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General election 2019’s housing battlegrounds: Kensington
While the big topic in this election is Brexit, the housing crisis remains a top issue for voters in many areas. Inside Housing has travelled around the country to visit the marginal seats where it may influence the result. In the first in our series of five, Peter Apps visits Kensington
Step out of Ladbroke Grove tube station and it is immediately obvious that you have arrived in one of those streets in London where people from very different backgrounds live side by side.
Superfood restaurants sit next to cash and carries with fruit outside in clear plastic bowls; gastropubs offer cider-glazed pork belly for £15, while next door’s fried chicken restaurant sell hot wings and chips for £2.50.
Away from the busy high street, rows of three-storey Georgian townhouses give way abruptly to a 1960s council estate.
But even this divide is not as sharp as it once was: the multiple bins and door bells on the townhouses suggest they are broken up into flats and rented out, while the council estate will include residents who own property worth more than £1m, thanks to a combination of the Right to Buy and the crazed London property market.
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This divergent constituency was also home to London’s closest race in the last election: former Labour councillor Emma Dent Coad snatching the traditionally Conservative seat by 20 votes in the high watermark of the Labour surge in London.
This time, the race is even more complex. Sam Gyimah, formerly Conservative and now Liberal Democrat, has entered the fray. He is hoping to capitalise on an area of London which voted ‘Remain’ by almost 70%.
But if any seat in this election is about more than just Brexit, it is Kensington, where this election marks the first time the borough has voted for its MP since the terrible events at Grenfell Tower in June 2017.
Outside a row of shops, on a grey, cold Saturday, local councillor Kasim Ali is firing up his troops. “Housing is priority number one, two, three and four around here,” he says.
The Labour team is preparing for some pre-election door-knocking across a large estate run by housing associations and a smaller one run directly by the council.
Mr Ali, first elected in March this year, explains that disrepair and overcrowding are rife across the estates. “You wouldn’t even think you are in a civilised country, let alone Kensington,” he says of some of the issues he comes across.
On the doorstep, housing pops up as an issue occasionally. The estate is run by a large London housing association. “I don’t think they care as much as they used to about looking after the place,” says one resident.
“People are very happy that we are saying we want to focus on council again,” says Mr Ali. “They don’t feel like it’s very easy to hold these big housing associations to account.”
The impact of Grenfell is also visible. Around the estate, green scarves are tied around fences and Justice for Grenfell posters are displayed in windows. “The families burned to death in Grenfell can’t vote,” reads one sticker on Ladbroke Grove. “Remember them, come out on 12 December for them, vote the Tories out for them.”
Kensington: constituency profile
Seat: Kensington
Region: Greater London
MP: Emma Dent Coad (Labour)
Majority: 20
Population: 113,645
Average house price: £1.36m
Figures: Office for National Statistics
“If you want an example of how Grenfell has politicised the community, look at me,” says Mr Ali. “I never, ever expected to get involved in politics, especially not to stand for election. But when I saw what happened I realised our community has to stand up for itself.”
He is charming, charismatic and well received (for the most part) on the doorstep.
A sticker in Kensington encouraging people to go out and vote (picture: Peter Apps)
“You’re wearing the right rosette,” says one resident gruffly. “You don’t need to waste your time here – go and persuade the people who are thinking of voting Tory.”
While there are few of these around this estate, many people say they have been targeted by Liberal Democrat campaigners – and some are wavering, saying they want to take a firm stand against Brexit.
The Liberal Democrat candidate Mr Gyimah is running on a manifesto which was the only one from the three big parties not to mention Grenfell at all. He provoked a furious response from Ms Dent Coad when he suggested her position as a councillor meant she was involved in decisions about cladding the tower – a claim which may eventually be subject to libel action.
His party’s firm anti-Brexit stance is a big draw though, and while wandering around the plush homes near High Street Kensington in the more affluent parts of the borough, Inside Housing counts several “vote for Sam Gyimah” and “stop Brexit” banners in windows.
“I’m voting Liberal Democrat,” says one woman, who gives her name as Sara. “I voted Remain and this election is about Brexit really.”
A house on High Street Kensington with a Liberal Democrats sticker (Peter Apps)
Is she worried about housing? She pauses. “Well houses around here are not very affordable but I don’t see that changing. I certainly don’t think Jeremy Corbyn will be able to do much about it.”
Back on the estate, a small band of Conservative Party canvassers are delivering leaflets. Inside Housing asks them if the fallout from Grenfell is damaging their campaign? The answer is lawyerly: “There’s going to be a report published and until then it’s too early to say what the causes of the fire were.”
Generally, though, they are confident. “People really hate Jeremy Corbyn. They may be wavering towards the Lib Dems but they will vote Conservative in the end because they are very worried about Corbyn,” says one. “That’s especially true when you go to the bigger houses.”
In the end, this may be the crux of it. Even with all the added texture from Brexit and the fallout from Grenfell, the battle for Kensington looks set to be fought along the same lines as it has always been: the views of those in the big houses pitched against those in the small.
The housing election: five seats where housing is influencing the race for Number 10
Warwick and Leamington
Gavriel Hollander visits a Labour-held seat where homelessness is an increasingly visible issue
Gower
Lucie Heath heads to South Wales to hear about the local crisis of unaffordable housing
Kensington
Peter Apps travels to a marginal seat in west London defined by the Grenfell Tower fire and housing inequality
South Shields
Jack Simpson heads to the North East to hear about a lack of investment in new housing and concern about Universal Credit
Wantage
Nathaniel Barker discovers dissatisfaction with new housebuilding in this Oxfordshire market town
