Priced Out: Life on the Edge of Regeneration

Mayor: The East End of London has always been a vibrant community. We are proud of our multiculturalism, our resilience, our people. And at the heart of our community is the Olympic Games of 2012.  2012 brought us all together. It was a true celebration of London, of London pride and the legacy of the cultural Olympiad remains. We are proud of our ongoing investment in the regeneration of the growth boroughs: Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest. I am proud to run today's flagship community consultation and may I introduce to you Mr. Candarel who is responsible for the up and coming new development: Post Olympic Point. Welcome Alan.  Property Developer: Many thanks, Mayor.  So folks, have a look at this model of what will soon become east London's premier housing development, Post Olympic Point. So if you have a look at the model, it's great isn't it? My nephew Marcus knocked that up. Well - not knocked it up, you understand. He's an architect. Went to Goldsmiths I believe or… St Martin’s… anyway. Now the point of Post Olympic Point is that you will see that what we've done is designed it so it's in a sort of circle working on the principle of Olympic rings.  Resident: Er…it’s a square?  Property Developer: Well yes…er…houses are generally not curved so it is more of a square, yes, I take your point. Okay, so positioned in the middle of the circular square is green space. So we'll be bulldozing through the existing park green space and putting something much greener there instead, as in we'll choose really green grass and really green plants.  We will be decanting the residents from the old estate - a mighty job Mayor, there's 187 of them! Some residents will be allowed to move back in. If they want to - eventually. They'll have to work out amongst themselves who will be coming back and of course they'll have to buy so it will depend on if they can afford it as well I suppose. So residents, investors, people of east London and investors, I'm delighted to present Post Olympic Point. A new community to replace the old community!  Resident: So I want to ask - why is our park being bulldozed? Why are we residents being moved on? Where will we live?  Tabitha the PR Person: No questions yet.  Mayor: It’s fine, Tabitha, let's open the floor. East London is the most wonderful place to live and our vibrant community is a source of great pride to us all, me included. Today I visited the riverside where 42 bat boxes have just been installed to encourage our vibrant bat population. Residents will have access to night-time bat watching and post-Olympic point will represent a new dawn in east London. Tabitha, pass around the brochure of our bat activities.  Any further questions?  Resident: You didn't answer the last one. Where will we live?  Mayor: Well I recognise the complexities of regeneration and the challenges facing our wonderful, resilient community and so today I took some time to visit the Happy Days Youth Club, which is earmarked for closure. I spoke with some of the young people about their hopes and dreams for the future of east London and I have a powerpoint I'd like to show you now which shows me having pointless discussions with a diverse range of bored looking youth.  Resident: But where will we live?  Mayor: One of the key things I want to emphasise is that our community is full of vibrant, resilient, multicultural people with so much to offer. And so, at this point, I want to remind us all that we're all in this together and in the spirit of community, today I stopped a while at the Over 60’s Lunchtime Club to have a cup of tea and reminisce about the good old days. Tabitha will now pass around some photographs of me - not only at the Lunchtime Club with some of the old people - but also here are some snaps from my recent holiday to Bali. There you can see the white sands of the beach and there's me engaging with an ancient Balinese ritual of joy. I think that really exemplifies the spirit of community in the growth boroughs. That's all we have time for today but thanks to Alan Canderel. Let’s do a photograph for my Twitter. ​ Property Developer: X.  Mayor: What?  Property Developer: It’s called X now, Mayor.  Mayor: Wonderful.  ​ Tabitha the PR Person: Okay shuffle in, let's have the elderly up the front - looks good on photos. That's it, squash up. Smile. Right, Mayor, Mr Canderel, time to go, quick.  Resident: But where will we live?  ​ Tabitha the PR Person: No more questions.  Property Developer: Careful with that model. Marcus will kill me if it gets damaged.