South London housing estate that Tony Blair 'forgot' set to be rebuilt

Thousands of affordable new homes to replace Aylesbury Estate's 1960s blocks
Time for change: residents on the Aylesbury Estate (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

The long-awaited demolition of the notorious south London council estate where Tony Blair made his first major speech as prime minister has finally been given the green light.

Southwark council has signed an agreement with Notting Hill Housing for an 18-year, £1.5 billion regeneration programme on the Aylesbury Estate, which is home to about 7,500 people.

Half of the 3,500 new properties will be classed as “affordable”, of which three-quarters will be for social rent and the rest sold on a shared ownership basis.

About a third of the homes will have three or more bedrooms to house larger families.

Jean Bartlett, chairwoman of the tenants and residents association, said: “I’m delighted because this is the most positive step we’ve had in 18 years. We will have more of a social mix so everyone can live together.”

Development: an artist’s impression of the new plans

In 1997, Mr Blair visited the estate and promised to help the “forgotten people” and tackle social exclusion. But he was then criticised for forgetting about the Aylesbury residents himself.

It follows the much-criticised re-development of the nearby Heygate Estate by Australian developer Lend Lease. While more than 1,000 Heygate residents were evicted, only 76 out of around 2,000 new homes there were reserved for social renting. Heygate leaseholders said their compensation offers were a fraction of what they would need to enable them to buy a property.

Fiona Colley, Southwark’s cabinet member for regeneration, said the project would “create a fairer future for the borough’s residents” and bring new local jobs and infrastructure.

Kate Davies, chief executive of Notting Hill Housing, said: “As well as providing much-needed quality homes for the community, we are committed to supporting the economic development of the area”. The housing association’s partners include Barratt London and a panel of architects led by HTA Design.

Support: Jean Bartlett welcomes moves to replace the Aylesbury Estate (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

Construction of the new homes will start in 2016 and the entire project is expected to be complete by 2032. The Aylesbury Estate featured as a gritty backdrop for The Bill and Spooks and residents said the exposure gave it an unfair reputation as a dangerous place to live. But rapper Tinie Tempah, who grew up there, said his memories sometimes fitted that depiction. He told the BBC: “I remember growing up and seeing grey, very narrow walkways which are sort of prone to conflict.”

Construction on the Aylesbury Estate took 10 years after beginning in 1967 as an attempt to link the estates between Peckham and Elephant & Castle. Its designs were influenced by the “streets in the sky” ideas of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier.

Residents complained that the tower blocks overshadowed and depressed the area, while the walkways became magnets for criminals. Southwark council discovered that poor construction meant the homes were costly to maintain and expensive to heat.

Last week Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said that by replacing inner city tower blocks with low-rise but denser buildings, up to 850,000 extra people would be able to live in central London over the next 17 years.

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