The project includes 202 social-rent homes and is being backed by £20million in ‘levelling up’ funding from the government, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans are set to be submitted for an affordable housing project in Tottenham – which will also give a long-running community centre a new lease of life.

The application will be made to demolish the Selby Centre, in Selby Road, and replace it with 202 social-rent homes, across four buildings, which will rise to six storeys in height.

The community centre itself would then be relocated to nearby Bull Lane Playing Fields, with new sports and recreation facilities also set to be proposed.

The Selby Centre is currently home to 38 organisations, 93% of which are social enterprises or charities. The centre operates clubs for children and adults and employs 152 full-time staff, 167 part-time, and hosts a further 100 volunteers.

Built in the 1960s, the current site was originally a school until the 1990s, from when it was used to house the community centre.

‘The Selby Urban Village Project’ is a joint application from Haringey Council and The Selby Trust, the charity which runs the community centre.

A quality review panel, during an initial consultation, said the plan would be potentially “transformative” for the local area, as it provided “valuable new facilities” and created “new connections”.

Early versions of the plan included 50% affordable and 50% private sale homes but, following further discussions and successful funding bids, all the homes were changed to social rent.

The application for the new Selby Centre building and sports facilities, set for Bull Lane Playing Fields, will be made to Enfield Council as it sits on the other side of the Haringey/Enfield border.

The application for the 202 social-rent homes, set to replace the current Selby Centre, will be made to Haringey Council.

Councillors discussed the plans at a planning sub-committee meeting yesterday (Thursday 1st) as part of a pre-application discussion.

Committee member Sean O’Donovon said it was a “very important development” not just because the housing was “much needed” but because a “vital” community space would be redeveloped.

He refenced the attempted selling of Bull Lane Playing Fields in the late 90s and early 2000s, to private developers, which was halted following a “huge public outcry”.

Cllr O’Donovan said: “I’m really pleased that now it will be preserved for the future, and we need to acknowledge that history of community involvement.”

He also asked about the timescale of the plans.

Lizzie Le Mare, from Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, said: “We’re very much wanting to start on the site as soon as possible.

“We have £20million in levelling up [government] funding which we have to spend really quickly; our aim is to get planning permission, get a contractor and get on site next year.”

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