Four blocks containing 85 flats lay largely empty, six years after residents were moved out because of the buildings’ disrepair.
Since then, two separate developers have secured planning permission to demolish or refurbish the blocks on Solomon’s Passage, Peckham Rye, but they’re still vacant.
Local residents are furious over what some regard as a waste of living space at a time when over 17,000 people are on the housing waiting list.
Southwark Council has said it is unable to bring the homes back into council hands through a compulsory purchase order (CPO) or empty dwelling management order (EDMO) because they are now up for sale.
Only recently, the Rye Hill TRA Twitter account tweeted asking: “Why haven’t these been replaced?”
Developer Wandle built the four residential blocks from 2009 to 2011, with 30 of the 85 flats earmarked as affordable housing.
But residents were left “heartbroken” when “significant problems” such as water damage to the four buildings’ timber framework forced them to move out.
They were offered compensation payments and Wandle’s plans to demolish two of the blocks and refurbish the other two were approved in 2018.
According to ECD Architects, who drew up the plans, Wandle aimed to “restore the trust of the community… by building quality homes that residents can enjoy, relax and play in”.
But the redevelopment never happened. Instead, Wandle sold the site in September 2020 for £9 million.
New owners Henley Homes then drew up plans to demolish all the blocks, which were approved by the council on November 30, 2021.
A planning officer said at the time that there were “some temporary occupiers… to help protect the site from vandalism but the majority of homes are unoccupied”.
But now, the buildings are back up for sale, according to Southwark Council. A council spokesperson said: “We agree it is unacceptable that the site has not moved forward. As we understand it the site is currently up for sale on the private market, so the council is not in a position to consider or use CPO powers.”
Southwark Council was asked why the building being up for sale prevented a CPO but they did not respond before going to the press.
Henley Homes was approached for comment but also did not respond before going to press.