Several roofs on the Cressingham Gardens housing estate in south London were completely ripped off today as Storm Eunice wreaked havoc across south east England.
The zinc covering on the roofs unpeeled like sardine cans, with some pieces being thrown around the estate.
Brixton Buzz spoke to several residents who were angry at Lambeth’s inability to maintain their homes, despite promises in the past.
In Sept 2012, Lambeth sent out a document to residents acknowledging that ‘roofs need replacing,’ but we were told by some residents that no action has been taken since.
Many suspect this is part of Lambeth’s plan to intentionally run down Cressingham Gardens so that they can push through their wildly unpopular plans to flatten the entire estate and replace it with luxury flats.
With several properties now in an unsafe condition we hope Lambeth will prioritise emergency repairs to the damaged homes and ensure the remainder are adequately maintained to ensure the safety of the residents.
Join the discussion
- Lambeth’s plans to demolish Cressingham Gardens and other estates without the consent of residents (1,500 posts)
Background and more info:
- See more articles on Cressingham Gardens here
- Fighting Fund https://www.gofundme.com/f/savecressingham
- Campaign Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SaveCressinghamGardens
- Twitter: twitter.com/SaveCressingham
- Save Cressingham Gardens petition
- Wikipedia page
- Brixton Buzz fundraising concert
- Social Life, Living on Cressingham Gardens: Social Life’s conversations with residents 20.10.13
- Cressingham Gardens, Lambeth: ‘a sense of smallness inside the bigness’ by Municipal Dreams
Cressingham Gardens – a village within a city by Single Aspect
Cressingham garden residents need to be on their guard. Lambeth council / Homes etc – can use storm damage as a way to get in and start demolition of estate. I hope nobody was injured. Big love to Cressingham Garden folk
Amarjit
They just didn’t do the work properly. All these years of issues is simply because the work wasn’t done properly.
I remember they had employed a project manager some years ago; around 2017/2018 – the guy was efficient (can’t remember his name; I’m sure it will come back to me) he did my gutters perfectly. I bought him and his team a Christmas card to say thank you for the beautiful work that was done and I’ve never suffered a problem with it since. Especially when the leaks went on for years.
That’s when he told me he was under attack by the superiors for doing the work properly.
He then informed me that they ended his contract because he was doing the work properly. He was upset and angry that he had to go.
He actually liked being able to resolve the problems on the estate. Sadly this wasn’t the case for the superiors. They wanted him gone!
This article – has brought it all back to me. I’m so sorry that residents have been disrupted by the damage and effects of the Storm Eunice. If the work was allowed to be completed properly, this wouldn’t be an issue for them as a result of all this.
It’s truly an ongoing fight to find integral leaders doing right by the people. May God help us all in these challenging times.
May God help us, because Lambeth Council won’t.
I lost my roof, then spent my day at The Rotunda, shepherding the council workers & councillors as they waddled around like penguins, making themselves look busy. It wasn’t until about 5pm that most of them started door-knocking.
I remember who you’re talking about, re: the “weathertight repairs”. The site agent was removed because he enforced high-quality work. Lambeth’s housing management team didn’t like that, so we ended up with “weathertight repairs” that caused more problems than they solved. More than half a million pounds down the drain, & one side of Scarlette Manor Way (the houses) were missed out entirely!
Council officers & councillors were VERY surprised yesterday when they door-knocked, and affected residents told them “no thanks, don’t want to go into a hotel overnight, I’ll stay here. I lost my roof, but I’m damned if I’ll let them trick me out of my home!
This is 100% due to Lambeth’s deliberate neglect.
Lambeth appointed consultants to survey the roofs and received tenders to replace all the roofs in 2007 yet failed to carry out the works.
Several residents had already taken legal action against Lambeth regarding this (you can see an example here from 15:30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZyCkdFF6hM).
The cost to replace the metal roofs back in 2007 was just over £2M, which will be a fraction of the cost Lambeth will now have to pay in replacing the roofs and in compensation claims.
Yes, & even though we know they’ll try to minimise the number of roofs replaced, & try to get away with not replacing like for like, we need to force them to do it right.
Cllr Atkins yesterday crassly remarked (are her remarks ever anything but crass?) that if residents had allowed the estate to be demolished, this wouldn’t have happened. If her compatriots had made sure Lambeth’s council homes were properly maintained (instead of, say, wasting tens of millions on an ALMO), it wouldn’t have happened.