A woman who refuses to leave her Aylesbury Estate flat is to battle Southwark Council and multi-billion pound developer Notting Hill Genesis in the high court.
Sixty-four-year-old council tenant Aysen Dennis, who recently held a hugely popular anti-gentrification exhibition in her flat, believes the £1.5billion estate redevelopment has “destroyed the community”.
Southwark Council is demolishing the 1970s estate in phases and replacing them with fewer social rent homes than existed before. Phase 2B, which contains Aysen’s home, is up next.
In court, she will argue Southwark Council added an amendment to an older planning permission which has allowed the developer to veer away from what was first consented.
This, she argues, renders previous consultations “meaningless” and could allow Notting Hill to build a huge 25-storey all-private tower on the site where her home now stands.
By bringing the case to the high court, Aysen hopes to delay her home’s demolition and “open the debate” about privately-backed regeneration projects.
Having spent decades campaigning against demolition, she told the News she was “excited” to take on her adversaries in the high court. “I am actually excited. They are desperate to get their hands on Phase 2B but they have to pause [their plans] because of the court case which will prolong the process – so let’s see what happens,” she said.
The Public Interest Law Centre, which represents Aysen, said: “It is already difficult for communities to play a meaningful role in the planning process, and this is never more true than for a resident of a London estate which has been a target for demolition by councils and private developers over decades.
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“Developers should not be able to sidestep the findings of the Supreme Court in this manner. For the council to permit this is an affront to its public.”
Aysen has applied for legal aid and hopes to crowdfund with help from the 700 people who attended her exhibition.
The 2,758-flat Aylesbury Estate was completed in 1977 as part of a huge slum clearance, and Aysen moved in in 1993.
Inside look: The Aylesbury Estate’s anti-gentrification exhibition
She fell in love with her flat thanks to its bright airy feel and panoramic views of London. But in the intervening years, the blocks were poorly maintained and, in 2005, Southwark Council decided to demolish and rebuild the estate.
Campaigners have long argued that refurbishment was the better option and, in 2001, Aysen says 70 per cent of residents voted against demolition in a ballot. But she says this vote was ignored and demolition went ahead anyway.
Aysen is also upset that the redeveloped site will contain fewer social rent homes than existed before. Phase 2B, which includes the Padbury, Wendover, Winslow and Ravenstone blocks, has 327 residential units of social rent tenure. If the current plans go ahead, they will be demolished and replaced with just 163 social rent units.
Southwark Council Leader Kieron Williams said: “We’re working with residents on the Aylesbury to build new homes for them to move to, with more new council homes on site being built on the estate than on most others in the country, as well new housing association social rent homes too.
373 Aylesbury Estate flats to be bulldozed as next stage of redevelopment gets go ahead
“We’re building these replacements because the original homes on the estate were badly built in the ’60s. All of the phases meet or exceed our planning policy requirement for half of the development to be affordable homes. We measure this by the total number of ‘habitable rooms’, because our residents need family-sized homes and councils that just count the number of homes end up with lots of one- and two-bed flats that are no good to families.”
A Notting Hill Genesis spokesperson said: “We have been made aware today that proceedings have been issued in relation to Southwark’s recent approval of a Non-Material Amendment to the Aylesbury Outline Planning Permission. We are currently considering the documents that have been lodged with the High Court.”
Addressing the distribution of housing on Phase 2B, they added: “We are very proud of our plans for phase 2B of the Aylesbury Estate regeneration project, which will be made up of five buildings delivering more than 600 new, high-quality, safe, energy efficient and warm homes to replace the existing homes which are no longer fit for purpose. Fifty per cent of these new homes will be affordable housing for people in need. We are committed to creating a fantastic, thriving mixed community with quality public space, top-class facilities and improved play and sport areas.”
