{"id":18725,"date":"2026-03-23T08:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T08:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=18725"},"modified":"2026-03-20T14:35:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:35:23","slug":"central-hill-vigil-against-terror-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=18725","title":{"rendered":"Central Hill & Vigil Against Terror – 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Central Hill & Vigil Against Terror:<\/strong> On Thursday 23 March 2017 tenants and supporters from the Central Hill estate in Crystal Palace came to a Lambeth Council Cabinet Meeting to protest against the proposed demolition of their estate. Later I went to Trafalgar Square to a vigil following the terrorist attack in Westminster the previous day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stop Central Hill Estate Demolition<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

South Lambeth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jane Nicholl holds a mask of Lambeth Council Leader Liz Peck calling her SCUM<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Central Hill is one of the finest council estates in London with around 450 homes built in 1966-74 on a hillside with views of London. I’ve photographed it on several occasions including in 2016<\/a>, and was astounded when I heard of Lambeth’s plan to demolish it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an estate that should certainly have been listed for its architectural merit but was refused I think on political grounds – as was Robin Hood Gardens in Poplar. Although in need of some refurbishment it is basically a a good condition and would last for many more years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council say that by demolishing the estate and working with a private developer they can put around twice as many homes on the site, though most of these would be for sale or market price rents rather than social housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Central Hill residents gather outside the community centre where the council are meeting<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A report by Architects for Social Housing, Central Hill: A Case Study in Estate Regeneration<\/a>, includes not only their “designs for the estate\u2019s refurbishment and increase in housing capacity by up to 50 per cent without the demolition of a single existing home, but also our account of why and how these proposals were rejected by Lambeth council, which \u2013 despite being opposed by 77 per cent of the residents \u2013 in March 2017 announced its intention to demolish Central Hill estate<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The residents had brought with them to present to the council the survey of 322 households which showed 79% of all residents were against demolition and favoured a programme of refurbishment. The survey completely contradicted the council’s assertions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sid shows off his T-shirt with an amended Lambeth Council mission statement: ‘We demolish beautiful council estates to make way for ugly homes for the rich – Lambeth’<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I left before the meeting, but was told the councillors refused to listen to the arguments put forward by the residents and approved the decision for demolition without any real consideration. Residents and activists say the council seems to have no interest in providing housing for its current residents but is simply hoping to share in the profits of private development – and the financial opportunities this will provide for some councillors and officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Revolutionary Communist Group pose with their ‘Housing is A Right’ banner outside<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Protests continued and the Central Hill estate is still there eight years later, although some facilities have closed. On Lambeth Council’s web site<\/a> it states “We are undergoing the Options Appraisal process for your estate from July 2024. The process is now estimated to complete in late 2026<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop Central Hill Estate De<\/a>m<\/a>olition<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vigil against Terror fills Trafalgar Square<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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After the speeches people lit candles in the square<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of Londoners including many Muslims had come to the vigil called by London Mayor Sadiq Khan to show their respect for those killed and injured in the terror attack the previous day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Central<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Six people including the attacker died, and at least 50 people were injured when a terrorist drove a car into pedestrians on the pavement along the south side of Westminster Bridge and Bridge Street before crashing into the fence around the Houses of Parliament and jumping out to fatally stab a police officer before being himself shot and killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There were speeches by police, the Home Secretary and the Mayor and then a minutes silence. Three large candles on the steps were lit and people in the crowd also lit candles, bringing them to place with others as dusk fell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vigil against Terror fills Trafalgar Square<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flickr<\/a> – Facebook<\/a> – My London Diary<\/a> – Hull Photos<\/a> – Lea Valley<\/a> – Paris<\/a>
London’s Industrial Heritage<\/a> – London Photos<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photographs on this page are copyright \u00a9 Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Central Hill & Vigil Against Terror: On Thursday 23 March 2017 tenants and supporters from the Central Hill estate in Crystal Palace came to a Lambeth Council Cabinet Meeting to protest against the proposed demolition of their estate. Later I went to Trafalgar Square to a vigil following the terrorist attack in Westminster the previous … Continue reading Central Hill & Vigil Against Terror – 2017<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,3,7],"tags":[23793,343,4629,4630,7328,1749,316,1529,1988,17,317,5314,79,23792,83,4310,628,23796,16,23795,395,23794,11904,341,23797,1458,1699],"class_list":["post-18725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-londonphotos","category-my-own-work","category-political-issues","tag-cabinet-meeting","tag-candles","tag-central-hill","tag-central-hill-estate","tag-council-estate","tag-crystal-palace","tag-demolition","tag-lambeth","tag-lambeth-council","tag-london","tag-london-mayor","tag-londoners","tag-muslims","tag-norwoodm","tag-peter-marshall","tag-petition","tag-police","tag-police-officer-killed","tag-protest","tag-rafalgar-square","tag-sadiq-khan","tag-survey","tag-terror-attack","tag-vigil","tag-vigil-against-terror","tag-westminster","tag-westminster-bridge"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18725"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18727,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18725\/revisions\/18727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}