Residents of a Lambeth estate have feared losing their homes for 14 years, amidst ongoing council plans for ‘regeneration’.
Cressingham campaigners have been criticising Lambeth for a failure to maintain their estate for more than a decade, suggesting that this has been a purposeful move to strengthen the council’s case for demolition.
A walk through the estate reveals homes boarded up, some since the 1990s, and introduces a swathe of residents who complain that repairs have not been carried out to standard.
A strong core of residents have been vocal about the defence of their homes, and who hope to unite their neighbours and continue the fight to remain at Cressingham.
Residents say they first heard there were plans for the regeneration of their estate from a loose-lipped councillor in 2012.
It was officially announced the following year when the council held meetings to formulate the options it would offer tenants, revealing these to them in 2014.
Among the earliest proposals was the demolition of the estate, with terraced houses to be replaced by blocks of flats, many of which to be sold through the private sector, in place of the existing social housing.
Over the decade that followed, homes on the estate continued to be let out by local estate agents. Many were unaware that their landlord was in fact Lambeth Council, who had set up a subsidiary body, Homes for Lambeth, abbreviated under ‘HFL’ on their tenancy agreements.
Cressingham Gardens is one of six estates in the process of being renewed by Lambeth Council. While the first phases have been completed on half of these estates, Cressingham is one of the remaining three in the midst of an ‘options appraisal’ process being carried out by the council.
Lambeth agreed to revisit the options for renewing the estate in autumn 2023, tasking a team of consultants to carry out surveys on homes and communal areas between the summers of 2024 and 2026, in order to assess the estate’s overall condition.
Lambeth Council posted to its website: “The estate was identified as needing to be renewed to bring the homes up to the standard that residents deserve now and for the future.
“There are different ways of renewing estates including full refurbishment and retrofit, the demolition and rebuilding of the estate or a combination of both.
“In 2017, the council assessed demolition and rebuilding as the best option for your estate, however a lot has changed since that decision was made…
“…This means we are now looking at what is the best way for the council to renew your estate.”
The council held two events with residents last month to share an update on the options appraisal process and outline six options for the estate: regulatory maintenance and repairs, refurbishment, retrofitting, infilling, a hybrid option, or full redevelopment.
Key criteria that the council says it will take into account when considering these options are residents’ priorities, affordability, strategic fit, and deliverability.
Options one and two are the only which do not threaten to move residents out of their homes. Option one is also the only one Lambeth predicts it can currently afford, with options two and three dependent on council finances, and the remaining options on the interest of private developers.
Options as shown to residents by Lambeth Council at engagement events last month. Image credits: Lilian Mulholland
‘It costs money, so Lambeth won’t do it’
As a group of residents show me around the estate, they point out doors taken off of homes ‘months ago’ left in a walkway, and we meet one tenant who says contractors left a hole in her roof, allowing rain to leak into her bathroom and bedroom.
Unaware that contractors would be working on her roof, the resident had taken a photo of them and sent this to the council. She claims the council told her they did not recognise the contractors, and she would have to take time off work to fix the leak herself.
It is this neglect by the council that residents argue has been used to make their estate a candidate for regeneration on false grounds, bringing into question the likelihood of the favoured option one.
Residents say efforts to set up a tenant management organisation on the estate have been unsuccessful.
Christine Makhlouf, 74, now the chair of the estate’s community committee, has lived on Cressingham for 37 years.
Makhlouf said: “We were going to take over the repairs and the maintenance of the estate, but they kept putting it off – obviously because they don’t want the work to be done.”
Makhlouf said the council had identified that there were too few drainpipes in her and her neighbour’s roofs, but work had not been carried out – ‘It costs money, so Lambeth won’t do it’, she said.
Andy Plant, 60, former chair of the estate’s community committee, has lived on Cressingham for 31 years. Plant took on the role his late wife had held in the campaign.
He said: “When she became ill, she made me promise to continue her fight.”
The estate is made up of 306 homes, several of which lie empty, despite Lambeth Council having 28,500 people on its housing register.
Cressingham is home to a mix of council tenants, freeholders, and leaseholders.
For council tenants like Plant, Lambeth would be responsible for moving them into a ‘comparable’ home, should they be asked to leave the estate.
However, he says leaseholders won’t get such a ‘good deal’ in the likelihood of the council going to compulsory purchase, which could see residents’ homes bought from them without their consent.
The state of Lambeth Council’s finances has raised questions for residents regarding the likelihood of options two and three.
In what has been called one of the most expensive policy failures in Lambeth Council’s recent history, Brixton Buzz revealed that the council does not expect to get back the £59.3m it had loaned to Homes for Lambeth, its own housing company.
Despite the council’s accounts for 2022/23 recording the effective loss of £22.7m in loans to HFL, Lambeth continued to lend tens of millions further, despite an independent review by a senior civil servant recommending its closure in 2022.
A community ‘ripped apart’
In the view of its long-term residents, the will of many on the estate has been worn down by the fight against Lambeth Council. They say previous demolition scares have fuelled distrust in the local authority and fear of the involvement of private developers.
Makhlouf described how the ‘first scare’ surrounding the demolition of the estate all those years ago led many of her neighbours to move away, unable to take the strain. Then followed several tenants moved in on temporary arrangements and restricted contracts, whilst an increasing number of homes on the estate have been left empty, she said.
For Elizabeth Fraser, 23, growing up against the backdrop of uncertainty surrounding the estate’s future has been both ‘destabilising’ and ‘deeply traumatising’.
Fraser shares Makhlouf’s fears for their vulnerable neighbours. he said: “For people who are in the toughest situations, this is not something you want to be happening to you.”
The estate was built in the 1970s, designed by architects Edward Hollamby and Roger Westman. Lining the southern edge of Brockwell Park and centred around green space, lead architect Hollamby’s work served as a reaction to the failure of towering blocks of flats to provide decent social housing.
Makhlouf said: “He made this to be like a little village, and that’s very much what it was like, and still is to an extent.”
Plan said: “The way it’s designed fosters community, you can’t help but know your neighbours.”
“This estate was built for social housing, for people, for a community.
“And if we have time, hopefully we can get that community back, that they ripped apart.”
The recommendation from Lambeth Council as to which renewal option they wish to take forward for Cressingham Gardens is expected this summer.
For now, residents involved in the campaign are calling on their neighbours to join them, as Plant said: ‘This is such a great place to live, you have to fight for it.’
A spokesperson for Lambeth Council said: “Lambeth is at the forefront of the national housing crisis, with almost 4,500 families sleeping every night in often poor-quality temporary accommodation.
“We are working compassionately to best meet the needs of homeless families, to help them find long-term, stable housing.
“We are doing what we can to build new affordable homes on council-owned land, and to maximise the number of genuinely affordable homes delivered through housing developments.
“The council is working with residents to determine the best renewal options for the Cressingham Garden[s] estate to ensure homes on the estate meet residents’ priorities while responding to the ongoing housing crisis and affordability pressures across London.
“We are currently undergoing an options appraisal process for the estate and are aiming to have the right renewal options agreed for the Cressingham Gardens estate by the end of 2026.”
Featured Image: Lilian Mulholland
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