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Haringey Council votes to cancel development vehicle despite Lendlease warning
Haringey Council has voted to cancel the controversial Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) in a meeting of its cabinet last night.
The cabinet made the decision at the same time it voted to establish a wholly-owned development company.
Since November 2015, Haringey Council had been developing the HDV, intended as a vehicle joint-owned 50/50 between the council and its preferred bidder, which was the developer Lendlease.
In the build-up to Theresa May’s local elections, however, local Labour members turned against the plan, voting to replace councillors who had voted for it with candidates opposed to the HDV.
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The current administration was elected on a manifesto that promised to cancel the HDV. In this meeting of the cabinet, it gave two reasons for the cancellation.
Firstly, the administration said it did not agree with the large-scale transfer of public assets out of public ownership. In particular, it said it believed that the council should retain ownership of its commercial portfolio.
Secondly, it argued that the risks of the HDV for the council would have been too great.
Before last night’s meeting, Lendlease wrote to the council warning it would consider legal action if the vehicle was cancelled but at the meeting itself Dan Labbad, chief executive officer of international operations and Europe at Lendlease, did not repeat this.
He said: “We need to work in partnership and the council needs capable and willing partners who will commit to the council’s agenda. The partnership framework procured for the HDV is flexible enough to enable all of these things and today I’m here to offer you that flexibility.”
After the meeting, he said in a statement: “We are extremely disappointed the council has voted not to proceed with the HDV without even offering us the opportunity to discuss face to face, undoing four years of planning in just a matter of weeks.”
The council will be forced to pay £520,275 to Lendlease to cover the council’s share of setting up costs. It has spent a further £2.5m, excluding staff costs, on the HDV – mostly on legal advice.
As well as cancelling the HDV, the cabinet also voted to form a wholly-owned development company to build new homes in the borough.
Speaking at the meeting, Emine Ibrahim, cabinet member for housing, said: “The council owns a number of sites in the borough on which new housing development is possible, and we are committed to maximising the number of council-rented homes that will be delivered on these sites.”
Update: at 13.49 on 18.7.18 This story was updated to include a statement from Mr Labbad.
