aylesbury estate tenant who refuses to leave to hold anti-gentrification exhibition in her flat

By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.uk

A COUNCil tenant who has refused to leave the Aylesbury estate thirteen years after its demolition began is holding an anti-gentrification exhibition in her flat.

Aysan Dennis, 64, is surrounded by boarded up apartments and deserted walkways, but still loves her Wendover block apartment.

The exhibition will feature photos, collages, mementos and audio-recordings documenting her long struggle against redevelopment.

Aysan, who moved into her flat in May 1993 with her late-sister, said: “This time is the right time to have an exhibition… one of the biggest issues we are facing in the housing crisis…

“The Aylesbury is mostly empty and boarded off… these beautiful flats have been empty for many years - and it’s been empty while people are desperate [for homes],” she added.

The 2,758-flat Aylesbury Estate was completed in 1977 as part of a huge slum clearance but less than thirty years later, in 2005, Southwark Council decided to demolish it.

The council argued redevelopment was the only viable option and that refurbishment would be too expensive.

This was despite a ballot that saw 70 per cent of residents voting against the estate’s demolition in 2001.

Reflecting on the council’s failure to heed the ballot, Aysan said: “It raises questions about our democracy.”

Now retired, Aysen, who used to work at a women’s refuge, has spent over a decade campaigning against redevelopment. Aysan led demonstrations, organised protests, created campaign material, all of which will be documented in the exhibition.

She has been particularly perturbed by the lack of social housing provided by the new development.

While 4,200 new homes are being built on site, just 1,600 will be social rent compared to the 2,402 social rent homes that existed on-site in 2008.

But despite her efforts, the scheme is well underway. Only last month, Southwark Council got permission to bulldoze 373 flats as part of the redevelopment of Phase 2B.

Unlike hundreds of ex-Aylesbury residents who have been displaced, Aysan will move into one of the new flats once it’s completed at the end of the year.

But she’s still holding on to the hope that she can save the flat she moved into forty years ago.

“Give us a chance to show them that whatever is left - we have to keep it and refurbish it and let people move in,” she said.

The exhibition is scheduled for an unannounced date in April. Campaign group Fight4Aylesbury is fundraising for the exhibition which you can donate to at: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ fight4aylesbury?utm_term=gKQQQzp8q

Most