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Wednesday, 22 November 2006 |
The Chinese community in London was dealt another blow when Brent council agreed to the redevelopment of Oriental City shopping centre in Colindale, north-west London yesterday.
Just months after shops and restaurants in Chinatown Soho were dealt their marching orders by developers, the core of North London’s Chinese community in Brent came under threat from its new owners Development Securities who want to rebuild the shopping centre with flats and a supermarket.
Oriental City current serves the Chinese community, as well South East Asians: Japanese, Korean, Thai, Hong Kong, Indian, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Singapore from Brent and further a field. It is one the few meeting places for these minorities and is often viewed as being the ‘real’ Chinatown for the community.
Each week it caters for around 10,000 people and is seen as a unique shopping centre specialising in goods and foods from Southeast Asia. At the hub of the community, it also stages events for Southeast Asian festivities throughout the year.
The Oriental City Tenants Association (OCTA) and the newly formed Save Oriental City Campaign (SOCC) are amongst those that believe the council and the developers have ignored their views.
Mr Yip Liu Fei, chairman of SOCC, said, "We still feel that our views have not been taken into account and that we are being ignored - the gloves are off.
"We will now lobby both the mayor and the Government Office for London to get this decision overturned and we are consulting our legal advisers with a view to taking this to a judicial review.”
Development Securities Plc have not yet conducted any social and economic assessments or any race equality impact assessment with the Far East communities, the local community, or voluntary organisations that serve these communities.
Nevertheless, Brent Council gave permission for the scheme despite claims that redevelopment will result in a loss of 800 jobs. The proposal will also require many small businesses to relocate for up to two years, which could force them out of business.
The plans will see the traders share the site with a hardware superstore, a primary school, 520 flats, a gym and a GP surgery.
Work on the site is due to start inside 12 months.
The end of the community, or a blessing in disguise? Have your say: http://www.dimsum.co.uk/forum/.
Update: There is now an online petition for those who want to lend their support to the Save Oriental City Campaign at http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/save-oriental-city-campaign.html.
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