Lambeth Cabinet is asked on 21 October to push on with a 955-home rebuild of Clapham's Westbury estate and to end demolition plans at Central Hill and Cressingham Gardens.

Lambeth is pressing ahead with the rebuild of the Westbury estate in Clapham, while abandoning demolition plans for two of the borough’s best-known estates.

A report to the council’s Cabinet on Wednesday 21 October says the selected developers have tendered for about 955 homes at Westbury, with at least 40% affordable. The same report recommends that renewal at Central Hill in Crystal Palace, about three and a half miles south-east of Clapham Common, and Cressingham Gardens beside Brockwell Park, about two miles east, is “not pursued as there are no viable options” (Cabinet report).

The council announced the proposals on 14 October (Lambeth Council). Cabinet has not yet decided anything.

What Cabinet is asked to decide

The report’s recommendations, estate by estate:

Estate Where Recommendation
Westbury Clapham Town ward, SW8 Next stage of commitment to regeneration, with the development agreement to be signed
Fenwick Clapham North No decision yet; a recommendation expected in early 2027 after more consultation
Central Hill Crystal Palace Renewal not pursued; estate kept and maintained
Cressingham Gardens Beside Brockwell Park Renewal not pursued; estate kept and maintained
Trinity Rise Edge of Cressingham Gardens Removed from the New Homes Programme
Knights Walk Phase 2 Kennington Removed from the New Homes Programme
South Lambeth South Lambeth Options study runs to spring 2027

Westbury: 955 homes and a ballot to come

The Westbury estate sits off Wandsworth Road, about half a mile north of Clapham Common station. Its two towers, Amesbury Tower and Durrington Tower, stand on Portslade Road.

The scheme has grown at every stage. In March 2025 the council said renewal could bring 400 to 700 new homes (Lambeth Council, March 2025). In May 2025 it added the two towers to the plans, citing “their age, conditions, and high maintenance costs”. 64 social rent homes were already built in the first phase, in 2021 (Lambeth Council, May 2025).

The new report says the partners chosen this year are Vistry (Countryside) and Hyde Housing. Their final tender was for a scheme of “circa 955 homes” with at least 40% affordable housing and a land payment to the council. The report does not say how many of the 955 replace homes already on the estate.

Officers expect the development agreement to be signed by mid-autumn. The report sets out what follows:

  • engagement with residents before the Christmas break
  • design, planning, phasing and timetable work from early 2027
  • an engagement and ballot strategy for residents
  • a Landlord Offer, an updated Residents Charter and a vacant possession strategy

The council has said before that residents will vote on the final plans in a ballot. The impact assessment for Cabinet adds that officers will discuss “the balance of affordable homes” with the developer once the agreement is signed (Equality Impact Assessment).

Fenwick estate: still waiting

The Fenwick estate in Clapham North was assessed alongside Central Hill and Cressingham Gardens from 2024. Its business case is drafted but no recommendation is made. The report says one should come to Cabinet in early 2027, once more consultation has been carried out.

The impact assessment admits that these estates have been earmarked for renewal for much longer than the current study, “some of which is circa 10 years old”. It says the effect of that uncertainty on residents “is noted”.

Central Hill and Cressingham Gardens: why the plans died

Both estates went through a six-option appraisal: maintenance, refurbishment, retrofit, infill, partial redevelopment and full redevelopment. Every option failed at least one of the council’s tests. Only basic maintenance was affordable, and it fails on improving homes and adding affordable ones (Appendix A, Central Hill; Appendix B, Cressingham Gardens).

Keeping the estates still costs money. Independent stock condition surveys put the bill over 30 years at about:

  • £53 million for Central Hill, which had 462 properties at its 2022 survey
  • £30 million for Cressingham Gardens

Both sums are to go into the Housing Revenue Account business plan. The report says it found “no evidence” of a significant risk to that account from keeping the four estates.

Cllr Pete Elliott, the Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “For over 12 years, we have fought for a better future for Central Hill and Cressingham Gardens. These proposals end years of uncertainty and put the focus where it belongs: repairing homes, supporting communities and filling empty properties.”

The homes that will not be built

Two smaller schemes are dropped as well:

  • Trinity Rise, 12 homes at Ropers Walk with permission since 2023 for 20 affordable replacements. Officers found the cost “disproportionate” to the extra homes. The 11 council-owned flats, used as temporary accommodation, return to secure council tenancies.
  • Knights Walk Phase 2, on the Cotton Gardens estate in Kennington. Permission for 68 more homes cannot be built within the site, the report says, because of a Tube tunnel exclusion zone, a sewer and red-route access. The 18 existing homes stay.

The report accepts the cost of this. Losing these homes “could negatively impact” people on the housing register, especially those in the highest-need bands and in temporary accommodation. Lambeth has about 30,000 households on its register and about 4,100 in temporary accommodation. The report says more sites will be brought forward to fill the gap, without naming them.

What it means for you

If you live on the Westbury estate, expect a letter and the first engagement events before Christmas, if Cabinet agrees and the agreement is signed. Any rebuild still needs planning permission, and the council has said residents get a ballot. The council says updates go on each estate’s website before the meeting.

If you live on the Fenwick estate, there is still no decision, and none is due before early 2027.

If you are on the housing register, about 955 homes at Westbury, at least 40% of them affordable, is the largest council-led scheme in this report. The affordable share includes homes for existing Westbury residents, so it is not all new supply.

Cabinet meets at 5pm on Wednesday 21 October. The papers are on the meeting page. More housing schemes are on our Clapham planning news page.

Sources