Forum Topic

Alton Estate

So after 15 years of planning  3 abortive attempts at regeneration the Council have come up with a plan (see front page)To plant a wild flower meadow and improve the lighting for the bull statue.Bloody marvellous, I'm sure the residents of the Alton will be delighted.

Andy Pike ● 962d18 Comments

It's all too easy to sneer, but to be fair to the council this is only the first stage of the process not, as any fair-minded person would see, the plan itself.

Richard Carter ● 962d

After 2 years of the new Council I would have expected a lot more than this tinkering. Sure a bigger plan will follow but having ditched the last plan and consistently voted against the previous plans one would have hoped they'd be further forward than spreading some wild flowers and buying a couple of light bulbs.

Andy Pike ● 962d

Hopefully the local council are not indicative of the next govt. After years of criticising they have no plan of their own.Look forward to plenty of flower meadows and enhanced lighting nationwide. !!!

Andy Pike ● 962d

The current Government have had 14 years to solve the housing crisis and in Wandsworth the Conservatives had since 1978 to get it right.  Perhaps we should see it from that perspective.

David Beeney ● 956d

Please tell me what is Labour’s plan beyond some vague reform of the planning process which will get mired in the courts.  You can’t solve the housing crisis with such a huge increase in population.  This appears to be a problem shared with the EU as well. 

Robert Wheeler ● 956d

Yes, people are living a lot longer and if they want to do that - why not?

Philippa Bond ● 956d

We don’t have legal euthanasia at the moment Philippa so clearly l was talking about immigration.  Just London has grown from circa 7 million to 10 million in approx 15 years.  Immigration is yet another problem without a clear solution to by Labour.

Robert Wheeler ● 956d

Andy, By saying '...after 15 years of planning...' I assume you are somewhat (justifiably?) being heavily party-critical of the lamentable record as regards the future of the Alton estate overseen by the previous Conservative governance, and not just using the issue as a cheap attempt to criticise the current administration.Having  said that, it would be as well to be aware of some of the work involved in generating an acceptable area development/redevelopment/enhancement plan.The consultation process can be and very often is laborious and time-consuming, involving as it does a number of stakeholders all of whom have to be fully identified and given time not only to clarify their own thoughts but also to consider the ideas of others, whilst all the while ensuring that all issues generated are fully addressed, and formulated with as much cross-group support as is possible, all the time remaining within a reasonable and affordable budget.Snide party-politics should not be allowed to debase matters, should it not?

Clifford Cowell ● 956d

Clifford having been heavily involved in a number of regeneration schemes including the first attempt at Alton ( shelved during the banking crisis) I am acutely aware of the need for consultation and the various parties involved in a major regen plan. Indeed I spent many hours at Alton library talking to residents about the plans.My point was that the current administration have spent 15 years criticising every plan that has been tabled but 2 years after scrapping the last plan could only come up with spreading a view wild flowers and a couple of extra light bulbs.It is of course possible that they have realised their idea of all units being for rent cannot be funded and maybe a mixed development would get the job done.I sincerely hope a new masterplan will follow this latest announcement and that they can get the residents of the estate on board to enable work to start.But let's see what happens.

Andy Pike ● 956d

Who is going to pay tax and will be working when we have an ageing population and a dropping birthrate?

Philippa Bond ● 956d

Excuse me, but have the plot been lost somewhere along the line?

Ivonne Holliday ● 956d

Andy - point taken.

Clifford Cowell ● 955d

Planning is an absolute nightmare in this country.  New Local Plans are being worked on before the old ones run out and both can be being used because of the time that it takes to get things through planning.  Statutory times seem to have gone out of the window in the many cases - and then there is The London Plan which goes backwards and forwards before it is signed off.Promises of simplifying planning in order to speed it up have had some catastrophic results - some of which still need rectifying.

Philippa Bond ● 955d

Planning is not the problem on Alton.One of the major problems is the consultation with tenants and leaseholders in particular those that hold on excess of 100 leases in the Sherfield Gdns end of the estate where the properties have been converted for 3 and 4 bed units to 3 and 4 bed sit studentlets with shared bathroom and kitchen.These 'business' leaseholders do not want their golden geese to be altered except maybe if a lucrative buy back deal was in place.The other side of this is that leaseholders in the estate have had their potential for sell on reduced/ blighted by this ongoing regen saga. Who would buy a flat in Allbrook knowing that its designated in all plans to  date for demolition ? It's a hugely complicated problem across the estate.

Andy Pike ● 955d

Interesting points, Andy.I fully agree that leaseholders potential to sell has been hugely damaged by the ongoing saga, which in turn complicates matters across the estate.In addition, all residents on the estate suffer from issues relating to minimal maintenance and upkeep of the properties, and uncertainty of the future; they've been in limbo for years!The amount of political posturing and flattening out of the issues involved, does absolutely nothing to move matters forward. As Yeats said, '...The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.'I can't fathom why the CoOp block with flats above was emptied, nor whose bright idea it was to paint the slogan on the facade announcing, 'home is where the art is'.Why not go the whole hog and paint; 'Home is not a place but a warm feeling', message endorsed by Wandsworth Council (and paid for by you).

Gerry Boyce ● 955d

Andy  Ugh  that's really problematic.  I've always wondered about the complications in maintenance that occur when some of a Council's block of flats are sold off. I've seen what happens when some of a terrace have been given an insulating overcoat treatment and others haven't.I still don't think that Planning will stay the same though because attention or much more attention now has to be paid to the climate situation - which for so long was being deliberately ignored - even though for years there have been problems with downpipes and gutters needing to be enlarged to deal with sudden downpours - which because of our antiquated joint sewage and rainwater disposal system are inadequate.  Now there are also more calls forenergy use reduction by insulating and alternative energy production.Have you ever visited Futurebuild at the Excel?  We've been several years with a break for the pandemic and because of the crisis things have really accelerated.

Philippa Bond ● 955d

I am sorry, Andy, but I will be rather pedantic here.The Conservatives were in charge of the Council from 1978 to 2022.  Labour regained control after 48 years. (Link at the end of this post).Regardless of which party is/was in charge and when, there seems to be a problem - a common denominator to all, which is the Planning Committee (perhaps and/or Planning Department together with developers?). We have known of at least 4 if not 5 amended plans for the regeneration of the Alton Estate in the last couple of decades.  The block of flats next to St Joseph's Church has been totally empty and boarded up for perhaps 3 years now?  It does not affect us at all but, at a time of such shortage of homes, this seems to me to be disrespectful - to put it mildly.Nothing of substance has ever happened at the Alton Estate, other than amended plans, Committee discussions and no progress whatsoever.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandsworth_London_Borough_Council#:~:text=Summary%20results%20of%20elections,-Main%20article%3A%20Wandsworth&text=In%20plenary%20votes%20and%20committee,regained%20control%20after%2048%20years.

Ivonne Holliday ● 955d

My point exactly, and having had 15 years objecting to everything the new administration didnt come in with a plan. They simply stopped the existing one in its tracks and as yet have come up with no alternative. That's my point and it would be the same if the political parties involved were reversed.In opposition it's very easy to criticise and object but please have a plan of what you'll do in power.In the meantime large parts of Alton are blighted by the ongoing inaction and no number of wild flowers or light bulbs will solve that problem.

Andy Pike ● 955d