Over the years on various blogs, we’ve written a fair bit about social cleansing from London. A process that’s a consequence of what to all intents and purposes, is a project of making London a welcome home for the global super rich and their money. A fair sized chunk of this money gets invested in upmarket apartment developments. A good number of these developments are in formerly working class areas of London. The forest of high rise apartment blocks in Aldgate on the eastern fringes of the City of London is just one example of this process of development and subsequent social cleansing.

When we saw this piece that was originally published by the Focus E15 Campaign, we decided to include it in the Readings section on our Estuary Stirrings blog:

Who the heck benefits from housing redevelopment? – Piero Corcillo | Focus E15 Campaign | March 6, 2021

Thank you to Piero Corcillo for this guest blog post based on his research on the housing developments that were built on land cleared for the hosting of the Olympic games in 2012. Piero kindly spoke about this research to a public meeting to Focus E15 campaigners at the end of last year. The knowledge that we gained from the facts in his talk has further empowered us and shows that the fight for the Carpenters Estate to be even more urgent.

We included this because it’s a useful piece of research that shows the impact of development aimed at affluent middle class professionals on surrounding working class areas. In the instance dealt with in this piece, the East Village development in Stratford, the level of apartheid like separation between affluent incomers and the surrounding existing working class areas is laid bare for all to see. We hope this piece also sheds some light on why working class households are being moved out of London by councils eager to pander to the developers while dumping on the working class residents they’re supposed to be serving.

Below is a list of what we’ve written over the last few years about the situation in London with social cleansing and how what happens in the capital impacts on the housing situation out here in Thurrock and Basildon. There are also a few pieces dealing with the outward movement of young professionals from London where the housing market has become so skewed, even they’re being forced to look outside of the capital for housing. To us, this would appear to be the rationale behind the forest of apartment blocks that are a key part of the Basildon town centre masterplan.

Estuary Stirrings

Imposed change and a lack of control – February 15, 2021

‘Regeneration’ – the only way is up – October 6, 2020

South Essex Heckler

A brief explainer… – February 18, 2020

Parallels… – February 7, 2020

‘Legitimate concerns?’ Yes, they are legitimate! – January 6, 2020

Blame games and the elephant in the room – September 15, 2019

Regional planning – keeping plebs like us out of the loop – November 8, 2018

Not at all surprised… – September 24, 2018

Booted out of Newham – July 25, 2018

What happens with housing in London has an impact all the way along the estuary (and beyond) – July 12, 2018