South London Estates Saved From Demolition

Two south London housing estates threatened with demolition for more than a decade are to be kept after Lambeth Council said it would end plans to knock them down. Lambeth Council

The estates are Cressingham Gardens, beside Brockwell Park, and Central Hill, near Crystal Palace. The change is expected to be formally confirmed at a council cabinet meeting next week, according to The Guardian.

The decision follows a change in political control. The demolition plans were pursued when Labour ran Lambeth. In May elections the Greens won the most seats and now run the council as a minority administration, which governs without an overall majority. The council is led by Green leader Martin Abrams, with Pete Elliott as cabinet member for housing.

The previous Labour administration had argued the estates were in poor repair and that rebuilding would provide social and affordable homes that were badly needed. That case was questioned in a 2022 review of Homes Lambeth, the council's housing delivery body. The review said the net number of additional homes for social rent that redevelopment would create was very small.

Both estates date from the postwar council housebuilding era. They were designed by a team of Lambeth architects led by Ted Hollamby, the borough architect.

Cressingham Gardens sits alongside Brockwell Park in the south of the borough. Central Hill is built on a sloping site near Crystal Palace, with homes arranged to make the most of natural light. The Central Hill project was led by architect Rosemary Stjernstedt.

Lambeth has said it is working to renew six housing estates, including Central Hill and Cressingham Gardens alongside Fenwick, Knight's Walk, South Lambeth and Westbury. The Green-led administration opposes demolition of the two estates.