‘Hell’s waiting room’ estate set for next stage of demolition

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Hundreds of homes on an estate once dubbed “hell’s waiting room” will be bulldozed to make way for new blocks of flats and a 26-floor skyscraper.

Southwark council approved plans to flatten another section of the Aylesbury Estate and build 614 new homes in its place at a meeting yesterday.

The estate, which at its height contained 2,700 homes, was once branded “hell’s waiting room” by ex-Tory leader Michael Howard, due to its reputation for crime.

But more than 70 per cent of residents voted against rebuilding the estate in 2001. Southwark council went ahead with its redevelopment in 2005 despite the vote.

A total of 373 flats – 327 of which are the cheapest social rent homes – will be demolished in the next stage of the estate’s rebuild. Half of the 614 new houses that will replace them will be affordable (which can be up to 80 per cent of local market rents).

But 76 per cent of the affordable homes will be reserved for the cheapest social rents. Officials admitted there would be less social rent homes as a result of the rebuild, but said there would be more larger four-bedroom homes as a result of the redevelopment.

Judi Bos, who was moved out of her home on the estate during the first stage of its rebuild, said the redevelopment should never have gone ahead.

She told a council planning meeting: “We loved living there. We just wanted refurbishment. It would’ve been a damn sight cheaper and it would’ve been done a long time ago.

“It could’ve all been done years ago and we’d have been living happily. None of us would have been sitting here now. It should have just been refurbished.”

Four blocks will be bulldozed as part of the second section of the estate’s rebuild: Padbury, Ravenstone, Wendover and Winslow. A total of 60 of the homes in these blocks still have families living in them.

Sam Foster, the area’s local councillor, said he was concerned about the height of the planned 26-storey tower block, but said “the negatives of the scheme are outweighed by the negatives of not going ahead.”

Jake Brodetsky from developer Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) said it had consulted with people living nearby extensively before bringing the proposals to the planning committee.

Pictured top: An artist’s impression of Aylesbury estate regeneration in Thurlow Street (Picture: Notting Hill Genesis)