Councils across London are demolishing estates for new developments, breaking up communities and not delivering much needed homes.
Over 4,000 council homes have been demolished by councils and not replaced in the past 15 years, with thousands more losses in the pipeline. Thanks to Greens working with tenants to change the Mayor‛s policies, estate plans should now be decided by residents with a binding ballot where Council demolitions fueling London‛s housing crisis they can say no. But too many councils are still failing.
Sadiq Khan let Labour‛s Lambeth Council avoid ballots on five estates by giving them funding just before his new policy came into force. Siân Berry recently visited South Lambeth Estate and is calling on the Mayor to ensure a ballot is held. Meanwhile, Hackney‛s Labour Council has okayed plans at Woodberry Down to lose 320 social homes, Kingston Lib Dems face objections over their plans for the Cambridge Road Estate, and Westminster‛s Tories want to flatten the Ebury Bridge Estate, refusing residents a vote.
Siân Berry, co-leader and Green Party candidate for Mayor of London said: “There‛s a pattern here – Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative councils are pushing for demolition when repairs and improvements are what most residents are crying out for. This has to stop. Residents must be heard. Only a Green Mayor would really put residents in charge, with the power to improve their homes their way, and reject plans that demolish their homes against their wishes.”
