Vortex update
N16 Magazine asked Penny Rimbaud to investigate some of the claims made by developer Richard Midda concerning the future of the old Vortex site. (This is an edited version. The full version will soon be available on www.n16 mag.com).
That he and Starbucks were not and had never been in negotiations:
(An executive from Starbucks who wishes to remain anonymous, claims that his company had been in negotiations with Richard for two years and that Richard had been ‘a very difficult character to deal with’, but that it was the squatting of the building earlier this year that had been ‘the final straw’.)
That the squatters who had set up a Social Centre in the Vortex were merely a nuisance that didn’t really bother him:
(Which hadn’t prevented him from offering them £1,500 to get out, or attempting to scare them off with essentially bogus bailiffs.)
That he has no intention of turning the ground floor into a Tesco Metro:
(The press office for Tesco informed me ‘it is not Tesco’s policy to comment on rumour or speculation’, but then, contradictorily, stated ‘in this particular case, and strictly off the record, you are barking up the wrong tree’. But if Tesco has no interest in the Vortex, why didn’t they simply say so? Equally, if I was barking up the wrong tree, why insinuate that they do have interests in the locality? If nothing else, and despite Tesco’s slogan, ‘Every Little Helps’, I felt, rather than giving me a little help, that they were being just a little evasive.)
That he respected the Conservation Area Status of the Vortex and that the façade would remain intact;
(This was said on two separate occasions, one to myself, the other to the owner/editor of N16 magazine. Two weeks later the building had been demolished in its entirety and Church Street had been given its own mini Ground Zero to contend with.)
That Hackney Council was aware of what he was doing:
(The Planning Officer currently dealing with the Vortex informed me that being new to the job he was neither aware of what was happening on the site, nor of any of its history. When asked why he hadn’t read the files, he informed me that ‘when a planning officer leaves a job, the files are closed.’ When asked why he hadn’t reopened them, he replied that the files were kept ‘somewhere like Surrey or Sussex’. I then asked how if this was the case he was able to do his job. ‘By waiting for members of the public to inform me of any changes,’ was his rather curt reply. ‘Well, I am informing you that Midda has violated Conservation Area consent in totally demolishing the building,’ I responded. ‘That’s as maybe,’ he retorted blandly, ‘but I don’t know anything about the Vortex’s Conservation Status.’ ‘Then how are you able….?’ I repeated. ‘By waiting for members of the public…. Catch 22. To their credit, Hackney Council Press Office was infinitely more helpful, acknowledging that Midda has ‘breached Conservation Area Consent and is subject to enforcement action under planning regulations.’ And further to this, ‘the Planning enforcement team has investigated and has officially warned the developer about the breach.’)
That he was aware of the building’s Conservation Area status, but that his current retrospective planning application for a replacement building proposes an identical front with a fresh coat of paint and new bricks:
(Call it a planning gain if you like, but I’d call it an out and out violation. In any case, let’s wait and see just how ‘identical’ his retro façade turns out to be. Further to this, just how and why are developers such as Midda so freely allowed to violate planning law in the full knowledge that they can then apply for retrospective planning consent, i.e. do what the hell they want knowing that lack of Council initiative and finance will eventually win them the day?)
That there is no story to be told:
(Made in response to requests firstly by myself and then by a BBC news team as to whether he had a comment to make on ‘The Vortex Story’.)
In conclusion: in a very recent interview with freelance journalist, Carole Smythe, Richard said, ‘sure, I’m tired of the whole business and, yes, there’ll be a Tesco on the ground-floor, Starbucks on the second, M&S on the third and a drug den on the top,’
Ho, ho, ho. Very funny if it wasn’t so bloody tragic. |
