Housing activists urge London mayor to save Clockwork Orange estate

Housing activists have urged the London Mayor Sadiq Khan to save the brutalist 1960s estate where Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange was filmed.

Residents on Lesnes estate in Thamesmead are resisting plans for their homes to be demolished and have warned the decision could result in homelessness, debt and carbon pollution.

Housing association Peabody has asked the mayor for permission to destroy the development, which was once dubbed “a town of tomorrow” by its Greater London Council architects.

The area has since fallen into disrepair and land value in the area has shot up since the Elizabeth Line connected the area to the West End in just 23 minutes, the Guardian reports.

Housing activists have occupied vacant flats in protest and are urging Mr Khan to refuse permission for a replacement scheme, arguing it would be unaffordable and that existing homes could be refitted.

Slogans such as: “Housing for need not greed” and “Take profit out of housing” have been hung up at the estate.

According to the mayor’s planning report the 600-home community, two-thirds of which are social and affordable rented homes, will be turned into a 1,950-unit scheme with a “a significant loss of affordable housing when assessed on a per unit and per habitable room basis” - although detailed designs have not been completed so the ratios could change.

Johnell Olabhie, 57, an IT consultant who owns a freehold property on the estate, told the Guardian any cut in social housing was “madness” and would cause “homelessness, destitution and indebtedness”.

He said: “Bexley council already has an endless waiting list.

“Where are the cleaners going to go? Where will the nurses and carers who live here go? They are already working two jobs.”

Rose Asenguah who owns her home, said the demolition was taking away from the estate’s original purpose of providing “homes at affordable prices for hard-working Londoners”.

The 67-year-old said Peabody and Bexley were being “greedy and money-loving”, and that she and her neighbours should be allowed to benefit from the improvements the Elizabeth line had brought.

Peabody, which took over Thamesmead in 2014, said there was no net loss in social housing, at least based on floorspace.

A spokesperson said: “We do care, and Peabody colleagues are available for residents to talk to … we are a not-for-profit organisation, and our core purpose is to provide social housing.”

The housing provider said that the majority of residents voted for regeneration, and it would “continue to review plans as the project progresses to make sure we build as many new social and affordable homes as possible”.

A spokesperson added: “Every resident has been offered the opportunity to move into a new home on the estate.

“Those in social rented homes will continue to pay social rent, and resident homeowners are being offered a new home without the need to take on an additional mortgage.”