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Residents vote to demolish large panel system blocks on south London estate
Residents have voted in favour of razing four tower blocks on a south London council estate where major fire and structural safety issues were uncovered in 2017.
Southwark Council said an independent ballot of Ledbury Estate residents saw 86% of voters indicate support for its proposal to demolish and rebuild the blocks.
The turnout among all eligible voters including those who have moved out of the towers but retain the right to return to the regenerated estate was 56%, and 77% among those still living in the blocks.
Most of the 224 homes on the estate are no longer occupied, though some were used to provide temporary accommodation to homeless families during the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire in the summer of 2017, Southwark Council urgently switched off the gas supply to the towers on the Ledbury Estate due to safety concerns.
The blocks were built using a large panel system construction method similar to that used at Ronan Point, a former tower block in Newham which in 1968 partially collapsed following a gas explosion, killing four people.
Residents at the Ledbury Estate towers had complained of cracks between flats large enough to fit a hand through.
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Initially, the council had proposed spending £32m on refurbishing the towers to make them safe in line with residents’ wishes at the time.
But in October 2019, a report by engineering consultancy Arup found that structural defects in the blocks were worse than previously thought, leaving them at risk of disproportionate collapse and adding millions to the remediation cost.
Arup engineers reported in late 2017 that there were no “structural concerns about the building as a whole” and the piped gas was removed.
A resident ballot on the options for the estate was intended to carried out in spring 2020 but delayed by the COVID-19 crisis.
Stephanie Cryan, cabinet member for council housing at Southwark Council, said: “I would like to thank the residents on the Ledbury estate for their patience and engagement throughout this process.
“I know these have been challenging times since we first became aware of the problems in the towers and I am very happy we are now in a position to move forward and start work on providing quality homes for our residents.
“This proposal will not only offer better homes for existing residents, with more up-to-date designs for energy efficiency and space, but increase the number of new council homes on the estate providing more opportunities for local people living in housing need.”
The estate’s four towers will be knocked down in phases, starting with Bromyard House, with new homes built in two-year phases.
In addition to homes replacing the council flats in the demolished towers, half the extra new homes will be council homes at council rents, the local authority has said.
Priority for the new homes will be given to existing tenants and leaseholders of the towers, as well as former residents with a right to return.
Jeanette Mason, chair of the Ledbury Tenants and Residents Association, said: “I am pleased that following extensive consultation the residents of the Ledbury Towers have had their say on the future of their homes and that they now have a clear way forward and timetable for well deserved new homes.”
The ballot was run by specialist social housing resident involvement agency Open Communities.
Several social landlords across the country have resolved to demolish large panel system blocks since 2017 after discovering safety issues.
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