ANYBODY who wants to know *the Tory government's plans for selling off council housing mean should visit Homerton In the East London borough Hackney and look over two housing estates.
Tuate One is called Kingsmead. It'srun down, pre-war, occupied mainly by low income families.
Estate Two Is nearby Sherry's Wharf. It rests on the banks of the River Lea and of maisonettes with gardens. It has just been completed and lies empty.
Both estates are owned by the Greater London Council. AL the election, two years ago, the GLC went Tory When Labour was in office at County Hall the council had discussions with Kingsmead tenants. They were promised that they would have priority when the new flats became available for renting because many of them had long ago requested transJer to more habitable With 2,500 tenants at Kingsmead chasing 143 maisonettes. at Sherry's only il minority would have been able to move. But at LESS TOD former Labour GLC had offered some of them a chance of living in decent conditions. ries have however, the Taries announced their plans — to sell off the flats at Sherry's Wharf. The minimum asking price ol £30,000 is way out of the reach of most of the tenants in Kingsmead.
Kingsmcad tenants secretary Ken Hanson told Socialist Challenge:
"The Labour council told us the flats would be rented. Some would be offered to senior citizens, but the priocity would be given to tenants on our COLLIE.
*As far as we are concerned the Flats should never be up for sale. It's disgusting, The Tory Gl.C, headed by millionaire: Horace Kingsmend (below) can't afford them. Cutler, has already sold off around 7,000 council properties since it came to power. And council tenants haven't always been the buyers.
Take the ecample of the Brentford Dock estate near Londen's Kew Gardens. When those properties were put up for sale few GLC ELEINELS afford the £60,000 price Flats at Sherry's Wharf (top) are now on sale. Tenants on tag.
Eventually the Tories put the estate on the open market, and the houses and flats which supposedly been built for sold to anyone who could afford them.
Ken Livingstone, GLC member for Hackney Nosth and the Labour opposition spokesperson, fears the same could happen Sherry's Wharf.
*The incomes of Hackney tenants are lower than average', be told Socialist Challenge. "No way will the majority of tenants be able to afford them.
•Whoever eventually gets the new flats will do so on the basis of buying their way in."
The worst fears involved don's housing are now being realised.
The reduction in the number of council houses for rent means a growing waiting List, while tenants who put in for transfers to new houses or Mats now find there is little prospect of being offered a move.
People coming into our advice centres are at their wits' end', Livingstone. The requests for transfers keep flooding in but there are less and Jess areas transfer."
If the Tory government gets away with its plans, is happening London and other Tory-controlled councils today will be happening nationally tomorrow, In the process the To insuit to the thee of of insult to the type injury they have Kingsmead. As Ken Hanson explains:
*The final cheek when the GLC said they were about to start work rebuilding our courtyard. We bave been waiting months for this work to start.. but it was obvious that the GLC only wanted to avoid offending the eyes Scotlish hooligan CHAUVINIST recoiling from the visit of thousands of Scols football fans weekend. The papers were full of the drunken misdeeds of our subhuman cousins from north of the border. Scandalised: by behaviour News from at investigation of the 'tartan troublemakers', Needless to say, the real picture is rather different. sccordine to the press "bolted onto" the Green. happened was that a packed train about 200 people in short of Dollis Hill of For a long time the passengers were not told what was happening. Those who were stuck on the train tell of how they were packed tight in the wirless carriage. They tried to wedge the doors open with beercans to get fresh air, but railway staff told them that if the doors were open the train would never go.
Our informants, CPSA members, tell us that one old man collapsed and an eight-year-old girl was near fainting. In desperation the passengers broke the windows SayS (yes, that's the truth about the broken SHOCKINGONS Eventually, only minutes before the match started, telling them to get out and walk along the line. Apparently Jocal people were very sympathetic to the Scots and many gave them lifts from there to in Wembley.
But the ordeal of our twe CPSA merbers was not Saturday evening they were drinking at a pub near Haymarket called the Captain's Cabin. They bad been there every evening since Thursday and had seen no trouble there. But at about London is still LYLE the this shocking category, OWI For example, 2000 fans tube line near In fact each of 10 -stopped about 300 yards spy West armament, two Scottish West Germany?
police arrived missile was terruin yet over. On the contract, No lift off IS NOT every day that we can report a successfel conclusion lo a News from Nowhere campaiga. But the decision of the Zaire government to throw out the West German rockel compuny OTRAG must fall into that As we have explained before, the Mobute regime leased a 10,000 square mile ares of Shaba province (formerly Katanga] to OTRAG for rocket lesting. The agreement allowed the company unprecedented rights over the region and its inhabitants.
This alome aroused the anger of much African and left-wing opinion. But there were also strong Indications that the business of selling rockets to third world countries for lunching was cover for something even more sinister.
OTRAG seemed to be part of the nuclear collaboration between West Germany and South Africa, This is aimed at circumvenling international opposition to South African anclear development as well as the 1954 ban German nuclear reOTRAG and Zaire both denled the charges, but they fuiled to answer a number of questions convincingly:
*Why was the first OTRAG test lauach preceded by tests at the West German national aerospace authority *Why does OTRAG, a private company, enjoy full tax exemption in *Why did a photographic blow-sp Ola cruise rulintle HAUSERTE on the OTRAG stand at the 1977 Le Bourget air show? Us specialists reckoned the flying over African Obvlously the questions were beginning to come a bit thick and fast since, ut the end of last month, the Zaire government unilaterally ended