Hundreds of residents have been “left to rot” next to boarded-up houses with cockroaches, mice and mould on an estate earmarked for regeneration, residents have complained.
The Lesnes Estate in Thamesmead, part of the brutalist 1960s estate where Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange was filmed, has become a ghost town with roughly a quarter of residents still living there.
Bexley Council gave outline planning permission to the Peabody housing association in October 2022 to replace 816 current homes with 2,778 new ones.
But plans to revamp the area have stagnated and the estate, once dubbed “a town of tomorrow” by its Greater London Council architects, with residents left “living in limbo” next to locked up homes.
Rose Asenguah, who has lived on the estate for 17 years told the Standard how it had become a “horrible nightmare” describing how the area has shifted from having a vibrant community to becoming “hell on earth”.
The 68-year-old said that residents should be enjoying the benefits of the recently built Elizabeth line and the new Superloop bus route but instead have been left frightened and feeling like an afterthought.
She told the Standard: “We had this terribly scary incident where there was an attempted murder.
“We have heard gunshots.
“We used to have a vibrant community and we all know our neighbours. We cooked together, and ate together.
“All of us that are still here we want to be part of the regeneration. We want to benefit from it.”
Mrs Asenguah described how the area had become “dirty and unsafe” with rubbish scattered everywhere and people appearing in the area at night.
Meanwhile, Maria Ivanova, 72, told the Standard she had seen groups fighting on the estate using metal poles and she was forced to call the police multiple times.
Ms Ivanova, who has lived on the Lesnes Estate for nearly 20 years, said: “When my family or guests come to visit they say ‘Is this London? Why is it so dirty?’
“This summer my son had serious kidney problems and needed to go to the emergency services.
“We weren’t able to call for a taxi as they were there with metal poles using them as weapons and fighting each other.”
She pressed on: “It doesn’t matter if there are 200 people, 500 people, 1000 or one person [living on the estate]. We are human beings.”
Zoë Garbett told Sir Sadiq Khan during Mayor’s Question Time last Thursday: “There are around 200 people still living there but it has been partially emptied.
“Residents are living next to boarded-up houses, when people move out the kitchens are torn out and they are sometimes just left on the estate.
“The walls have been knocked down, there is lots of fly-tipping and littering. Mice, cockroaches, damp and mould but all these issues haven’t been picked up and looked at.”
The London Assembly member also warned the residents had been “left for about a decade” waiting to learn how the estate regeneration will end.
She continued: “Their regeneration has completely stalled. They feel like they have been left to rot with this stress and uncertainty hanging over them as well.
“They have really spoken about how this has impacted their health. So I am concerned you are not hearing that direct experience.”
Residents from the Lesnes Estate handed a petition to the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on Thursday asking him to call in the next phase of development at the estate.
In response, Sir Sadiq said he would ask the deputy mayor for housing to look into the issue and vowed to work with Ms Garbett to try and look into the circumstances residents are facing.
Residents on Lesnes Estate had previously resisted plans for their homes to be demolished and have warned the decision could result in homelessness, debt and carbon pollution.
Pictures from September show multiple cars on the estate with broken windows as well as a variety of fly-tipped household items including mattresses, bathtubs, chests of drawers and armchairs left in both communal areas and gardens of derelict homes.
Peabody has insisted that the regeneration of the estate will bring hundreds of high-quality needed homes to Bexley and highlighted that the majority of residents have voted in favour of regeneration.
A spokesperson for Peabody said: “Keeping the estate in good order is a main priority for us. We've already met with some residents and walked through the estate with them to ensure we’re responding to their concerns.
“Our teams work on the estate daily and our wardens regularly patrol the area. We’ve cleared fly-tipping from several gardens in recent months, and we're issuing fines to anyone found to be illegally dumping rubbish. In September, we hosted a meeting with the council to address residents’ concerns around waste collection.
“We’ve always been happy to talk to the residents about any concerns they may have and are here to support them through the regeneration process.”
