A request for a judicial review into the demolition of an iconic south east London estate has been rejected.
Adam Turk, who lives on the Lesnes Estate in Thamesmead, said it would now take “a miracle” to overturn plans to demolish the 1960s estate and replace it with up to 1,950 new homes.
Mr Turk lodged a claim earlier this year for a judicial review of Bexley Council’s decision to approve housing association Peabody’s plans to knock down his home and build a new, larger residential development. However, a High Court judge turned down this request earlier this month.
The judicial review claim hinged on the environmental impact the estate demolition will have, and how the planning documents accompanying the plans supposedly downplayed the harmful effects of the demolition’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Turk’s lawyers from the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) have triggered a mechanism that will allow them to articulate their argument in a one-hour hearing later this month, but he admitted this would likely not impact the judge’s decision.
He said: “It doesn’t look good. A lot of the laws are all against us.
“A miracle can happen, but I’ve been going through this for three years now and I’ve been looking at all the planning laws and different cases, and it just seems that they’ve got all the laws sewn up.”
Mr Turk said he was disappointed that the judge refused his claim and described estate regeneration projects such as the one in Thamesmead as “a slow death of council housing as everything’s getting replaced with this luxury property”.
Lesnes Estate, a brutalist housing project built in the 1960s, is notable for featuring in the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange . It is thought there are only around 30 households left living there as many have left the dilapidated estate ahead of its planned demolition.
Peabody has offered current Lesnes residents financial support to move elsewhere.
A Peabody spokesperson said: “Resident homeowners have the chance either to buy a 1960s home like theirs on the neighbouring estate, a new home in the brand-new development, or another home in Thamesmead – or elsewhere – if that’s what they choose.”
Peabody is offering Lesnes residents the market value of their home plus 10 per cent as compensation. The developer is also willing to bridge potential price gaps between current and new homes by contributing up to half of the equity.
The housing association is also confident their plans for Thamesmead will benefit the area as the 596 Lesnes homes demolished will make way for 1,950 new ones, a near 230 per cent increase in available housing.
