Residents Say 18-Storey Tower Would 'Kill' Lennox Estate

Council wants development due to 'compelling need' for more housing

Tony Arthur, 62, on the Lennox Estate, Roehampton

March 5, 2024

Roehampton residents have said plans to build a ‘looming’ tower block on their estate, which they claimed could be 18 stories tall, would ‘kill it’. People living on the Lennox Estate allege it is already under strain after not being maintained and felt their concerns have been ignored by Wandsworth Council.

The authority is considering building new council homes on the northern part of the estate under its Homes for Wandsworth scheme, which is set to deliver 1,000 new units on land it owns. The project was started under 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 2022.

The council held its second public meeting on the proposals, which are in the early stages of the design process, on 20 February. Presentation boards identified two sites for potential development on the estate – including a tall tower block in the central green space partly where the current games court is, much higher than existing blocks, and homes on Upper Richmond Road. It said there would be no net loss of open space across the estate.

Tony Arthur, 62, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) residents were left shocked at the meeting when they were told the tower block could be 18 stories tall. Mr Arthur, who has lived on the estate for more than 40 years, described the plans as “ridiculous” and said he felt the council had been secretive by not providing residents with more information until the meeting, after an initial public meeting in June last year.

He added, “It would affect a lot of people because it changes the whole appearance of the estate and everything. We all know people need housing but come to the table with some common sense. It just makes it time-consuming when you know most people are going to object to an 18-storey tower block. It just purely wastes time.”

The council told the LDRS it wants to build more homes on the estate due to a “compelling need” for new council homes in the borough, including from overcrowded tenants and around 3,600 homeless families in expensive temporary accommodation. There were 11,860 people on its housing waiting list in March last year. The authority said it is engaging with residents to explore how to improve the potential scheme to benefit everyone, and that it would include a replacement games area, new play area and better pedestrian routes.

Residents fear a loss of green space near their homes on the Lennox Estate

Rachel Rixon, 50, lives in a home opposite the central green space and said the plans would have a “huge” impact on residents’ daily lives. She told the LDRS: “I’m standing at my kitchen window thinking at the moment I’m looking out onto trees and things like that, and I’m going to be looking into somebody[‘s home]. We’re already cramped enough.”

Ms Rixon said everyone enjoys the estate’s open space as it is. She added: “Everybody shares the [games court], and it’s used from young to old – exercise in the day, this, that and the other. The height of the [proposed tower block] is ridiculous. I appreciate there’s need for housing, however… why don’t they convert some of their offices?”

She said she felt the council had not “taken into account anything the residents want” and that they live in the “forgotten end of the borough”. She asked: “What about our quality of life? We don’t count.”

The council said the plans could help to improve how vehicles move around the estate. It has suggested closing the northern part of Arabella Drive to vehicles, with a new one-way route along Ludovick Walk, and introducing controlled parking to stop non-residents parking there.

But Francis Bird, 80, has lived on the estate for 42 years and said the plans would “kill it”. She said the central green space is the “core of the estate, that’s the heartbeat” and she felt residents had been “totally ignored”.

Ms Bird raised concerns about potentially bringing hundreds more people onto the estate as she claimed the council already can’t clean or repair it well enough. She said the estate “doesn’t work anymore” and has potholes everywhere and asbestos, while drivers struggle to navigate it due to the volume of cars parked on the roads – causing access issues for ambulances. She argued the plans would make the parking issues worse and people would “not be able to get on the estate in their cars and off”.

Hugo, who did not wish to provide his surname, also wrote in a letter to the council it had failed to engage properly with residents. He said the “looming project” represents a “direct attack on the soul” of the estate and a “disregard for the character, wellbeing and harmony of our community”.

The resident said, “It is time to confront the glaring issues that have been neglected for too long – inadequate infrastructure, including the lack of fibre optic connectivity in many homes, and the visible decline of our communal spaces.”

Hugo added residents “are not opposing change” but want the council to rethink the proposals to work towards a “shared vision for the sustainable future” of the estate.

A Wandsworth Council spokesperson said. “We want to provide more homes on the estate as part of our programme of building 1,000 new council homes across the borough under our Homes for Wandsworth development programme, using land we own to build new council rent homes for local families. There is a compelling need for new council housing in Wandsworth, from existing tenants who are overcrowded, the 3,600 homeless families in expensive temporary accommodation or the 11,000 on our waiting lists.

“At this stage no decisions have been made. All that’s happening now are discussions with residents as part of a comprehensive engagement process and at least one further round of engagement will be held later this year. In our view the local community should benefit first, which is why any existing tenants on the estate in under-occupied or over-occupied homes would be prioritised for the new homes. All homes vacated could then be re-let to those on our waiting list.

“As part of the Homes for Wandsworth programme, the council wants to add value to existing estate residents through a comprehensive series of landscaping upgrades that will be agreed with local residents as designs progress in more detail. These will include a replacement multi-use games area, new children’s play area and measures to improve accessibility for wheelchair and pushchair users. We are actively engaging Lennox residents to see how any potential scheme here can be improved for the benefit of all.”

Charlotte Lilywhite - Local Democracy Reporter