Regeneration.  What does it mean? A threat or a promise? Who’s it for? Who benefits most from the redevelopment of city centres, the transformation of community assets into commercial investments?

Our thanks to Genghis the Gardener (a former citizen of Edinburgh now living in London) for sending his poem Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Council.  Written for Haringey on Burns Night, it expresses emotions sorely felt in cities across Britain.

It is, as Joyce McMillan writes in the Scotsman, a global phenomenon. In a world where money talks, local authorities make their decisions ‘not because they are evil but because they are broke’:

To oppose what is happening to our cities, in other words, involves challenging the whole pattern of economic power in our society, along with the prevailing model of short-term casino capitalism that drives the urban property market.

It’s complicated, of course. As we recorded last year, wasn’t it Edinburgh City Council that commissioned Christine De Luca, then Makar, to write her fine poem A Drama in Time for their forward planning Edinburgh 2050 City Vision?  The City Planning Department had requested it as a result of their online conversation with citizens. The poet responded with a title inspired by the visionary Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) and his views on urban planning [see the full poem here].

Think of our city in 2050: bigger and more diverse;

an interplay of hopes and dreams and possibilities.

Still skylines to delight, still grace and open space,

but good homes, good health built-in for everyone.

 

Can we keep the citizen central to the plan, the heart:

a living, breathing city; not just a backdrop or vista

or playground for the wealthy or the tourist? A place

where decision-makers are incorruptible and honest.

How often are citizens actively included in the decision-making? For Haringey, read those parts of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and every other vibrant city that attracts the developers’ eye. And ask, as Joyce McMillan, bodies like the Cockburn Association, Academy of Urbanism, and many others are asking with increasing urgency: how can people reclaim the city landscape?

Meanwhile, StopHDV  a campaign group of local residents and small business owners, is asking questions, demanding answers and fighting the development plans  – in prose and poetry.

Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Council

Promises, promises –

to the tenant, the right of return,

to the owner, value for your house.

 

Promises, promises –

loads of jobs and homes,

town centres open round the clock.

 

That’s right, don’t sleep

or they’ll catch you out.

 

Such a parcel of rogues in a Council.

 

You too could be a municipal challenge

for the multi-national and Council falange.

A Cabinet designed for tricks of land,

for public relations of reptilian kind.

They’ll lend you a lease just for awhile

if you’re a stallholder in the way of their pile.

 

They plan to demolish Council houses in Tot’nam,

knock down Sky City and re-make Wood Green,

all just to give the borough a new sheen

and bring in high earners, craft shops for the lot of ‘em.

 

Such a parcel of rogues in a Council.

 

But there’s something happening this side of the Lea

with folk from the west and folk from the east

who are waking up to the nature of this beast

and who are determined to stop this HDV.

We are for community and homes not this profit mill.

On the street, in the court, on the green, in the rooms

it’s time to re-think where your destiny looms.

Such a parcel of rogues in a Council.

 

Attributed to ‘Genghis the Gardener’