Residents slams estate ‘survey’ – People not given the chance to oppose demolition of their homes

Residents living on Central Hill estate have slammed a survey taken by Lambeth council on its future.

They say residents were not given a chance to say they could oppose demolition and that they wanted to stay in their homes – and where a  proper ballot is required in line with GLA requirements anyway.

In an open letter to Lambeth council’s complaints department, Central Hill estate residents association committee say questions should have included options to stay on Central Hill with follow-up questions to identify repairs, upgrades or other improvements which residents would like to see, such as:

• Would you like to stay on Central Hill in the property you already have? or:
• If you were given the choice, would you rather stay in your current property or move to one of the proposed new properties?
• Does your current property meet your needs? or:
• If you were given the opportunity to stay in your current home, what would you consider it needs to make it ready for another 50 years? – with an option for residents to add their own comments.

“The issue of regeneration is clearly a factor that affects residents’ health and well-being as it did to negative effect during the demolition of Truslove House*.

“The survey should, therefore, have included a question on how residents felt about their homes being demolished and not treated as something that residents cannot influence.

Furthermore, their information will be shared with Homes for Lambeth, which is a breach of trust to the many residents who do not wish to see their homes demolished.

“Although Lambeth portrays the survey as having the residents best interests at heart, the council appears to have used it to simply further its own goals and those of its subsidiary Homes For Lambeth.

“Instead of being an opportunity to truly engage with residents and to understand their interpretation of their housing needs, residents were not given the option to say that they preferred their homes to be brought up to standard and the estate invested in.

“Lambeth has denied them a voice and their views will not be published. “For this reason, the survey is counterproductive.

“It has become a source of frustration and of inaccurate data and, ultimately, a waste of time and money.”