South East London residents refusing to leave empty house amid plans to demolish estate
| Published date | 10 April 2024 |
| Publication title | MyLondon (England) |
Dolorosa Buhari, 69, who has lived in a home she owns on the estate since 2003, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service LDRS: “It's disheartening that we are all facing this at this time. Most of us here are retired and we have worked our lives to pay and to say, ‘This is our home,’ and then Peabody come in to tell us we cannot leave here and they want to take our property, offering peanuts. The money they are offering cannot even get you a one bedroom flat anywhere in London… I don't think even Peabody's forklifts will lift me away from here.”
She added: “When we didn't have Elizabeth line, everything here was dark. Nobody knew about it then. Now that the Elizabeth line is here, Peabody wants to make money out of it and think they should take us away. They are not going to.”
Maria Ivanova, 72, bought her home on the Lesnes Estate in 2007 to live with her son and said she often walks around the nearby lake and park with him. She claimed that she had experienced health problems due to the stress associated with being told to sell her home to Peabody and that property prices around Abbey Wood station had risen since the Elizabeth line opened in 2022.
She told the LDRS: “They are interested in the land to build this big block of flats but they are not interested in people who live here at the moment. This is not a charity organisation in my opinion if they don't care about the people.”
She added: “When we found out that they would like to demolish our houses to have this new project, it was quite stressful because all my life I wanted to have my own house. In 2007, we managed to get this mortgage, which we finished this year. When they said that they're going to demolish our houses and pay peanuts to us, it means that they will leave us homeless. I will not be able, at the age of 72, to be able to buy another house with the money that they suggest that we can have.”
Dr Johnnel Olabhie, 56, has lived in the estate for over 20 years after purchasing a house there. He said a consultation on the project opened with residents in...
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