Battle to save estate which could house Grenfell victims

As tenants at Grenfell Tower fought Kensington and Chelsea over their safety, another battle over social housing was being fought at the nearby Sutton Estate.

Located in one of the borough’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, the estate was built a hundred years ago to house the city’s working poor.

Campaigners recently won a planning battle with Affinity Sutton to protect social housing in the borough.

Four days after Grenfell Tower, shaken local residents came home to find leaflets saying the housing association will now appeal.

“Talk about burying bad news,” a campaigner said. “While everyone else is thinking about Grenfell, they are just trying to find ways to have even fewer social homes in the borough.”

He claimed there were currently 200 empty properties on the Sutton Estate.“With a bit of a tidy up, they could easily house people from Grenfell and the surrounding area,” he said.