FREE Issue 7 | July 2021 @newhamvoices /NewhamVoices @newhamvoices www.newhamvoices.co.uk Lockdown hobby Solidarity fund Cheers! After serves up a for neighbours 18 months The Centre sizzling success Page 5 helping neighbours Page 4 Boleyn is back pages This will be put to an historic community vote a sustainable, state of the art living space. NEWS FOCUS expected to take place in September. Around a But it is a complex situation and many ques- maximum of 800 voters will decide on a project tions remain. The Dovetail centre will host a A handful of people living in a doomed tower that aims to provide 2,500 new homes by 2035 monthly surgery for residents starting in July block overlooking Carpenters Estate in and costing around £700 million. on the second Saturday of each month. Stratford are among those who face an uncer- The council’s wholly-owned delivery com- Newham Voices plans to follow the latest devel- tain future as Newham Council prepares to pany, Populo, is pulling out all the stops to opments closely. In this issue we report on the sign off on the multi-million regeneration of make sure that residents understand the perspective of two long-term residents still living the estate. scheme and what is on offer. in the largely empty tower blocks. And, inside, we Later this month the council cabinet is Last month it opened the Dovetail centre on provide background on the history of the estate expected to adopt a masterplan and a compre- the estate, providing community activities as and the breathtaking vision for its regeneration. hensive housing offer to residents and lease- well as presenting a vision of how the estate holders – past and present. will be transformed over the next 20 years into More on this story page 3 Carpenters Estate: uncertainty despite a visionary masterplan AIDAN WHITE and a former tenants’ leader, has lived on the estate for 50 years. udrey Clarke has lived in Den- She lives in a three-bedroomed nison Point on the Carpenters flat and is the only person occupying AEstate for 40 years. But now her space on the 11th floor of Dennison future is unclear as she gets caught Point, a high-rise due for demolition up in plans for major redevelopment under the masterplan. of an area that has been plagued by She is fiercely independent and not uncertainty for more than 20 years. convinced by the current plans and Audrey is one of a handful of peo- is defiant over any pressure to move. ple still living in three tower blocks, “I’m not going anywhere,” she two that are to be refurbished, and told Newham Voices. “If they want to one that faces demolition. knock this place down they’ll have to It’s a complicated situation in get me out, and I’m not moving.” which there are bound to be winners As a leaseholder June was disap- and losers, as Newham Council and pointed by the offer she received to the developers they have appointed leave her flat. She said it was not work hard to win the support of local enough to buy a one-bedroom studio people. They have to. in Stratford – highlighting the hard- In order to secure vital Greater cash realities of rehousing. London Authority investment, they June has been closely involved with must carry out a ballot later this year the future of the estate for many to ensure that there is local backing years. She was the first chair of the for the scheme. Tenant Management Organisation in Audrey is hoping to stay. “I raised the 1990s. Her husband Eddie who my two children on the estate and I died five years ago also played a don’t want to leave,” she said. “But role in the organisation which, with it’s not clear if I’ll be able to afford council support, helped manage the to stay.” estate until it was closed after the Her concern is that when the council withdrew funding in 2015. work is finished and she is offered After two decades of neglect and the chance to return, the existing broken promises June is unconvinced rent will be raised with additional that the latest plans will work. “I’ve costs and this uncertainty remains a seen it all before,” she said. “I have stumbling block for many residents. the original plan from 1998 and that Audrey Clarke from Dennison Point: “I want to stay” Her neighbour June Benn a widow, went nowhere.” Q 2 Newham Voices July 2021 About us By local people, for local people Help us to give Newham Our aim is to provide a voice for all of Newham’s people. We are committed to helping you share your news, views and experiences with each other. We an independent voice aim to be transparent, accountable and responsive to your needs. Democracy is breaking out across Newham – we have voted for the Mayoral system, a permanent citizens assembly will meet soon, and residents on the iconic Carpenters Estate have the right to vote on their future. We are a non-profit Community It’s a crucial moment in the Borough’s history and we at Newham Voices, are proud to be part of it. We launched Interest Company (number 12790786). Our journalism is in the teeth of the pandemic and after almost a year we are now your established community voice – high- based on core values of accuracy, lighting the humanity, solidarity and powerful energy of people who make Newham Britain’s most diverse and fairness, independence, humanity, vibrant community. accountability and transparency But we need your support to survive. 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For further information contact Rebekah Samuel on 07306 515 223 or at [email protected] Community Newham Voices July 2021 3 Destruction and renewal for a ‘wonderful community’ he upcoming vote by residents wanted to stay together. It had been a the right to return and will take part on the future of the Carpenters very friendly area with zero-crime – a in the ballot planned for Septem- Testate will be the latest phase in wonderful community.” ber 2021 along with existing tenants a history of renewal and destruction Today around 25 flats out of a total and leaseholders. dating back more than 250 years. of 430 across the three tower blocks For more information from the The estate gets its name from Car- on the estate are currently occu- Newham Heritage Month 2021 visit: penters Company, a City of Lon- pied. Some of those who left have www.newhamheritagemonth.org don livery company, which in 1767, bought a 63-acre farm estate in the parish of West Ham near Stratford, as a revenue investment. In the decades that followed fac- tories were built around the site and the Carpenters Company built terraced housing on Carpenters Road as well as setting up a school and a social club. The area was badly damaged during wartime air raids and the present estate was built in 1967, combining low rise Local Shops housing, maisonettes and three tower blocks: Lund Point in 1967, Dennison Point in 1967 and James Riley Point in in Focus 1969. Altogether there are 710 homes – 435 in high rise blocks We need local shops Since 2003 residents on the Car- penters Estate have faced uncertainty more than ever, but about their homes with repeated plans shopkeepers must to regenerate the estate falling through and it is estimated that two thirds of do more to stop us the residents have been relocated.