Recent History
On 27 September 2005, the London Borough of Southwark decided that rather than spend £350 million updating the estate to basic living standards they would order its demolition and replace the dwellings with modern houses controlled by a housing association. The plan involves increasing the density of housing from the current 2,700 units to 4,900. 2,288 units would remain social housing and the remainder would be for sale. The sale of these units is planned to fund the whole scheme.
On Boxing Day 2007, a resident was shot in the communal garden by the Chartridge building of the estate: disappointment was expressed that the body had lain undiscovered for more than 24 hours.
Over the summer of 2008, local residents and members of the community craft group, In-Spire, in conjunction with London knitting group I Knit London, launched a unique project to create a knitted scale model of the estate as a lasting memorial to the estate, prior to its demolition.
The estate has featured highly in many television shows including The Bill, Spooks, and since 2005 has been featured in a Channel 4 ident, showing urban deprivation. More recently in August 2008, Aylesbury has been in the local news as result of Southwark Council paying for private buses (to Elephant & Castle station) for its employees working at its Aylesbury Regeneration Office. These services were provided in response to a number of attacks on its employees as they made the mile long journey on foot.
In 2009 the nearby Heygate Estate served as the back drop to a feature length film called Harry Brown which starred Michael Caine. The film centres around the violence of a youth gang in a fictional British housing estate and the violent response exacted by a lonely pensioner. Many of the young men living at Aylesbury Estate had small parts in the film.
The regeneration of the Aylesbury Estate has been divided into four phases which will see the estate being re-built in 15 years. The indicative phasing plan states when tenants plan to be re-housed and when leasehold properties would be bought by Southwark Council. There is a vacant site in the south-west corner of the estate identified as Phase 1a which will be the first part of the estate where work will start.
Read more about this topic: Aylesbury Estate
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