Estate Regeneration: Frequently Asked Questions
Lambeth’s ambition is to ensure that every resident has the opportunity to live in a goodquality home that is affordable and suitable for their needs.
However, there are simply not enough homes, particularly social homes, to meet the needs of
people in Lambeth.
The Council is committed to building 1,000 extra homes at council rent levels to deliver a
new generation of homes for Lambeth’s residents. The estate regeneration programme gives
us the opportunity to improve the quality and size of homes on selected estates, invest in the
wider neighbourhood and increase the provision of new homes on those estates.
Central Hill, Fenwick, Knight’s Walk, South Lambeth, Westbury and Cressingham Gardens
have been included in the Council’s estate regeneration programme. On 13 July, the Council
agreed to the complete redevelopment of Cressingham Gardens, to meet the Council’s
objectives to provide better-quality homes for the residents of Lambeth and to deliver
additional new homes.
The Council is now considering the way forward for the remaining five estates. On Monday,
27 July, the Cabinet will consider a proposal to continue work to identify how best to
regenerate or redevelop these estates. It is also recommended that the Council starts putting
together a development management team for each estate to progress these projects through
masterplanning, planning and land assembly phases. Residents will be included in the process
throughout.
Q) What is the housing situation in Lambeth?
We are facing a serious housing crisis in London with increasing numbers of people unable to
afford to buy or even rent a home. The numbers of council homes available are shrinking
because of the right-to-buy legislation and for every family already in a council home there is
someone else on our waiting list. Homelessness is increasing across London and a growing
number of families are severely overcrowded.
We have over 20,000 people on our housing waiting list and the number of homeless families
in temporary accommodation has risen from around 1300 last year to over 1800 today. A
further 1,300 families are living in severely overcrowded homes.
We are committed to building 1,000 extra homes for council rent in the borough, to help
address this problem. We must look at every scrap of land available to us to help provide
those much-needed homes.
In December 2014, the Council took the decision to look to deliver a sizeable proportion of
these new homes at council rent on six estates across the Borough.
Q) Which estates come under the Estate Regeneration programme?
Central Hill, Fenwick, Knight’s Walk, South Lambeth, Westbury and Cressingham Gardens
have been included in the Council’s estate regeneration programme.
Q) Why have these particular estates been included in the Estate
Regeneration programme?
There are a number of reasons for concentrating on these estates, ranging from the poor
condition of many of the homes, to the potential for building more council homes on the land.
In several cases, including Central Hill, Fenwick and Cressingham Gardens, a large number
of residents have told us that their homes are in a poor state of repair. However, the estimated
costs of carrying out large-scale repairs are so high that we have to look at alternatives.
Regeneration or redevelopment of the estates offers the opportunity to meet the Council’s
objectives of providing better-quality homes for existing residents - and delivering additional
new homes to help tackle Lambeth’s housing crisis.
Q) What are the options being considered for the regeneration?
There are a number of different options which could be considered, including building more
homes on existing land, partial demolition or full redevelopment of estates. However, no
decisions have been made, and the proposals for each estate will depend on the feasibility
studies and the masterplan objectives that would be drawn up.
Q) What will this mean for the future of people living on the estates?
The Council has agreed to give all existing tenants and leaseholders on these estates a series
of key guarantees so that they will be able to continue living there, even before the final
regeneration proposals are decided.
The Cressingham Gardens masterplan includes the commitment that existing tenants will be
able to continue living on the estate. For homeowners, the Council commits to find ways to
enable them also to continue living on the estate.
Consultation on these “Key Guarantees” will continue on the other five estates during the
process of producing final proposals for their regeneration.
Q) What will happen to residents who own their own homes?
It will not be clear how individual properties will be affected until the masterplans are
completed.
There are a number of options open to homeowners, including an open market purchase,
where we buy their leasehold property for an agreed price, or where we agree to replace their
present home with a new-build property of a similar size.
The Council owns the freehold of the majority of the estates but, if the plans involved
demolition, we would always try to negotiate an agreement with homeowners without the
need to use our legal powers to buy their property from them. If we are unable to reach an
agreement, we may apply for a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) to buy their home, but we
would only use this power as a last resort.
Q) How would the regeneration work affect residents of the estate?
Whatever regeneration option is chosen, residents would experience disruption in the shortterm. But the Council will seek to reduce any disruption caused by seeking to avoid where
possible having to move residents off their estates during regeneration and by appropriate
management of the construction work itself.
The masterplans will look to develop a phasing strategy for the regeneration of the estates so
as to minimise the need to move anyone temporarily off the estates and to make sure (as far
as is possible) that households only need to move once.
Q) Will you take account of residents’ views during this process?
Lambeth Council has already carried out consultation with residents on most of the estates
over the last year, on the options for the future of their estates. The work has included door
knocking exercises, drop-in sessions, public meetings and presentations.
This consultation will continue, and the masterplan objectives will include the various views
and aspirations that will have emerged as part of the consultation with residents throughout
the process.
Q) Will these regeneration schemes just clear away council housing and
replace it with private homes?
No. The objectives of the estate regeneration programme are to improve existing council
homes and to provide more of them. It will contribute to Lambeth’s commitment to building
1,000 extra homes at council rent levels. The details of the proposals for individual estates
have not yet been decided, but the overall intention is to secure a balance of tenures -– for
any additional new homes on each estate, up to 60% would be for council rent and 40% for
private sale/private rent.