Tenants on the Aylesbury estate are very angry at Southwark Council’s indifference to their complaints and the Council’s high handed attitude towards tenants’ needs.
Tenants have voted on numerous occasions to keep the Aylesbury estate under council control and believe that the council is trying to create conditions to force them to accept the ‘Regeneration’ scheme, which is designed to bring back private landlords.
The recent very wet weather has made the situation very much worse with large puddles of water which had accumulated inside interior corridor landings.
One resident, Mrs Modupe, said: ‘We are not happy with the state of the place as you can see. The Council do not care about us or our housing.
‘We want the repairs done promptly. We get flooded inside our flats every year, two or three times and by the time the Housing Officer gets around to see things it has all dried out.
‘If you don’t have money for insurance, you will lose everything. But it is the Council’s responsibility. It is the pipe between the walls which is the cause of the leaks and therefore it is for them to fix it not the tenants.’
Pointing to an open cavern in the side of the flat where the plumbing waste and water pipeworks were visible, she said: ‘These open places at the side of all the flats have been left open for over three months.
‘The council just came along and broke the doors off, and they have not told us what is going on. It is very dangerous for everyone but a child could easily crawl in there for fun, as a hiding place, and get hurt. It is a health and safety issue.
‘Also the bin spaces have been boarded up, and we don’t know why, but they are no longer providing the bin emptying service and we were not informed. They just came along and boarded the bin covers with galvanised metal, without any explanation. We have to walk down the long corridors now to empty our rubbish.
‘They have also boarded up the cupboards that we used for storage. The council blocked my neighbour’s cupboard, and all her children’s toys which were stored there she had to get rid of them.’
Asked what she thought could be done about it, Mrs Modupe replied: ‘Well we should replace these councillors and this government who are only interested in business profits and not the welfare of the tenants.
‘Everything is going up and you can’t pay your bills even if your work 24 hours.’
Mrs J Begum also described her situation, showing the state of her flat. In one of the bedrooms an inch of water covered the floor and water poured down the inside of one window from the roof soaking the carpet and the bed.
She said: ‘My son has talked many times to Southwark Council. They come and look and then go away and make appointments but they don’t keep them. We have suffered for a year with water coming into this house.
‘My English is not so good so I can’t call them myself. But I have difficulty with breathing and this is very bad for me.’
The South East London Council of Action (SELCA) are holding a Public Meeting against the ‘Regeneration’ scheme this Tuesday, May 8th, at 7.30pm at the Browning Street Community Centre, just off Walworth Road, to keep the private developers out, demand refurbishment and renovation and oppose any evictions of council tenants.