Lambeth to take stock of Gipsy Hill estate before deciding whether to stick or twist

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

The condition of more than 450 flats on an estate in Gipsy Hill is to undergo a major inspection ahead of a decision on whether the way forward is huge refurbishment or demolition.

Lambeth council will announce a final decision sometime in Autumn 2025, following the completion of stock condition surveys.

The council previously announced plans to bulldoze Central Hill estate in 2017. The estate, built between 1966 and 1974, has been under threat since 2014, when the council flagged it as a candidate for potential redevelopment.

Demolition was fiercely opposed by some residents, who argued the council should instead revamp the estate and launched a 10-year campaign to save their homes from the wrecking balls.

In 2023, campaigners won a major battle after the council shelved the proposed demolition and folded Homes for Lambeth – a housing development firm established to deliver the council’s post-war estate regeneration programme.

The decision to close the company followed the recommendations of a report into affordable housing in the borough, which branded the firm’s attempts at building homes ‘very poor’.

The review commissioned by Labour leader of the council Claire Holland and authored by late civil servant Lord Bob Kerslake recommended the council ‘prioritise’ dealing with repairs on the Central Hill estate over demolition.

Cllr Danny Adilypour, Lambeth’s deputy leader, subsequently said that the council would go back to the drawing board and review all possible options for the future of the estate—adding that residents would have a vote on the final decision.

In anticipation of the since-binned demolition proposals, the council had begun buying back leaseholder properties on the estate.

The local authority set up an arms-length management firm under the Homes for Lambeth brand to let some of these flats out to private tenants on short contracts via a local estate agent.

Earlier this year, tenants in these properties were told the council wanted the flats back to let out to homeless families in need of temporary accommodation.

The council came under fire from some of the tenants, who claimed they were under the impression they would be able to stay in the properties for years to come.

Pictured top: In the eye of the beholder – the Central Hill Estate in Lambeth (Picture: LDRS/Robert Firth)