The Selby Centre is being rebuilt in a new location while the old site is redeveloped for housing, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

A Tottenham community centre is set to be demolished and replaced with more than 200 affordable homes after the plans got the green light from councillors.

The Selby Centre, housed in a former secondary school built in the 1960s, is being relocated to a new premises now set to be built nearby, on Bull Lane Playing Fields just the other side of the borough border with Enfield.

In January, Enfield Council approved the relocation, which was seen as a necessary first step before the redevelopment of the existing centre could begin.

Following this, at a meeting of Haringey Council’s planning sub-committee last night (Thursday 3rd), councillors approved the demolition of the old centre in Selby Road and the construction of a new residential redevelopment in its place.

It will see 202 social-rent homes built across four buildings, between four and six storeys in height.

Once the new community centre is built on Bull Lane Playing Fields, with work expected to start this summer, the second phase involving the demolition of the old building in Tottenham and development of new homes will begin.

At last night’s meeting, Labour committee member Sean O’Donovan asked whether The Selby Centre, which is a designated ‘asset of community value’ (ACV), will remain a “Haringey community asset” despite “moving to Enfield”.

The council’s director of placemaking and housing Jonathan Kirby said the centre’s ACV status was due to expire, but that the centre would retain the same operators and, once moved, they could reapply for ACV status which would “likely be granted”.

He added The Selby Centre would remain a council asset despite leaving the borough.

Labour committee member Ermine Ibrahim said she was concerned about the development being car-free and the fact the site was in a controlled parking zone (CPZ) meant new residents would not be entitled to a resident’s permit.

The council’s transportation planning manager Maurice Richards said residents could park on the site outside CPZ hours.

He added: “If you think about the quantity of units we need to produce as a borough, it’s very difficult for us to go back to the old days and provide car parking for that level of development, as the network is not able to cope.”

Case officer Philip Elliott pointed out that over 11,000 households were waiting for an offer of social housing on the council’s housing register.

Labour committee member John Bevan asked why the homes would be connectable to the district energy network (DEN), which provides low-carbon heat to homes, as the plans for the Haringey network had been halted due to a lack of funds.

Director of planning and building standards Rob Krzyszowski said planning policy “still requires connection to heat networks no matter the shape or form of the heat network”. 

He added: “The council one is just one way of delivering that, there are other ways of delivering a heat network, such as third parties or the private sector, and planning policy is neutral to who actually delivers it.”

The committee voted unanimously to approve the scheme.

Last year, the government awarded the council £2.7m to support the delivery of the social-rent homes in Selby Road.

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