A public inquiry into the council’s attempted compulsory purchase of properties on the Aylesbury Estate has resumed this week.
The four day hearing was postponed in April after the leaseholders’ action group were left with no legal counsel.
It began again on Monday and Tuesday this week, hearing arguments from leaseholders, residents, experts and the council on whether the £750million scheme to demolish and rebuild the Walworth estate should go ahead.
Objectors say the compulsory purchase of estate properties is “forcing us out to make way for luxury housing that none of the existing tenants or leaseholders will be able to afford.”
A planning inspector has been hearing testimonies from leaseholders, tenants, expert witnesses and council officers and representatives of Notting Hill Housing Trust, which is redeveloping the estate. The hearing was expected to conclude this week and the inspector will then submit a report to the Secretary of State for Communities, who will have the final say on whether the compulsory purchase orders can go ahead.
