HARINGEY Council in north London met property developers yesterday in an attempt to flog off public land to the highest bidder.

Residents and housing campaigners protested outside the London Real Estate Forum (LREF) exhibition while councillor Alan Strickland argued in favour of “regeneration” in the borough.

“We want to totally reshape Tottenham Hale. Haringey is a borough open to experimenting with different types of regeneration,” said Mr Strickland during a panel discussion on “Opportunity London.”

His words echoed those of property developer Barton Willmore planning partner Iain Painting, who said: “The joy of London is we will never build all the homes we need.”

Members of Haringey Defend Council Housing hosted a 20-strong picket outside the exhibition, handing out leaflets to LREF delegates and holding a rally.

On behalf of the group, Paul Burnham said: “The plan to get rid of really affordable housing, decent housing, housing with secure tenancies is just turning the clock back to the days when working-class people and the poor didn’t have decent places to live and didn’t have any security from one week to the next, being charged a rent they can’t afford to pay.

“This is actually the social policy of the Conservative government.”

Raging through the megaphone he told Haringey’s Labour council: “Don’t do the Tories’ dirty work.

“Why are the Labour councils following this policy?”

The protest came the day after Housing Minister Brandon Lewis argued for the demolition of London’s council houses.

Also speaking at LREF, Mr Lewis announced the release of a £150 million fund to redevelop the capital saying: “Completely rebuilding these estates will provide more homes and commercial space for the same amount of land.”