YOUNG BLACK Brixtonians are taking on a Texas millionaire who wants to build a 20-storey tower “monstrosity” at the heart of the local community in south London.

Campaigners and local residents have rallied together to oppose the building of a new tower complex as fears grow that gentrification is continuing to drive out the black community who have made Brixton their home since 1948 when the Windrush landed.

Young local filmmakers have made a mini-documentary about growing opposition to the ‘Hondo Tower’ – see below.

Texas property developer Taylor McWilliams, who already owns a significant slice of Brixton Market, angered locals in January 2020 after an eviction notice to the popular shop, Nour Cash & Carry.

His property company Hondo Enterprises is now trying to erect the large block in the middle of Brixton, and 50,000 people have already signed a petition opposing the eviction of local businesses to make way for the development.

The controversy led to the creation of the Save Nour campaign group who are now working to stop the building of the tower, which has already been approved by Lambeth Council’s planning committee, but is now the subject of a forthcoming public hearing at London City Hall after the mayor Sadiq Khan intervened.

Tia Watts, a student and amateur filmmaker, is campaigning to bring light to the potential impact of the tower on Brixton’s residents.

“The commuters going into the tower to work that’s just going to completely change Brixton, it won’t be a very friendly place for families.” Tia told The Voice. 

“On an environmental scale as well, with all the different cars coming in, the traffic will be horrible. It’s just not going to make it a very nice place.

“It’s not what the community want and they’re still pushing it – that’s what the issue is.”

She added: “The history [of the Windrush Generation] could be washed away when there is already a severe lack of knowledge about this community.”

Local assets like the local Canterbury Arm pub have been replaced by trendy bars and cosmopolitan eateries and clubs that “made Brixton unique” have been transformed into flats. 

Prominent community figures, such as author and former Brixton resident Alex Wheatle feature in the documentary, alongside Danai Nardi, a member of the Fight the Tower campaign, who have all opposed Hondo Enterprise’s proposal. 

Joe Cole, an organiser on the team at Save Nour, said that black communities were being driven out of Brixton due to gentrification, and that amounted to “ethnic cleansing.”

He said: “I’ve engaged in conversation with a woman who owns an Eritrean cafe on Station Road, and she said that once Pop Brixton moved in, it’s become a box park of high end, bougie businesses with majority white clientele.. 

“She said that once Pop Brixton moved in, the police repression on Station Road increased dramatically to the extent that the police were harassing Eritrean men who were having their coffee in the cafe. 

“It’s ethnic cleansing happening in a modern context where people are getting forced out because the land that they own can be used for more profitable uses.”

Other campaigners involved in the fight against the tower, such as the No Hondo Tower group, who have amassed more than 7,000 signatures in opposition to the office block development.

Local Labour MPs including Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Helen Hayes have also spoken out against the proposed building.

The activist group says they spend most weekends talking to residents at the planned development site. 

Since March, the Save Nour campaign has been waiting on a date for a public hearing on the fight to stop the tower after the London mayor acknowledged residents’ objections. 

Lambeth council say the development will create 2,000 jobs, but the developer puts the figure at 1,800.

The building of the tower on Pope’s Road has stirred up anger from some residents although others were in favour of the tower.

One resident wrote on the Brixton Buzz blog: “This is an absolute monstrosity. It doesn’t fit in with anywhere around it and it dominates the entire centre of Brixton.”

Hiba Ahmed has lived in Brixton since moving to London but says she was pushed out by rising living costs.

The former Brixton resident says she is fighting to preserve the rich history of the community that still lives there.

“It was almost accidental when we started looking into Taylor McWilliams and his company Honda Enterprise, and the plans they had in store for Brixton when we found out that he had the tower in the pipeline,” she says.

“These are people who usually don’t hear about these kinds of stuff and also often don’t have the means or access to digital spaces – we gathered around 10,000 objections.”

She said that gentrification had “priced out” of traditional vendors in the area.

Tsiresy Domingos, a civil engineering student and anti-tower campaigner, told The Voice: “I think the general idea is that a massive office tower appears and draws predominantly middle-class, upper-middle class people who then inflate the rents and property prices.

“Gentrifiers don’t actually go to the same businesses as a local community, they bring their own artisan bakeries for instance, all of these shops that locals don’t really go to.”

The Caribbean community settled in the area immediately after the Windrush landed in 1948 because those pioneers were sent to a ‘labour exchange’ (a form of job centre) in Brixton. Since then the neighbourhood has become famous for its’ vibrant market stalls, community spaces, cultural foods and clothing. 

A Lambeth Council spokesperson said: “As a privately owned piece of land, the planning application was decided on the basis of the national planning framework. However Lambeth Council worked hard with the business owners to secure community benefits that reflect local needs.

 “We are committed to supporting our diverse communities and leveraging the benefits of growth for local people. In Brixton, we have also used council land to create the Black Cultural Archives, the forthcoming Brixton House theatre, as well as building new affordable homes in the area.

“The benefits negotiated by the council from this development include more than 2,000 jobs with a focus on delivering them for local people, more than £1.8 million for local employment and skills, affordable workspace for more than 500 local start-ups and freelancers – and money for local transport and public infrastructure improvements.

“The application is now subject to a Greater London Assembly consultation through which people are encouraged to have their say”.

A spokesperson from Hondo Enterprises denied the accusations of ethnic cleansing in the area. 

They said: “We strongly refute the notion that our proposals will gentrify and erase the history of the area, indeed we are proud of the fact that we have provided support and assistance to fledgling and established BAME start-ups in the area, including: Sole, a social enterprise which donates trainers to those in financial hardship, as well as supporting local entrepreneurs such as Karl Lokko and Cyril Lutterodt, who run Black Seed, a community and seed fund, set up to break down the historic barriers BAME entrepreneurs have faced when trying to obtain funding.

“The proposals will support the delivery of 1,800 jobs over what exists currently, including 25,000sq ft of affordable workspace, which will be managed by social enterprise Impact Brixton, who are the only black-owned co-working space in Europe.

“Alongside this, we will be delivering a £1m bespoke skills and training fund, targeted at local residents, in addition to a jobs and skills programme aimed at Lambeth Council worth £1.875m. The final package of benefits have been arrived at following extensive consultation with the local community and Lambeth Council.”