The whole of our estate could be under immediate threat from property developers. Development may bring some benefits but may cost you your car parking, communal gardens or even your home. If the estate is redeveloped and you are a tenant is is very unlikely that you would be re-housed in the same neighbourhood.

If you are a leaseholder, under Compulsory Purchase you may not receive the market value of your home. In the Heygate estate, many displaced residents were left unable to afford to live anywhere in London. Leaseholders on the Heygate and Aylesbury estates who have been offered 1/2 the value of their homes have had to go to court over this.

The council has been building some homes for rental but very few. This is a drop in the ocean with regard to the needs of the local community.

Chaucer Ward – new build hotspot.

In 2014 Estate agents Sterling Ackroyd highlighted our ward Chaucer as the number 1 “New Build Hotspot” in Greater London. They claim that right here developers could build 2865 new homes per square kilometre. There is no record of Southwark Council’s response to this report but you can guess that none of the new homes will be for residents of Borough or Tabard Gardens.

Read the report here: https://tabardnorth.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/doc049.pdf

When Section 106 (planning gain) funds have been made available from developers e.g. The Shard, none of the money has gone to local residents. Land values in our neighbourhood have gone up dramatically since developers (The Shard etc.) have moved in.

What Can We Do?
The Localism Act 2011 has given local residents new planning rights. We have the power to put forward a Neighbourhood Plan which may not be the same as the council’s plan. If recognised, we would entitled to government funding under the “Supporting Communities in Neighbourhood Planning”. We would have a “right to build” homes, community centres, playgrounds, facilities for the elderly etc.