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Tower block leaps
• MATTHEW Humphreys attempts to appropriate, for EC1 New Deal, the credit for ending “people jumping off towers”, something which he symbolises as the change between the “bad old days” and now, after seven years of EC1 New Deal (Champion of estates: Things are a lot better, June 27).
This either shows he lacks evidence of successful EC1 New Deal projects, or simply that he has disdain for the residents of Finsbury estate, who forced the council (prior to the existence of EC1 New Deal) to address this issue.
From the time the Finsbury estate was built, it had on average one person a year committing suicide by jumping off the high-level, open balconies of our tower block and falling (sometimes ending up impaled on railings) directly in front of our children’s playground.
The attitude of the then Labour council was to ignore the problem and the detrimental impact it had on our estate’s residents, both adults and children, until our tenants’ and residents’ association ran a high-profile and successful campaign which embarrassed it sufficiently into installing railings across the open balcony areas and a concierge/CCTV security system.
EC1 New Deal isn’t the first to have made attempts to take credit for our tenants’ and residents’ association’s efforts. Islington’s Lib Dems have done the same in the past and on this very same issue.
Mr Humphreys proudly boasts of his new friendship or “partnership” with the Lib Dems. He certainly seems to have learnt much from them.
SHARRON KELLY
Chairwoman, Finsbury Estate Tenants’ and Residents’ Association
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