Dozens of campaigners – from Brixton’s Save Cressingham Gardens, Guinness Trust residents, Lambeth Housing Co-op residents, and others – will unite to stage a protest at Lambeth Town Hall, to pressure Lambeth council over proposed demolitions and redevelopment.
Protestors will gather tonight at 6pm, ahead of a full council meeting in the Town Hall, to protest controversial redevelopment of Lambeth estates and co-ops.
Campaigners’ other demands include:
- Residents of Cressingham Gardens estate, bordering Brockwell Park, will demand repair not demolition of their homes.
- Leigham Court residents, from Streatham Hill, will ask the council not to demolish award-winning sheltered housing.
- Residents of Guinness Trust, Loughborough Road, ask for council support against evictions;
- Vauxhall’s Nine Elms to include social and affordable housing and Co-op residents from across the borough demand a stop to costly evictions by the council.
The Cressingham Gardens campaigners claim that the council risks “giving the go ahead to a demolition scheme that would see the loss of 47 affordable bedrooms and £4.5 million of wasted public money”.
The campaigners said in a statement, “The estate, of 306 homes, is currently genuinely affordable in its entirety, but under the council’s preferred ‘Option 4’,120 of the properties would be bulldozed and redeveloped, driving up living costs and triggering evictions.”
Campaigner Pam Douglas said: “Lambeth councillors are constantly claiming that this is about providing more affordable homes for the borough’s residents, but this regeneration will do the opposite. The council is not being open with residents about the rental hikes either.”
Lambeth council say a decision on what will happen to Cressingham Gardens has not yet been made. The decision is set to made in February.
Housing debates are currently rife in the borough – residents of the Loughborough Park Estate are petitioning housing association Guinness Trust against evictions – you can read the petition here.
The Lambeth United Housing Co-operative is also petitioning the council against the eviction of short-life tenants in Brixton housing co-ops. Information and their petition can be found here.
And you can view the council’s plans for the Town Hall site redevelopment – including a huge tower-block – here
