Aylesbury Estate
Encyclopedia
The Aylesbury Estate is a large housing estate
located in Walworth
, South East London.
Along with the Ferrier Estate
, Aylesbury is considered the most notorious estate in the United Kingdom. It was for this reason that Tony Blair
chose to make his first speech as Prime Minister
here, in an effort to demonstrate that the government would care for the poorest elements of society. The estate is often used as a typical example of urban decay
.
in Buckinghamshire
and the various sections of the estate are named after other local towns and villages in Buckinghamshire including Foxcote
, Wendover
, Winslow
, Padbury
, Taplow
, Ravenstone, Latimer
and Chiltern
.
In the 1970s residents in the ground floor flats successfully campaigned for gardens to be fenced off adjoining their flats. The final blocks of flats were completed in 1977 and the estate included a nursery
, a day centre and a health centre.
However as old tenants moved out and new tenants came in, the estate went through a period of decline in the 1980s. The area is now considered to be in the bottom category on the ACORN
classification for inner city adversity, signifying an area of extremely high social disadvantage. Crime is highly prevalent in parts of the estate with the Guardian
newspaper
recently reporting a crime taking place every four hours. Two thirds of residents are black and of minority ethnic heritage.
In 1999 the estate was awarded New Deal for Communities
status and given £56.2m of central government funding (over 10 years). It was expected that this money would bring in £400m of housing association funding into the estate as part of a stock transfer
deal. A tenant ballot was held on transfer to a housing association which was rejected by 73% of the tenants on a 73% turnout.
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 estate served as the back drop to a feature length film called Harry Brown
which starred Michael Caine
. The film centers 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.
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
located in Walworth
Walworth, London
Walworth is an inner-city district in the London Borough of Southwark. Walworth probably derives its name from the Old English "Wealhworth" which meant Welsh farm. It is located south east of Charing Cross and near to Camberwell and Elephant and Castle.The major streets in Walworth are the Old...
, South East London.
Along with the Ferrier Estate
Ferrier Estate
The Ferrier Estate is a large housing estate located in Kidbrooke, Greenwich, south London.The estate is a typical example of system built social housing in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1970s...
, Aylesbury is considered the most notorious estate in the United Kingdom. It was for this reason that Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
chose to make his first speech as Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
here, in an effort to demonstrate that the government would care for the poorest elements of society. The estate is often used as a typical example of urban decay
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
.
Construction and decline
The estate was designed by architect Hans Peter Trenton and construction started in 1963. Built on 285,000 square metres the estate was an attempt by planners to house some of London's poorest families. The 2,700 dwellings were designed to house a population of roughly 10,000 residents, making it one of the largest public housing estates in Europe. The estate is named after AylesburyAylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
and the various sections of the estate are named after other local towns and villages in Buckinghamshire including Foxcote
Foscott, Buckinghamshire
Foscott is a hamlet and is also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. In the Twentieth century a reservoir was built within Foscote, named Foxcote Reservoir...
, Wendover
Wendover
Wendover is a market town that sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district...
, Winslow
Winslow, Buckinghamshire
Winslow is a small market town and also a civil parish designated as a town council within Aylesbury Vale district in north Buckinghamshire. It has a population of about 4500....
, Padbury
Padbury
Padbury is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on the A413 main road that links Buckingham with Winslow....
, Taplow
Taplow
Taplow is a village and civil parish within South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It sits on the east bank of the River Thames facing Maidenhead on the opposite bank. Taplow railway station is situated near the A4 south of the village....
, Ravenstone, Latimer
Latimer, Buckinghamshire
Latimer is a village and civil parish that sits on the border between Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, in England. The parish forms part of the Buckinghamshire district of Chiltern. Latimer parish includes the villages of Latimer, Ley Hill and Tyler's Hill.Latimer was originally joined with the...
and Chiltern
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.-Location:...
.
In the 1970s residents in the ground floor flats successfully campaigned for gardens to be fenced off adjoining their flats. The final blocks of flats were completed in 1977 and the estate included a nursery
Nursery school
A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of one and five years, staffed by suitably qualified and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than simply providing childcare...
, a day centre and a health centre.
However as old tenants moved out and new tenants came in, the estate went through a period of decline in the 1980s. The area is now considered to be in the bottom category on the ACORN
ACORN (demographics)
ACORN is a geodemographic information system categorising all United Kingdom postcodes into various types based upon census data and other information such as lifestyle surveys....
classification for inner city adversity, signifying an area of extremely high social disadvantage. Crime is highly prevalent in parts of the estate with the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
recently reporting a crime taking place every four hours. Two thirds of residents are black and of minority ethnic heritage.
In 1999 the estate was awarded New Deal for Communities
New Deal for Communities
New Deal for Communities is a regeneration programme led by the government of the United Kingdom for some of the England's most deprived neighbourhoods...
status and given £56.2m of central government funding (over 10 years). It was expected that this money would bring in £400m of housing association funding into the estate as part of a stock transfer
Stock transfer
A stock transfer agent or share registry is a company, usually a third party unrelated to stock transactions, which cancels the name and certificate of the shareholder who sold the shares of stock, and substitutes the new owner's name on the official master shareholder listing. Stock transfer agent...
deal. A tenant ballot was held on transfer to a housing association which was rejected by 73% of the tenants on a 73% turnout.
Demolition
On 27 September 2005, the London Borough of SouthwarkLondon Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark is a London borough in south east London, England. It is directly south of the River Thames and the City of London, and forms part of Inner London.-History:...
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
Housing association
Housing associations in the United Kingdom are independent not-for-profit bodies that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in housing need. Any trading surplus is used to maintain existing homes and to help finance new ones...
. 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
I Knit London
I Knit London is a knitting organisation based in London, England, UK, comprising a knitting group, knitting shop and knitting events. I Knit London was formed in December 2005, and is run, by Gerard Allt and Craig Carruthers I Knit London (often shortened to I Knit or IKL) is a knitting...
, 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
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
, 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
Elephant & Castle tube station
Elephant & Castle tube station is a station on the London Underground system. It is located in the London Borough of Southwark and on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and 2...
) 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 estate served as the back drop to a feature length film called Harry Brown
Harry Brown (film)
Harry Brown is a 2009 British action drama film directed by Daniel Barber and starring Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Jack O'Connell, and Liam Cunningham....
which starred Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
. The film centers 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.
Notable residents
- British rapper Tinie TempahTinie TempahPatrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu , better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He made his first mixtape in 2007 with 28 songs, freestyles and remixes, the album features Mz Bratt, Chipmunk and G-Unit...
grew up on the Aylesbury Estate until the age of 12.
External links
- Aylesbury Regeneration - Southwark Council website
- Aylesbury Tenants First - tenants website
- Aylesbury Area Action Plan - review of the main planning submission
- Creation Trust - successor to the Aylesbury NDC that received £56.2m to deal with the estate's problems.
- Knit the Aylesbury Estate - community organisation
- Heygate & Aylesbury Leaseholders Action Group - Action Group