Estate once notorious for gangland murders could be saved from bulldozers

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents have heaped praise on the decision to protect an estate once notorious for gangland murders from the bulldozer – arguing it’s a good place to live.

The Brandon estate in Walworth was added to Southwark’s Local List on Tuesday – a record of more than 2,000 buildings in the borough that are important to the area’s history.

Its inclusion on the list makes it less likely that the estate, which was built in 1958, will be bulldozed or redeveloped in the future. One person who nominated the estate praised its six 18-storey towers for their “elongated balcony provision with great views and access to outdoor space.”

Southwark council said the Local List can offer protection for the buildings or structures which are important to the area or community.

The council would have to consider the significance of an entry on the Local List, if in the future a planning application came forward proposing redevelopment of the site. While the protection offered is not the same level as given by statutory listing, there will be a general presumption against demolition.

It represents a dramatic turnaround in fortunes for the Brandon estate after two members of the Moscow17 drill group were killed within months of each other near the estate.

Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, 17, known as GB, from the Brandon estate was shot dead on the corner of John Ruskin Street and Camberwell New Road in May 2018. Three months later, Siddique Kamara, 23, , known as Incognito, was fatally stabbed in Warham Street.

Jay Bent, a former resident of the nearby Aylesbury estate who now lives next to the Brandon estate, said he supported the principle of protecting social housing.

The 41-year-old said: “I think it’s a good thing. It’s social housing and it’s cheaper rent. If they demolish them, it never works out as good.

“I used to live on the Aylesbury estate and where they moved us is not as good. When I was on the Aylesbury a lot of things were included in the rent like the heating, which is not the case now.”

Cameron Long, who was born on the former nearby Heygate estate that was demolished over a decade ago, said he doubted protecting the Brandon estate would make much difference to the housing situation in Southwark due to what was happening in other parts of the borough.

The 32-year-old, who now lives on the Brandon estate, said: “There are a lot of other places they can be knocking down and rebuilding with fewer homes.

“They [the council] are making such a song and dance about how many council homes they are building. But they are not including in the amount they’ve sold off or knocked down. If you included them, it would be in a deficit. It would be a whole lot less.”

While the Brandon estate now looks unlikely to follow the fate of Walworth’s other large estates and go under the wrecking ball like the Heygate and Aylesbury, it remains to be seen whether it can clean up its image. Only in July, four teenagers were stabbed following reports of a knife fight there.

Pictured top: Cameron Long on the Brandon estate, Walworth (Picture: Robert Firth)