Fenwick estate Clapham under threat of being bulldozed

People living on the Fenwick estate in Clapham are worried they won’t be able to stay in the area if Lambeth Council flattens hundreds of homes there as part of its plans to redevelop the housing complex.

The South London council claims it needs to rebuild the estate because refurbishing it would be too expensive.

The Fenwick estate in Clapham, Lambeth (photo: Robert Firth)

Lambeth says demolishing Fenwick and starting again would add 300 extra flats on the site and improve the design of the area.

The estate is one of six earmarked to be rebuilt by Lambeth. 

But existing residents like O’Niel Johnson, 51, are against Lambeth’s plans.

Mr Johnson, a leaseholder of a four-bedroom house on the estate, said he feared he wouldn’t be able to afford a similar property in the area if the redevelopment went ahead. 

He said: “I’m against it. It’s going to mess up my life but I don’t really have a say.

"I don’t think they’re giving enough compensation to the people who like me have lived here for years.

“The price[s] they are offering us are not the estate agent ones.

"Last time I checked they were talking about offering £550,000.

"Where do you buy a four-bedroom house in Clapham for £550,000?

"I don’t know where their maths comes from.

"We’re talking about people having to go to Margate because they can’t afford anywhere near here.”

Mr Johnson, who has lived in his house on the estate since 1979, added: “I understand the principle of why they’re doing it.

"They need to make more flats for people, but in this particular estate lots of people have been living here for 50, 60 years.

"The residents’ meetings are just tick box exercises.

"They say what they’re going to do.

"It’s not about helping any of the residents that want to stay.” 

Fellow estate resident Joao De Oliveira said rebuilding Fenwick would be a waste of money.

Joao De Oliveira said he thought the estate rebuild was a waste of money (photo: Robert Firth)

The 25-year-old said: “I’m against it. My personal view is that it’s a waste of money for sure.

"Maybe the other flats have problems but this one in particular is in a very good condition. 

“The only issues are with the estate outside of the flat.

"When it rains the balcony running outside of the flats becomes a puddle of water.

"The outside stairs up to the first floor flats used to be super slippery when it got wet – it was quite dangerous – but they’ve fixed that now.”

Lambeth started moving residents out of the estate in 2016.

The local authority’s redevelopment plans stalled in 2018 after the council was forced to rerun a contest for the estate regeneration contract over a conflict of interest. 

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, withdrew millions of pounds worth of funding for the estate rebuild in October 2020 after the project fell behind schedule.

Lambeth has since begun using some of the flats on the estate as temporary accommodation.

One temporary resident, who asked to be anonymous, said she would vote against demolition if she got the option to.

The mother-of-two said: “I’ve been here two years now.

"You get used to living here and you get a community.

"It’s not fair on the children.

"My kids are happy here and my daughter would have to change school if we moved.”

Lambeth Council has been contacted.