The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today visited a new community hub to boost jobs, volunteering and youth opportunities in Tottenham, part of a £41m regeneration of the area.
The Mayor’s funding is transforming the former borough planning offices on 639 High Road, Tottenham, into the first Team London Enterprise and Employment Hub in the capital. The hub will boost jobs and skills for local people by housing business start-ups, training and volunteering. The original building was burnt out during the disturbances in Tottenham last summer.
The Mayor was joined by Tottenham FC star Ledley King and David Lammy MP, as he met young citizen journalists from the local Dandelion media project, and older residents already using 639B, the temporary hub building set up adjacent to the main site, learning how to use the internet thanks to Mayor’s Team London MiCommunity project. The Mayor also got to speak to Zone One Radio, a web based youth training scheme using the site.
The Mayor announced earlier this year his plans to invest the biggest portion of his Mayor’s Regeneration Fund to kick start economic growth and boost jobs for local residents in Haringey. 639 High Road is scheduled to fully open in November and will house business incubator spaces, a social enterprise café, Team London volunteering opportunities, meeting rooms, a crèche, a training suite, a music studio for young people, a social space for community groups to use and other uses to be determined through collaboration with the local community .
A Tottenham Taskforce to oversee the delivery of the Mayor’s Regeneration Fund has been established by the Mayor and the borough to bring together a wealth of experience and expertise to support the development and delivery of the regeneration strategy for Tottenham and to champion the area.
Investment through the Fund will support work in Tottenham across the following areas:
• £27 million for North Tottenham/Northumberland Park – to support transport infrastructure and public realm improvements to help unlock proposals for the major stadium-led regeneration scheme.
• £3 million into a package of works to improve the High Road, bringing disused buildings back into use, paving the way for growth in terms of housing, employment and community.
• £4 million to support an Opportunity Investment Fund – to purchase key sites to bring forward development on the High Road and at Tottenham Hale.
• £3.6 million for an Employment and Skills programme to provide support for hard to reach young people and problem families in terms of employability, access to jobs and skills training.
• £3 million to transform 639 High Road for community use.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "I am determined that this investment will see lasting change, bringing opportunities, growth and jobs, raising the sights of Tottenham’s young people and instilling the belief that they have the same opportunities as others to realise their potential. Every one of its residents has a crucial part to play in the shining future of this great world city.”
The Mayor also met the talented pupils at Gladesmore Community School and heard their inspiring post-riot song 'Everybody Dreams' in honour of this year’s anniversary.
The Mayor continued: “I am also delighted to have visited Gladesmore Community School. I want to see their ‘Everybody Dreams’ single top the charts this summer. Their endeavours should be applauded. The determination and ingenuity of Gladesmore’s inspiring pupils is a lesson to us all and captures the spirit of the whole community.”
Former Spurs captain, Ledley King, who is committed to working on Tottenham’s regeneration with the Mayor and will donate his time at 639 High Road, said: “I have been in Tottenham for around 17 years. I started at Spurs when I was 14, so the area is very, very special to me, so is the community, as we have so much support from them for the football team too. I was delighted and honoured to have been asked by the Mayor, Boris Johnson, to become involved in the exciting plans unveiled today for Tottenham, especially after the devastation caused by the riots last year. I am already heavily involved with the work of Spurs Foundation and the new stadium scheme will be key to the regeneration of the area, so I genuinely want to help as much as I can.”
After seeing the negative images of Tottenham in the news last summer, Galdesmore’s students felt compelled to do something and created a campaign to show off all the many good things about where they live. 'Everybody Dreams', is written and performed by students at the school and is backed by the local community and a range of celebrities, including Leona Lewis and Ricky Gervais.
Juliet Coley, Deputy Headteacher, Gladesmore Community School said: “We are delighted the Mayor is backing our aim to get ‘Everybody Dreams’ to the top of the charts. Our students felt compelled to do something positive for the area and we are thrilled with the enormous effort they have put in and the backing we have received.”
Notes to editors
1. 639B High Road, is a temporary building adjacent to the site, that will provide some of the facilities that will be housed in the main building when it opens. It will also serve as an important shop front to engage local residents who can pop in and find out what is going on and get involved.
2. Allocating £28 million from the Mayor’s Regeneration Fund comes in addition to the Transport for London improvement scheme already underway at Tottenham Hale as part of the Mayor’s Great Outdoors Programme representing a £35 million investment from TfL and partners. The Homes and Communities Agency’s has also invested £50 million in the Hale Village development.
3. The Mayor’s Regeneration Fund is £70 million - £20m of which was secured from central Government – set up to help those riot hit areas. The worst affected boroughs were invited to apply for funding to support long term improvements with an onus on jobs and economic growth. The successful bids are not about rebuilding like-for-like, but investing in people’s futures with grant agreements awarded on the strength of job, training and apprenticeship opportunities for local people as well as high street renewal. Funding agreements will be finalised for the new financial year.
The Mayor set up a Tottenham Taskforce to oversee the delivery of the Mayor’s Regeneration Fund and other growth opportunities in the area. The Mayor asked leading property developer Sir Stuart Lipton to head up the Tottenham Taskforce jointly with CllR Claire Kober, Leader of Haringey Council. The Taskforce brings together a wealth of experience and expertise to support the development and delivery of the regeneration strategy for Tottenham and to champion the area, and has helped lever-in just under £13m in match funding from the borough and other sources.
This breaks down as:
• £27 million for North Tottenham/Northumberland Park – £18m from the Mayor and over £9m in match funding.
• £ 3 million into a package of works to improve the High Road - £2.5m from the Mayor and £ 514k match.
• £4 million to support an Opportunity Investment Fund - £3m from the Mayor and £1m match.
• £ 3.6 million for an Employment and Skills programme - £1.5m from the Mayor and £2.1m match
• £3 million to transform 639 High Road for community use (no match), including the purchase of the building from the borough, refurbishment costs and the costs of the operation/operator for the next two years. After this the Enterprise Hub will be run under a community trust model and will be self-sustaining. The start-up operator is the London Youth Support Trust. The LYST has already started to form a consortium with the Prince’s Trust, Business in the Community and the Workspace Group.
4. Team London is the Mayor’s ambitious programme to mobilise volunteers across the capital to improve life for Londoners and build stronger neighbourhoods. Team London programmes aim to reduce crime, increase youth opportunities and improve quality of life. For more information go to www.london.gov.uk/teamlondon
The Team London MiCommunity project is in association with Age Concern London.
5. Everybody Dreams is the latest in a succession of community projects that Gladesmore Community School has been involved in. The School's high profile work to combat knife and gun crime has won them the London Peace Prize in 2006 / 2007 and The Respect Award. Concerned by the negative images of Tottenham in the news last summer, students felt compelled to do something and created a campaign that would show the positive side to the place they live in. For more on Everybody Dreams go to https://sites.google.com/a/gladesmore.com/news/everybody-dreams