No Gardens For The Poor

[SarahBell]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/07/one-tower-bridge-social-housing-tenants-denied-access-communal-garden

"Every affordable home on this site enjoys two substantial rooftop communal gardens with amazing views over the river Thames, Tower of London and Tower Bridge; and we are very proud that One Tower Bridge is genuinely tenure blind in terms of architecture, quality of materials, space standards and amenities."

Edited February 8, 2015 by SarahBell

[winkie]

....quite honestly I wouldn't live there if you paid me.

[Snugglybear]

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/07/one-tower-bridge-social-housing-tenants-denied-access-communal-garden

"Every affordable home on this site enjoys two substantial rooftop communal gardens with amazing views over the river Thames, Tower of London and Tower Bridge; and we are very proud that One Tower Bridge is genuinely tenure blind in terms of architecture, quality of materials, space standards and amenities."

I think the point is not so much that the poor won't have gardens, as that the better-off will have a garden where they don't have to mix with the plebs.

[spyguy]

Like the old bit of Barcelona. Built using materials from the USSR in 1988;

[cool_hand]

Social housing is not all it's made out to be, it certainly is not the equivalent of winning the lottery. Biggest mistake I ever made. Much of it is poor quality, and then there's ASB and good luck with getting your HA to deal with it.

[Sellotape]

And why should the social tenants have access to the gardens? It would be full of broken washing machines, stained mattressess and empty crisp packets in no time. Not to mention the obligatory 'friendly' pit-bull type dog running around eating children.

[Stu007]

Aren't gardens going to be a thing from the past? Most new builds I see have a garden of around 20sqm, it doesn't seem to matter if it's a 2 bed or a 4 bed three storey townhouse that's all you get. Unless you can afford a 4 bed 'executive' property the gardens on most new build would be too small for a game of swing-ball!

[sPinwheel]

PodPonics.

[iamnumerate]

They're not poor just because they live in social housing! Frank Dobson and Bob Crow were both social housing tenants. Hardly poor. If you live in social housing (especially in London), it's the equivalent of winning the lottery. I'd gladly pay £165 pounds per week to live in central London and not complain about not having a rooftop garden instead of what I am paying in the PRS.

+1.

[65243]

Social housing is not all it's made out to be, it certainly is not the equivalent of winning the lottery. Biggest mistake I ever made. Much of it is poor quality, and then there's ASB and good luck with getting your HA to deal with it.

I'm guessing it hasn't closed any options to you, so it must have been worth a go? You can still switch into private rented. Going to other way is all but impossible for most people.

[bkkandrew]

This silly sounding planning rules, where a few units are allocated to plebs are the modern day equivalent of Antionette and "Let them eat cake".

Its not the inequality that is the problem (that has and always will exist), but the pretense to the contrary.