Million pound pre-fab in peckham

[jim_the_chin]

or near enough, sort of knew this would be round here when I saw it on the BBC homepage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34718659

Local govt mimicing national govt standard procedure:

1. fail to fund/maintain old institution

2. Claim it's not fit for purpose/rescuable

3. Sell to private developer

4. Profit.

[Loz]

What institution? It was an old bungalow.

[PeckhamRose]

It was a prefab but of course the money will be for the land and a 'nice new' dwelling shall be erected in its place.

[Otta]

It was pretty shot sighted of lots of councils not to maintain their prefabs. There were loads around ED when I was a kid, and there was nothing wrong with them. They'd have made excellent retirement homes for people that wanted to downsize in their old age.

[steveo]

Read the squalid story of the demolition of the Excalibur prefab estate in Catford

https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/the-excalibur-estate-catford-a-working-class-blackheath/

[miga]

The Excalibur is still sitting untouched a year on after being mostly emptied. Any enquiry about progress ignored by LQ, Council now washed their hands of it. Such a pity to see all that housing sitting unused.

[uncleglen]

I'm afraid that Southwark are really neglecting their street properties as well. Under the Warm, Dry, Safe initiative for which they got EU money they were supposed to upgrade but the street properties- i.e. family houses, are not being kept in decent repair or being upgraded. So points 1-4 of the OP apply

[Jeremy]

uncleglen - it seems to me that council tenants could often do more to maintain their properties and keep them in decent condition. My previous neighbours were in a council house, and every weekend the guy seemed to be doing repairs or decorating. While others seem to leave their houses to rot and won't even pull out the weeds.

[LondonMix]

My neighbours are with London and Quadrant who refuse the fix anything ever. Our neighbours are great at keeping up their home despite this lack of care from the housing association.

[Louisa]

Some of my best neighbours have been people who are part of a housing association/ council scheme. The elderly lady opposite me and her husband (both long since passed) had the most beautiful flowers and they would regularly clean paint and tidy the flat. Miss them terribly, such nice people.

Louisa.

[BrandNewGuy]

uncleglen Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm afraid that Southwark are really neglecting

> their street properties as well. Under the Warm,

> Dry, Safe initiative for which they got EU money

> they were supposed to upgrade but the street

> properties- i.e. family houses, are not being kept

> in decent repair or being upgraded. So points 1-4

> of the OP apply

I'm sure it's deliberate policy to run these down as Southwark Labour's policy is that any council tenancy which falls vacant and the property is deemed to be worth more than ?300K is to be sold rather than being offered to another tenant. This presumably covers every council 'street property' in ED these days, which is scandalous. Short-termism of the worst sort and it will lead remorselessly to ghettoisation. Our road (usual ED Victorian terrace) has a fair number of council houses on it, which makes for a good mix of residents. In future, this will just be for those who can afford ?1m + houses, while council/social housing is confined to estates.