In July 2015, ex-Southwark Council leader Peter John felt the need to defend Elephant Park – a £1.5 billion ‘regeneration scheme’ made possible by the demolition of the Heygate Estate.
Southwark Council faced criticism that the Heygate’s 1,212 council homes were being replaced with 2,300 flats consisting of just 541 affordable homes and 92 classed as social rent.
Despite securing just 25 per cent affordable housing, 10 per cent below the council’s own guidelines, John insisted he’d secured “a good deal” from the developer Lendlease.
And by 2015, with families long since replaced by bulldozers, and construction underway, the argument seemed to be over.
But eight years later, local campaigners are taking Lendlease to task over Elephant Park one last time. They have already raised over £6,000 and are now pushing for £10,000.
At a public enquiry in September, they will defend Southwark Council’s decision to reject plans for a vast office block on H1, the final plot on Elephant Park, which was originally earmarked to host a residential building.
Towering office block application for Elephant Park refused by Southwark Council
Among their reasons for objecting are a lack of affordable housing, and fears that a huge office block will impose on the setting created in Elephant Park.
One of the objectors is Jerry Flynn of the 35% Campaign, a local housing campaign group. Having grown up on the Heygate Estate, and seen his family pushed out in 2008, his fight to see more affordable housing on Elephant Park is somewhat personal.
“It was my family home. We moved onto the estate in 1974 from very poor living conditions just off Walworth Road,” he said.
“So, for us, it was definitely a great improvement and somewhere, by and large, we all enjoyed living.”
He added: “Definitely, I think the demolition of the Heygate was a mistake… there were other options available rather than demolish.”
There are also fears that the office block, which with 63,996sqm floorspace is double what a residential block would have been, would overshadow the community area in the middle of Elephant Park.
Silvia Fernandez, who lives in the newly built Hurlock Heights block on Elephant Park, said: “If you come here over the weekend this place is packed, people love it. And the fact that they’re going to build something that wasn’t originally planned – I feel ripped off.”
The public enquiry is taking place because Lendlease does not agree with Southwark Council’s decision to reject the 18-storey office block back in October.
Although the overarching parameters of Elephant Park were agreed upon long ago, the details of individual buildings are only approved by the council on a case-by-case basis.
In this instance, councillors deemed the building to be of “excessive height, mass and bulk of the application, causing harm to the character”.
Jerry agrees that these things are true but is most exercised by what he says is a lack of affordable housing in Elephant Park.
Lendlease was able to sidestep Southwark’s ‘minimum 35 per cent affordable housing’ requirements by producing a much-contested ‘viability assessment’.
This document argued that Lendlease would not be able to make a profit from Elephant Park if 35 per cent of housing was affordable. In fact, Lendlease at one point tried to argue that only 9 per cent would be viable.
So Lendlease has fulfilled its affordable housing obligations on the site, which allowed it to put forward plans to put an office instead of flats in the scheme’s final plot.
But Jerry still says H1 should be used for flats – not offices.
“Lendlease has only delivered 25 per cent affordable housing across the whole of Elephant Park and they need to make up the other 10 per cent,” he said.
Some people feel they were misled when buying their flats on Elephant Park – having been unaware that the views they expected when buying their properties could change dramatically.
Adam Whittles, also a Hurlock Heights resident said: “When we initially bought the property… they had a view book that showed you the impact on your views should you buy on this floor and they charged premiums for this particular aspect and now they’re building this very large building that’s going to cause a lot more loss of light.”
Explaining his opposition to the office block, Silvia’s partner Mark Dixon, who lives in Hurlock Heights, said: ““It’s the size, it’s the mass, it’s the change – what Lendlease are planning for H1 is quite disturbing.
“Living in Hurlock Heights, it’s directly in front of my view and it’s very different from what we were sold when we were looking into purchasing it.”
The public enquiry will take place in September and is expected to last eight days.
A spokesperson for Lendlease said: “We’ve been working in partnership with Southwark to deliver a thoughtful and community-led regeneration at Elephant Park for over a decade and have submitted an appeal regarding our application for a new office building.
“When complete it would have the potential to provide work for around 4,000 people, include a new community health hub, support the growing economy of independent retailers, first rate leisure amenities and world class education already in the surrounding area; and build upon the sustainability commitments already made across Elephant Park.”
You can donate to the objectors’ fundraiser here.
