• IN 1997 Camden Council obtained funding from government to invest in West Kentish Town estate, to create private gardens accessible from ground-floor flats, protected play areas, and improvements to the external spaces.

Unfortunately this work was never done and the money was diverted elsewhere. At this time the council stopped any meaningful investment in renewing roofs and services.

As a result residents have suffered over the past 20 years from leaking roofs, lack of ventilation and poor water services. These are problems caused by the council’s neglect and are now the justification that the council uses for the proposed demolition.

The time-frame, set out in the cabinet report of July 2022, for the rebuilding of West Kentish Town estate says that 30 per cent of existing council homes will be rebuilt within the next five years.

However at the cabinet meeting Cllr Danny Beales promised that all council tenants – 263 families – would be able to move into a new home within four years. It is obvious therefore that most families will be moving to Maitland Park or elsewhere, as implied in the report.

What happens to the 267 homes still standing after five years? I suspect that despite what is said in the report about further phases (3 to 8) these homes will be demolished so that the majority of the estate can be handed over to a developer as large empty site, as is happening at Bacton estate in Gospel Oak.

If that is the case, what happens to the 41 remaining leaseholders, many of whom bought their homes because they liked living on the estate?

But as it is not certain what will happen after 2027, it is imperative that some works are undertaken to insulate and repair leaking roofs and improve water services in those 267 homes that will remain, so that residents of these buildings do not suffer further and energy is saved.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED, NW5