Furious Roehampton Residents Protest Loss of Green Space

Demonstration held at Toland Square against council plans

The protest at Toland Square on July 8. Picture: Toni Greeves

July 10, 2023

Wandsworth Council has been urged not to “wreck” an estate by building flats on green space at its centre. Furious residents of Toland Square, in Roehampton, staged a protest this Saturday (8 July) against the proposals.

Local housing and climate campaigners organised the demonstration and demanded the council “save” the estate’s green space. Martin Hartigan, one of the Toland Square residents who attended the protest, said the estate would become overcrowded if the plans went ahead.

He said, “It’s a good place. When trouble comes it gets dealt with. Rather than seek a genuinely decent and caring solution to the needs of the homeless in our community, the council’s solution is to foist overcrowding onto vulnerable and powerless tenants and residents of housing estates throughout London, including our own at Toland Square.”

Mr Hartigan said, “pretending that cycle storage and new walkways compensate for the loss of space and nature, particularly, with our post-pandemic knowledge, won’t work” as “residents are much smarter than that”. He added, “Toland Square is a quiet place, a good place to live and bring up the next generation. Don’t wreck it.”

The estate has been put forward for development under the council’s Homes for Wandsworth programme, which aims to deliver 1,000 new council homes on remaining land owned by the authority across the borough. The scheme was started by the old Conservative administration with a mix of tenures, but Labour switched all 1,000 planned homes to council rent after taking over in May last year.

A total of 31 new homes would be built across two sites at Toland Square under the latest proposals. This includes knocking down garages at the northeast corner of the estate for seven three and four-bedroom homes.

In the centre of the estate, 24 flats in a block up to four storeys tall would be built. The area currently has a community centre, which would be bulldozed, along with a play area and green space.

A new community centre would be built on the south edge of the green space, along with new play spaces and planting across the estate – including trees, ‘wildflower meadows’, rain gardens and new habitats. The proposals also include a new footpath and storage sheds.

The proposals were drawn up in more detail following public consultation in late 2022. They were published for a second round of consultation this year, which ended in April, and the design team is reviewing the feedback.

The centre of Toland Square

Mum Andrea Gilbert, from Wandsworth Housing Action (WHA), called for the council to “repair and reuse” empty properties it owns in the borough instead.

She said, “Building on public green spaces will serve to destroy our environmental heritage. London is known for its lungs. These spaces allow Londoners to breathe and thrive. They provide fresh air and light. They are what differentiate London from so many other major cities of the world.”

WHA said it supported the council’s commitment to building more homes in the borough, but described building on green spaces as “short-sighted”.

Ms Gilbert added, “The need for more council housing is obvious. The question is whether existing, unused council owned buildings such as derelict schools, parking lots and malls are converted to homes or our green spaces are lost forever.”

Playground and community centre at Toland Square

Labour councillor Aydin Dikerdem, cabinet member for housing, said the council is using “the remaining parts of our own land to build new council rent homes for local families” under the Homes for Wandsworth programme.

He said, “There is desperate need for new council housing in Wandsworth, be it from our existing tenants who are overcrowded, the 3,600 homeless families in expensive temporary accommodation or the 11,000 on our waiting lists.

“We want the local community to benefit first. That’s why the homes being built will be offered to those wishing to move from over or undercrowded homes on the same estate. Homes vacated will then be re-let to those on the council’s housing waiting list.

“A majority of our schemes are on sites such as garage courts, car parks and power substations. Occasionally we build on small portions of green spaces as part of our estates, but only where the balance between meeting the urgent need for new council housing can be justified. This is of course a hard balancing act which we take very seriously.

“We recognise building new homes is not always a popular proposition for those living on our estates, however the council must balance the views of local residents with those awaiting new homes.

“In every instance, the council seeks feedback from local residents as to how the impact of our new homes could be mitigated – improvements to the public spaces, biodiversity, bin and cycle storage and comprehensive landscaping upgrades form part and parcel of our proposals, as well as seeking to re-provide any lost amenities, such as at Toland Square where we are re-providing a brand-new community centre.”

Charlotte Lilywhite - Local Democracy Reporter