Government Blocks West Ken Residents' Plans to Save Their Homes
Housing minister says transfer would have 'detrimental effect' on area's regeneration
Donna and David Isaacs outside their home. Pic: Darren Pepe
Residents on the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates, with more than 7,500 homes, have lived under the threat of demolition since 2009. Their hope is to save the homes.
Donna Isaac, 51, who lives with her husband David, who is blind, said: "It feels like they just want to get rid of us and go ahead with the scheme.
" If David and I have to move house again it would be debilitating for him, because he would have to re-learn the area. He would be housebound again.
"We were given a house here four years ago, after living in a hostel. I joined the campaign when I found out this place was going to be demolished. I just couldn’t believe anyone would want to tear this community down. We love it here."
The row goes back to when a £12 billion regeneration scheme, touted as the Earls Court Opportunity Area, was announced.
But ten years on, and the bulldozers have yet to appear, while media reports have circulated that developer Capital and Countries (Capco), which bought the land from Hammersmith and Fulham Council, are trying to sell it.
Ms Isaac is a member of a residents’ group called West Ken Gibbs Green Community Homes, which applied to the council in 2015 for a “stock transfer” of the estates.
Using a little-known piece of housing law, the transfer would have seen all the homes given to a non-profit organisation set up in the residents’ group’s name. They would also have taken charge of maintaining and managing the estates.
Rejecting the transfer, housing minister Kit Malthouse MP wrote: "There is sufficient ground to conclude that WKGGCH’s proposed stock transfer will have a significant detrimental effect on the regeneration of the area."
He said the stock transfer would "create considerable uncertainty over the wider deliverables of the [Earl’s Court] regeneration masterplan."
The residents also dispute the minister's claim that "regeneration in the Earl’s Court and West Kensington Opportunity Area is making concrete progress."
Housing campaigner Andrew Ward, who works with the residents, said: "The decision letter says they now have concrete evidence that progress is being made with the Earl’s Court scheme, even though they [the developer] is trying to sell it. And any new developer is going to want to change the plans."
The original plans show 7,583 homes could be built, including 1,500 social and affordable rent homes. 760 of these would be to replace the homes of the West Ken and Gibbs Green estates if they are demolished.
Ms Isaac added: "It seems like while there’s a lot of talk about change since Grenfell, this report made us feel like we’re just not worth anything. They just want to bulldoze us out and build luxury flats."
Capco has always said it would re-house all social tenants and resident leaseholders. But there is an ongoing dispute over whether its plans fulfill the promise of giving residents new homes that are like-for-like.
The Government’s Department for Communities and Local Government was approached for comment, but did not respond.
West Kensington Estate
By Local Democracy Reporter Owen Sheppard
July 19, 2019
