Clays Lane Estate - The Co-operative

The Co-operative

Clays Lane Housing Co-operative was a fully mutual housing co-operative, established to address the lack of housing for vulnerable single people in the east of London. It was initially funded by organisations including Newham London Borough Council and the University of East London. There were up to 500 contractual tenants at the beginning, 450 after the flats were voted eligible for single person occupancy, who had to be single people aged between 18 and 59. Tenants were required to purchase a £1 share in order to become a member of the co-operative, which entitled them to attend and vote in the annual general meeting, to elect or stand for the management committee, participate in the co-operative’s affairs and receive its services.

The Clays Lane estate consisted of an enclave of 57 shared houses in red or yellow brick (containing four, six or ten bedrooms) and 40 self-contained flats and 10 self-contained bungalows, all purpose built in 1977. A community centre (complete with shop, café, function hall, and training room), which also housed the housing office, was added in 1982. All of the co-operative's properties were located on one site in the London Borough of Newham, on the top of a small hill next to the Eastway Cycle Circuit (which had previously been the site of an old landfill site, the West Ham Tip). This provided views across Hackney Marshes and the Lee Valley.

The estate was designed to engender a strong local community, and was frequently used to help people make re-entry into social life - its motto was "A community - not just a housing estate". The housing was arranged in ten courtyards, each of which held a monthly meeting to discuss issues that may have arisen, hear back from committee representatives (each courtyard elected a member to the management committee), find out the latest news and generally catch up with each other. The estate also had its own sports teams and program of activities and training.