August 2024

After submitting countless Freedom of Information requests, we have finally obtained a fragment of the Savills Whole Stock Condition Survey concerning the Tulse Hill Estate. 

But before we delve into what we’ve discovered, let’s rewind to Summer 2023. Our neighbour recently received coverage in the Guardian after his ceiling collapsed due to council neglect. In response, senior council officers attended the next Tulse Hill Estate TRA meeting, where they denied our claims of structural issues, blamed us for the widespread damp across the estate, and dodged any responsibility. 

The most senior officer present was Tunde Akinyooye, Head of Neighbourhood Housing, who presented a brief rundown of repair statistics on the estate to assert that everything is fine and Lambeth is doing a wonderful job. At the end of the handout shared with neighbours at the meeting, Tunde summarised the findings of the Savills Whole Stock Condition Survey with a single sentence, stating that it “did not identify any significant component failings needing attention in the next 5-10 years.” 

However, an FoI request and data we had to extract from Danny Adilypour, Lambeth’s Cabinet lead for housing, revealed that Tulse Hill Estate requires around £7.5 million of investment over the next 10 years, including £2.4 million just for the external structures. The data we’ve received has been vague, requiring real effort to secure, with no detailed breakdown of what specific investments are needed or where. 

To make sense of the data provided, we need a full and complete disclosure of the information the council holds on the quality of our housing and the nearly 500 health and safety risks the council is aware of. 

We have been told by our Cllr Ben Kind that without prior housing knowledge, we wouldn’t have sufficient understanding of the data. Perhaps Danny agrees and doesn’t think we are smart enough. However, as our council tax, service charges, and rent have paid for the completion of the Savills Whole Stock Condition Survey, we believe we should be the judge of that. 

Our campaign will continue to build until Danny, Lambeth’s current Cabinet lead for housing, with ultimate responsibility for our dire living conditions, releases the data, develops a plan with us based on its findings, and delivers this plan with accountability to us.