London: Lesnes will not be demolished

By: fawda - April 11th, 2024  Filed under: News

Residents are currently occupying a housing estate and are refusing to leave – marching on the council tonight

Residents from the Lesnes estate will protest at Bexley Council on Thursday 11 April evening to demand support in their campaign against Peabody’s planned demolition of their homes. It comes after residents and campaigners have occupied an empty house and appeal for supporters to join them to protect an estate made up of a lot of social housing.
Save Lesnes from demolition

Lesnes Estate residents and campaigners are occupying an empty home on the Lesnes Estate and are demanding that Peabody executive director and leader of the Thamesmead regeneration scheme, John Lewis, agrees to meet residents in person and listen to their demands:

That empty homes are opened up immediately.
That the entire estate is refurbished, not demolished. [Read More]

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London: National Day of Housing, occupations at Southwark and Abbey Wood

By: fawda - July 11th, 2023  Filed under: Communique, News

On Saturday the 8th of July housing campaigns across the UK engaged in a series of decentralised actions under the slogan “Housing For Need Not Greed”. The actions of the Housing Rebellion, as it was called, were primarily focused around council estates facing the issue of “regeneration” (read: gentrification), but included neighbourhoods fighting their councils for green space, and putting the spotlight on the fact that the struggle for housing is inescapably tied to the issue of climate change.

Some of us, squatters from the local area, took part in the Southwark march that led us through the corpse of the Heygate Estate, now known as the beyond-hip Elephant Park, where we would be surprised to learn if any original resident of the estate has ever returned, or ever plans to. Southwark Notes has some great information on the displacement of residents despite promises of being able to return during initial consultations. 100 people marched, drums banging, voices raised, banners condemning the council and developers alike. Banners that went beyond a simple understanding of the situation of the Heygate or Aylesbury but to condemn a capitalist understanding of property and that hoped to spur into action those who see possibility beyond reform. In conjunction, the offices of Notting Hill Genesis were paintbombed and graffiti expressing righteous anger adorned the hoardings of the ongoing con(de)struction. [Read More]

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