GREAT PLAYGROUND DIVIDE
Children in social housing flats banned from play area set aside for ‘rich’ neighbours in same multi-million-pound complex
THEY are too young to study Charles Dickens’ classic A Tale Of Two Cities, but children in a new housing development are learning its lessons about class divisions the hard way.
For youngsters living in social housing flats in a multi-million-pound estate have been banned from playing alongide children whose parents own their apartments.
A large grassy play area at the 149-home Baylis Old School complex in Lambeth, south London, is designated as only for the ‘rich’ children, while ‘poor’ children must make do with a smaller play area on the other side of their block.
Sienna Da Silva, 13, and Gene Brathwaite, 11, have been friends since primary school, but can’t play together at home – as Sienna lives in social housing and Gene’s family own their flat.
Gene said: ‘I don’t understand why. We just want to play together. It’s not fair.
‘ We live less than 100m away from each other. I can even see her on her balcony.’
His mum, student midwife Kate Mearns, 38, said: ‘It’s a shame it’s like this. It’s awkward and embarrassing…They have to ask permission to come in. It shouldn’t be like that.’
Sienna’s mum Sarina Da Silva, 38, lives on the top floor of the social housing block with her partner and three children aged between eight and 16.
She said: ‘Sienna and Gene went to primary and secondary schools together. They can play in our tiny playground but my kids aren’t allowed into theirs.
‘On their side there’s a water feature that the kids run through in the summer and I have to tell mine they can’t.
‘A lot of the private residents tell our children to hop over and play. It’s mainly Warwick Estates, who run the grounds, who say “No, you’re not allowed”.’
The segregation has sparked uproar, with parents from both sides of the divide uniting to defy the ban.
Claudia Cifuentes, 38, who lives in the social housing block, said it breaks her heart to see her children Juan Jose, six, and daughter Luisa, 14, looking at the play area from which they are banned.
She said: ‘I have to tell them they can’t go to the nice, green grassy area because they are not allowed.
“All they have is this tiny playground which I think is unsafe for them, and they think it’s rubbish.
‘When we moved here I thought everywhere would be accessible. I feel discriminated against.’
The row is the result of the complex ownership and management of the site, which is a stone’s throw from the Thames.
Developers Henley Homes marketed the site as family-friendly,
‘It breaks my heart they’re not allowed’
saying ‘ common areas are there for the use of all the residents’.
But after the site was completed the developers handed the freehold of part of the site known as Wren Mews to Guinness Homes, a social housing company.
Henley Homes said residents in the social housing section are not allowed access to any of the private parts of the estate. Suze Jones, of Henley Homes, said: ‘The residents of Wren Mews, a neighbouring block which is not owned or managed by Henley Homes, do not have the right of access to the Baylis Old School estate at all.
‘It is a separate building owned by The Guinness Partnership and has its own play facility.’
Warwick Estates, which manages the private part of the development, confirmed children in the social housing block could not access the main play area. A spokesman said: ‘This is for a very good reason – being that they do not contribute towards the service charges.
‘This is in no way discriminatory but fair and reasonable.’
Guinness Homes said it had no say over access to private areas.
Councillor Matthew Bennett, of Lambeth Council, said: ‘It is completely unacceptable for social housing residents to be denied equal access to play areas. The segregated arrangement was not in the planning application.’
He said councillors have written to the developers to ‘look into the issue as a matter of urgency’.
The situation is similar to the ‘poor doors’ controversy, where social housing residents have to use side doors to apartment blocks that contain private flats.