaign, and huge support from neighboring communities, yesterday's Council Executive meeting took the disgraceful - yet unsurprising - decision to go ahead with its PFI regeneration scheme in Little London.

At 10.15am outside Leeds Civic Hall, the LLTRA committee were being interviewed by TV and radio. It was good-natured and despite knowing the Council had already made its mind up, an air of optimism remained. The residents' representatives - all of whom live in Little London unlike the Councillors and officers 'regenerating them' - then went inside to present a 500-strong petition to Cllr Andrew Carter (Tory), Joint Leader of Leeds City Council and executive cllr for housing. They had expected Lib Dem leader, Cllr Mark Harris.

Handing over the petition, Laurean Slattie, chair of LLTRA committee, demanded that Leeds City Council "listen to the wishes of more than a third of the estate and shelve plans to force hundreds out of their own homes". Cllr Carter responded that he and other executive members would of course take their wishes into consideration - and then for the next 20 minutes did precisely the opposite as he lectured, hectored, and, at times, blatently lied to an increasingly irate association.

It was fantastic stuff - tenants standing up to a bully and putting him in squarely in his place. Each myth about the PFI that Carter launched at the group, they threw back with double measure. He said "my hands are tied - PFI is the only way I can get £90m to regenerate your estate". Tenants countered that the estate "didn't need £90m spent on repairs", it was the PFI that was inflating the cost by proposing vast regeneration plans that weren't needed or demanded by the community. They asked why Leeds City Council didn't rebel against PFI financing to which the council leader had no answer other than the weak "we've asked central government for the money and they said no".

Carter argued that the consultation showed people did want it - the tenants countered that 63% of tenants "did not support it" and that the consultation was "biased" and "misinformed people". Carter argued that Independent Tenant's Advisors had verified the consultation as "fair". Tenants replied that the same company was hardly independent as it was employed by Leeds City Council and yet had still criticised the council's handling of the process.

The debate went on and on, and became increasingly heated as tenants began to find their voices in unity and became more confident that Cllr Carter didn't actually know what he was talking about. Carter in turn resorted to more and more arrogant and dishonest statements about the PFI scheme. He claimed it "was not privatisation". Tenants immediately pointed out that the plan involved the direct sale of 3 huge towers blocks to the private sector. Carter corrected himself - "the rest will remain in Leeds City Council's ownership - we will still be your landlord". Tenants said that this was "unnecessary privatisation of council services" and profits made could have instead been invested in the area. Carter replied there is "nothing wrong with making a profit".

And on and on it went until Cllr Carter made two statements that will later come back to haunt him. The first was that he "guaranteed that there would be no more sell-offs in the PFI plan" - only the three Lovell blocks would be leased off to the private sector. Second, when reminded that he "worked for us and that we paid his wages", he retorted, "I don't work for you, you don't employ me, I work for Leeds City Council".

The meeting then turned farcical when Labour Cllr for Kirkstall, Bernard Atha, suddenly showed up to lend his support for the tenants and criticise the consultation process. Cllr Carter responded with heated comments and the two almost had to be separated when Cllr Atha made accusations of vote rigging and corruption during the recent local elections. Tenants watched on in amazement that their meeting with the Council leader was being sidetracked by this pathetic display of power politics. All of this was captured by the local media who couldn't believe their good fortune.

After a photo session with the Yorkshire Evening Post, the tenants and councillors parted company.

At 12.30pm, more tenants from Little London joined a large crowd outside the civic hall to protest against the Council's plans to go ahead with the PFI scheme, and also a ludicrous scheme to build a car park on part of Woodhouse Moor. Residents chanted "hands off our homes" as BBC Radio Leeds broadcast live from millennium square, followed by Calendar news.

At 1pm, 30 people sat in on the Executive meeting to hear the decision. First, the Executive thew out plans for the car park on Woodhouse Moor, citing strong community opposition. Cllr Carter the introduced the item on Little London. As each Cllr spoke, it was obvious that no one would oppose it. At the same time, it was clear that the Council knew they had not won the argument as they kept repeating that "there hands were tied". One Cllr insulted those present by saying that Little London had "problem people" living there and the PFI was a way of effectively getting rid of them.

A Labour Cllr supported the PFI scheme but expressed considerable concern at the way in which the consultation had been carried out, and the fact that tenants in the Lovell tower blocks had shown opposition to the plans.

In response, Cllr Carter made an interesting promise to investigate the possibilities in relation to the three Lovell Tower blocks as under the PFI proposal, this would be a separate contract. This is, however, more than likely just a political gesture to save face and dampen opposition with no possible basis given that the whole purpose of the scheme is to create a "mixed community" with wealthier people being sought to take up private lets in the tower blocks.

And then, the item was passed. As tenants left the chamber, one shouted "So that's it then, that's our homes gone?". Another said: "See you all in court".

This is not the end. It is the end of the beginning.

Little London tenants prepare to lobby council for crunch decision

It's decision time again for Little London - and we will be there to say 'no' to PFI.

This coming Wednesday, (17 May), tenants of Little London will gather outside the Civic Hall to demand that Leeds City Council immediately suspends its privatisation plans for their estate that will see 435 council homes sold off or demolished and hundreds of tenants forced to leave their homes and community.

The lobby has been called to pressure the monthly Council Executive meeting (1pm) at which Councillors will decide whether to or not to go ahead with an £85m Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme - called the 'Comprehensive Regeneration Option' – to redesign the area and build hundreds of private houses and flats for wealthier city workers.

Anywhere between 450 and 800 tenants, some who have lived in the area for as long as 80 years, will be forced to leave their homes to enable private developers to make £millions in profit. The Council has refused to guarantee that tenants forced out of their existing homes will be rehoused in the estate.

Contrary to Leeds City Council's misinformation campaign, tenants and residents of Little London have NOT backed the PFI scheme. There has been no ballot and despite enduring a completely biased consultation process in favour of the PFI scheme, 63% of tenants in Little London refused to endorse the Council's plans. This is backed by a petition circulated by the Little London Tenants & Residents Association (LLTRA) and signed by more than 500 residents – around a third of the estate - that opposes any demolitions or the sale of properties that would force people out of their own community.

Steve Skinner, a council tenant and member of Save Little London campaign:

"Leeds City Council pretends it wants to regenerate council housing yet it is going to get rid of 310 council homes in Little London and 10,000 across the city. It says it has 'consulted' the community yet since 2000, Little London has been effectively blackmailed by the Council in an appalling undemocratic process. From ignored ballots to biased information, to bare-faced lies in public meetings, the Council has completely abused its power to rail road this back door privatisation through. What people need to ask is - who benefits from privatising tower blocks and bulldozing homes? Is it poor working class families local to Leeds, or wealthy city workers and private property developers? I think we all know the answer."

An alternative option, the more modest £20m Decent Homes scheme, would bring homes on the estate up to the government's minimum standard without reducing the council housing stock or evicting local residents. Despite this, it is expected that Wednesday's Council Executive will decide to ignore opposition and go ahead with the Comprehensive Regeneration Option. Council officers last week admitted that they had already put the PFI bid in, subject to formal approval. However, tenants are not going to lie down and die quietly.

An alliance of residents plan to lodge a formal complaint with both the Local Government Ombudsmen and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which has ultimate responsibility for council house regeneration. Individual tenants are also beginning private legal proceedings.

Leeds City Council...Hands off our Homes. Public meeting, 10 May

Tenants and anti-privatisation campaigners are joining forces this Wednesday (10 May) to put on a city-wide public meeting to oppose Leeds City Council's proposed 'Comprehensive Regeneration of Little London estate and its wider systematic decimation of council housing through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

Organised by the Save Little London Campaign, the meeting takes place at Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre, Leeds University, at 7pm, and will be addressed by, amongst others, Andrew Coley, vice-chair of Little London Tenants and Residents Association, John McDermott, Leeds UNISON, and John Illingworth, Labour councillor for Kirkstall.

The meeting has been called in advance of this month's (17 May) Council Executive meeting, where elected councillors are expected to ignore the 63% of local tenants and residents who don't support its plans and rubber stamp the City Council's plans to go ahead with the PFI regeneration scheme in the Little London inner-city estate, subject to government approval in September 2006.

Campaigners aim to raise awareness about the true costs of the proposed PFI scheme that will see the net loss of 310 council homes and the forced removal of 100s of people from the neighbourhood. It will also expose the shameful undemocratic consultation process that the Council has inflicted on residents over the past 5 years.

In March 2001, the Little London and Woodhouse area was balloted on an initial PFI scheme - 54% voted 'no' on a huge 67% turnout. For Leeds City Council, however, this was the "wrong result" so they discarded Woodhouse where the majority of no votes had come from, sent Little London residents more biased consultation material and then reballoted just a few months later. This time, they got a 'yes' vote but almost half of tenants eligible to vote did not do so (46%), giving the PFI scheme no real democratic mandate.

Five years later, however, and due to Leeds City Council's delayed PFI scheme in Swarcliffe, nothing has happened, forcing the Council to consult Little London residents again. In February, after a two week process, the Council announced the results to the media (before it informed tenants and stakeholders). 'LITTLE LONDON RESIDENTS BACK £85M REGENERATION SCHEME' read the Council's press release.

Campaigners argue, however, that 63% tenants and residents of Little London have NOT backed the PFI scheme as 40% did not return their preference slips, and of those who did, only 37% of residents said they preferred 'Comprehensive Regeneration' (PFI) compared to 21% who said they preferred Decent Homes (a £20m scheme to bring homes up to a minimum standard).

Banks of the Wear, the ‘Independent Tenants Advisor’ during the consultation could not hide their criticism of the Council, stating that "the process was hampered…by the lack of timely information being produced, and departures from the agreed and understood process".

The report into the consultation by Banks of the Wear also shows just how confused tenants were by the Council’s questionnaire. Many people who will be kicked out of their homes under Comprehensive Regeneration strangely opted for demolition and thus eviction – but also stated that they wanted to ‘stay in Little London’?!?!?

Andrew Coley, vice-chair of Little London Tenants and Residents Association, said ahead of the meeting:

"All along we have told Leeds City Council that we welcome £85m of new investment in Little London, but it has to benefit all of the tenants and residents, not just some. The Tenants and Residents Association has compiled a dossier detailing all of the flaws and abuses of the consultation process. The report of the Independent Tenant's Advisor was also very critical of it. Based on results that showed a majority of people in the Lovell flats didn’t want to lose their homes, we recommended changes if the PFI proposals were to go ahead. It was forwarded to LCC and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) nearly two months ago. Neither organisation has yet to respond to our objections."

Steve Skinner from the Save Little London Campaign remains defiant:

"From the beginning, tenants of Little London have been blackmailed by the Council in an appalling undemocratic process. From ignored ballots to biased information, to bare-faced lies in public meetings, the Council has completely abused its power to rail road this back door privatisation through. Now they are saying that the community backs the scheme - this is utter nonsense. We were ‘consulted’ on two 'lousy' options to improve homes and the area, and asked to give a ‘preference’ for one of them, not a vote. The fact is that 63% of people haven't backed the PFI scheme. What people need to ask is - who benefits from privatising tower blocks and bulldozing homes? Is it poor working class families local to Leeds, or wealthy city workers and private property developers? I think we all know the answer. But we know we can still stop this if the hundreds of people opposed to the PFI were to get involved in the campaign".

Save Little London campaign will expose the totally biased information given to tenants that emphasised all the negative aspects of the Decent Homes option and all the positive aspects of the PFI scheme, as well as the failure to mention to a large number of residents that they would be forced to leave Little London under Comprehensive Regeneration.

Across Leeds, similar processes are under way, like in Beeston and Holbeck Hill, and Seacroft. There are also other unpopular developments taking place, such as the proposed car park on Woodhouse Moor and the proposed Eastgate regeneration.

That is why campaigners have called this city-wide public event ahead of the Council Executive's monthly meeting: to bring together tenants and residents from affected areas with Defend Council Housing, local trade unions, supportive councillors, grassroots activists, university researchers and sympathetic journalists, so as to raise the political profile of PFI, council house sell-offs and "regeneration" in our city, spread information to more people and create a stronger coalition of people to fight back.

----------------

1. The public meeting takes place from 7pm-9pm, Wednesday 10 May, Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre, Leeds University - click for map. It has been called by Save Little London, and is supported by Leeds Defend Council Housing, Leeds UNISON and the Autonomous Geographies action research project at Leeds University.

2. There will be a lobby of the Council on Wednesday 17 May starting 12.30pm outside Leeds Civic Hall. Campaigners from Little London will march from Little London Community Centre at 12pm to Leeds Civic Hall to unveil a giant banner.

Little London Tenants speak out

Little London Tenants and Residents Association Committee has issued a press release condemned the Council's decision to further stall the decision on the PFI process. Here it is in full:

21st April 2006

TENANTS IN LIMBO WHILE COUNCIL STALL

While Leeds City Council drags its feet the Community in Little London becomes ever more angry, frustrated and fearful.

“We were originally told it was imperative that Leeds City Council makes its decision on the future of our homes by April, now we’ve found out it has been put on the back burner until May.”
Andrew Coley Vice Chair LLTRA

Back in February the entire neighbourhood was asked if it wanted a Comprehensive Regeneration Scheme, funded by Private Finance Initiative (PFI) money. It was promised £80 million would be pumped into the estate but mean over 800 people having to be re-housed – most of whom said they wanted to stay within the community.

“The people I’m really concerned about are the ones who have been told they may lose their homes. It’s like waiting for the axe to fall. They can’t make any plans, whether it’s bothering redecorating their homes or worrying if the kids will have their education disrupted by having to move to a new school.”
LLTRA Committee Member, Alan Ridsdale.

LLTRA have compiled a dossier about the consultation. The report was very critical of the consultation process and, based on results that showed a majority of people in the Lovell flats didn’t want to lose their homes, recommended changes if the PFI proposals were to go ahead. It was forwarded to LCC and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) almost a month ago. Neither organisation has yet responded to the dossier.

“One of our criticisms was that the tight timescale meant Tenant representatives were denied a chance to fully endorse the consultation. LCC said the timescale was so tight because the ODPM demanded a decision by April. Now suddenly they’ve extended the process by another four weeks. Some of us are wondering how they can change the size of the goalposts when it suits them, but not us the tenants.”
Andrew Coley Vice Chair LLTRA

“Now that LCC have put off making their decision until May I just hope they make use of this extra time wisely. They need to take into account what the people of our Community really need and want, not just to rubber stamp a proposal that’s there just to encourage the developers and money men.”
LLTRA Secretary Margaret Spink

“Throughout this whole PFI farce the Council have messed us about. After five years, two votes and this latest consultation, it’s all becoming a bit of a fiasco.”
Long standing Committee Member Frank Pullan

LCC have stated a decision on the regeneration of Little London will be made at the Councils Executive on 17th May.

Little London Tenants & Residents Association will be available for a photo-op by arrangement.

Council delays PFI verdict until after local elections

Tomorrow's (Wednesday 19 April, 1pm) Council Executive meeting will now NOT be deciding whether to go ahead with the controversial Comprehensive Regeneration plan (the PFI) for Little London. The decision has been put back another month until the next Council Executive meeting on 17 May - another month of uncertainty and worry for our community. However, the Save Little London lobby outside Leeds Civic Hall at 12.30pm WILL be going ahead.

After six miserable years of broken promises, dodgy votes, council silence, more consultation and delays, we were hardly shocked to hear that Leeds City Council has once again failed to keep to its own timetable. But why has the decision been delayed again?

Could it be that the elected members of Leeds City Council - the councillors - are deliberately waiting until after the local elections on 4 May before they announce that they want to demolish or sell off 425 homes to private developers so as to avoid a backlash at the polls? Announcing that they want to go ahead with the PFI so shortly before the council elections would have certainly attracted a lot of negative publicity and tenants would have remembered only too well the public support given to the PFI by Lib Dem Councillor, Linda Rhodes-Clayton. It is worth remembering that Councillor Clayton, who will be defending her seat on 4 May, does not live in Little London but somewhere near Roundhay.

Or is that once again, Leeds City Council has failed to get its act together and is still trying to perform miracles with a calculator to make a business case to the government for the PFI scheme in Little London? This is probably more likely given the Council's past record. Remember Swarcliffe, anyone? The Council took six years to get a PFI contract signed for housing regeneration in the area.

Council spins consultation as ‘majority vote for PFI’

The results of February’s ‘consultation’ are now out and once again, Leeds City Council is trying to pull the wool over our eyes and treat us like fools.

‘LITTLE LONDON RESIDENTS BACK £85M REGENERATION SCHEME’, read the Council’s press release, which stated that ‘2/3rds’ of tenants support Comprehensive Regeneration.

The Yorkshire Evening Post simply reprinted the Council’s lies. Its headline, ‘CITY TENANTS VOTE FOR £85M REVAMP OF ESTATE HOMES’, was followed by misleading figures of ‘66%’ opting for the PFI scheme.

The Council now says it will go ahead with the Comprehensive Regeneration scheme subject to an Executive meeting on April 19 at 1pm at Leeds Civic Hall.

Consultation results: the truth

Remember, tenants and residents of Little London have NOT voted for anything. We were only ‘consulted’ on two lousy options to improve our homes and area, and asked to give a ‘preference’ for one of them, not a vote.

Having seen the full consultation results (see our website or ring us to request a free copy), we can tell you that 2/3rds of Little Londoners do not support Comprehensive Regeneration!

The key findings:

1. A huge 40% didn’t take part in the consultation
2. Only 37% of residents prefer Comprehensive Regeneration
3. 21% prefer Decent Homes
4. 63% don’t support the Council’s proposals
5. Council criticised for creating ‘ill-feeling’ among Tenants and Residents, failing to follow agreed process and produce ‘timely and detailed information’

The report into the consultation by Banks of the Wear shows just how confused tenants were by the Council’s questionnaire. Many people who will be kicked out of their homes under Comprehensive Regeneration strangely opted for demolition and thus eviction – but also stated that they wanted to ‘stay in Little London’?!?!?

Council ‘ignored agreed process’

Banks of Wear, the ‘Independent Tenants Advisor’ during the consultation could not hide their criticism of the Council:

"the process was hampered…by the lack of timely information being produced, and departures from the agreed and understood process"

Costing in excess of £2m of taxpayers’ money, the consul-tation was supposed to be fair and balanced. Yet the Council and North West Homes had already decided they wanted Comprehensive Regeneration – so how could a survey carried. out by them be ‘neutral’?

‘Con’-sultation

The ‘con was on’ from the beginning. The totally biased information given to tenants that emphasised all the negative aspects of the Decent Homes option and all the positive aspects of the PFI scheme; the failure to mention that a large number of residents would be forced to leave Little London under Comprehensive Regeneration, and that the Council could not guarantee that those forced to leave who wanted to stay would eventually be rehoused in Little London.

What happens next?

On 19 April, the Council Executive will meet at Leeds Civic Hall to rubber stamp the Comprehensive Regeneration Option. They will then ask the government for permission. A review will take place and by September we should know whether the government agrees with Leeds City Council or not.

WE CAN STILL SAVE LITTLE LONDON!

It may seem hopeless, but in fact we can stop the Council demolishing our homes and private developers making £millions out of our misery. The government is unlikely to go ahead if there are any more delays in the process. We can take legal action to stop them and pursue alternative regeneration schemes such as tenant self-management. The Council want us to believe that there is nothing we can do – don’t be fooled!

What you can do

Take legal action – contact us for advice

Vote for council candidates who are opposed to PFI

Come to Save Little London meetings – every Tuesday at 7pm in The Rifleman pub

Join the Save Little London lobby of the Council at 12.30pm, Wednesday 19 April, Leeds Civic Hall

Order a FREE banner, roll of stickers or posters from us to hang off your balcony or stick in your window.

Lobby the Council 19 April

On 19 April at 1pm, the Council Executive will meet at Leeds Civic Hall to rubber stamp the Comprehensive Regeneration Option. They will then ask the government for permission. A review will take place and by September we should know whether the government agrees with Leeds City Council or not.

WE CAN STILL SAVE LITTLE LONDON!
JOIN THE SAVE LITTLE LONDON LOBBY
MEET 12.30PM OUTSIDE LEEDS CIVIC HALL
WEDNESDAY 19TH APRIL

We will be there outside the Executive meeting next Wednesday to show the Council that we remain opposed to their plans.

It may seem hopeless, but in fact we can stop the Council demolishing our homes and private developers making £millions out of our misery. The government is unlikely to go ahead if there are any more delays in the process. We can take legal action to stop them and pursue alternative regeneration schemes such as tenant self-management. The Council want us to believe that there is nothing we can do – don’t be fooled!

Community clean-up April 1

On Saturday 1 April, community workers and local residents will be carrying out the first in a new series of Community Clean-Ups on the Little London estate. The clean-up is being organised by CALLS - Community Action Little London. For years, Little London has been plagued by Council neglect, leading to an intolerable level of rubbish, including dirty needles, across the estate. If the Council won't do anything about the mess then the people will have to do it themselves - and perhaps we should invoice the Council for a tax rebate!

The first clean-up is around the Servias part of the estate.

Skips and the graffiti removal team will be available

Time: 11am-2pm
Meeting point: Little London Community Centre
Contact no: 07949052148

Please come and support us

About the Save Little London campaign

Welcome to the 'Save Little London' campaign, a coalition of council tenants, residents and friends who are fighting Leeds City Council's attempt to demolish or sell-off 435 council homes in our neighborhood through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

We have been in existence in various forms since 2001 when it first emerged that the New Labour government and Leeds City Council had big investment plans - £35m back then - for our inner-city neighborhood of 'Little London' in north west Leeds, which falls right on the edge of the city centre itself.

At first we thought 'great' because investment is badly needed after decades of neglect and disrepair to our homes and area. But when we started to read about how the Council was proposing to finance the regeneration of our area, many of us were shocked and outraged.

Contracting private developers for 30 years to borrow the money, carry out the regeneration and manage the area, demolishing hundreds of homes and selling off or leasing hundreds more to the private sector, replacing council housing with private housing we could not afford to rent or buy...these plans did not meet the needs or wishes of the people who lived in Little London.

So we fought back. We held public meetings, got the local trade union branches to support us, did our research, leafleted every home on the estate, campaigned and raised awareness about what the nice sounding headlines really meant for people. And when the Council finally balloted tenants and residents in March 2002, we won! 54% said NO to the proposed PFI-regeneration on a whopping 67% turnout.

Leeds City Council, however, refused to accept the people's verdict and conducted a second ballot using hastily drawn up new plans that removed a large number of residents who voted No the first time. Unsurprisingly, they got the YES vote they were after. However, almost half of tenants eligible to vote did not do so (46%), giving the PFI scheme no serious democratic mandate.

Despite this setback for the campaign, between 2002 and 2005, the government blocked Leeds City Council going ahead with the PFI because of delays in another Leeds City Council housing regeneration PFI programme in Swarcliffe. In the meantime, another ballot took place to transfer the day to day running of council housing to an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) wholly owned by the Council, Leeds North West Homes.

Finally, in May 2005, with Swarcliffe PFI contract now signed, the Council were allowed to proceed with Little London PFI regeneration.

However, because of the delay, a high turnover of tenancies, a change in government policy and new plans for Little London, Leeds City Council had to 'consult' tenants and residents again. This time, we were given 'two options' for investment in our area.

Option 1 was called 'Decent Homes' but there wasn't too much that was decent about it. The ALMO would only be allowed to spend up to £20m to bring all Council-owned properties up to the government's promised minimum Decency Standard level by 2010.

Option 2 was called 'Comprehensive Regeneration', a proposed £85m Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme over 30 years. This offered much more money, but meant that around a third of the people living in Little London would see their homes demolished or sold off to private developers - 435 council homes to be precise- and be forced to leave the area. In their place, 125 new council homes and 300 private homes would be built, most of which was to be "affordable", although the Council's vague estimations of 'low cost' prices at between £55,000 and £110,000 was hardly reassuring. Despite waiting years for repairs, work would not start until at least late 2008 and major rebuilding would not be completed until at least 2013 with the Council unable to guarantee an end date.

Overall, the Council was offering the tenants and residents of Little London two unsatisfactory and unfair options, either substantial investment for the majority and eviction for a minority, or an under-investment for all that would recreate the need for regeneration further down the line.

Between June 2005 and February 2006, the Council spent in excess of £2 million of taxpayers money on 'consulting' Little London's 1500 tenancies. It was supposed to present tenants with the two options in a fair and balanced way. Yet in reality, the Council, councillors and the ALMO had already decided that they favoured the Comprehensive Regeneration Option and the aim of the consultation was not to 'consult' but to 'convince' enough tenants that the PFI scheme was what they really wanted.

Local residents and campaigners were so angered by the biased Council exhibition that they spontaneously conducted its own consultation exercise with a 'counter exhibition' with all the missing facts, and attempted to display it alongside that of Leeds City Council. However, on several occasions, these residents were refused entry to the foyer by council officials and ALMO officers.

In March, the Council announced that two-third of tenants 'backed the PFI scheme' and that they now intended to go ahead with the Comprehensive Regeneration subject to government and Council executive approval.

The Save Little London campaign, however, does not recognise the results of the consultation exercise and is stepping up the campaign. On Tuesday 14 March, a successful lobby was held outside Leeds Town Hall covered by Radio Aire FM; the following Thursday, Leeds Weekly News published a damning front page article on the Council's consultation. We are investigating a legal challenge, exploring tenant management alternatives, organising a city-wide meeting of residents and campaigners, and compiling a dossier of abuses of the consultation process.