Many thanks to Alix for covering our story.
The story is also available on-line at: http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/local-news/exclusive-crossrail-2-station-could-7333441
Saturday, 28 June 2014
In the papers
We made it into this week's edition of our local paper, the Fulham and Hammersmith Gazette:
The story is also available on-line at: http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/local-news/exclusive-crossrail-2-station-could-7333441
The story is also available on-line at: http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/local-news/exclusive-crossrail-2-station-could-7333441
Update from the drop-in
The second TfL consultation drop-in was held at the Chelsea Theatre on Friday, 26th of June between 2pm and 8pm.
The drop-in was well attended. As well as many residents from the Cremorne Estate many of our neighbours attended too - from the World's End Estate next door, the Ten Acres area on the other side of the Kings Road, the Chelsea Embankment and the Lots Road area next to the river.
They were all very supportive of our plight and taken aback by the Council's brazen plan to make use of the proposed Crossrail 2 station to demolish our estate and "eliminate" deprivation in Chelsea by shipping us off to the furthest reaches of London. We are NOT a poverty statistic to be eliminated via displacement.
Many completed their questionnaires with a firm and equivocal NO to the proposed Crossrail 2 "Chelsea West" station. We thank them all.
The leader of the Council, Councillor Paget-Brown, attended and attempted to defend the Council's plans. Councillor Coleridge, the Council's cabinet member for Planning, decided to stay away and our three Ward Councillors were nowhere to be seen.
The Council continues to claim that demolition may not be necessary and that we are all being "alarmist". This does not appear to be the view held by Kensington and Chelsea TMO. Perhaps one is being honest and one is not? Can you spot which one is telling fibs?
The drop-in was well attended. As well as many residents from the Cremorne Estate many of our neighbours attended too - from the World's End Estate next door, the Ten Acres area on the other side of the Kings Road, the Chelsea Embankment and the Lots Road area next to the river.
They were all very supportive of our plight and taken aback by the Council's brazen plan to make use of the proposed Crossrail 2 station to demolish our estate and "eliminate" deprivation in Chelsea by shipping us off to the furthest reaches of London. We are NOT a poverty statistic to be eliminated via displacement.
Many completed their questionnaires with a firm and equivocal NO to the proposed Crossrail 2 "Chelsea West" station. We thank them all.
The leader of the Council, Councillor Paget-Brown, attended and attempted to defend the Council's plans. Councillor Coleridge, the Council's cabinet member for Planning, decided to stay away and our three Ward Councillors were nowhere to be seen.
The Council continues to claim that demolition may not be necessary and that we are all being "alarmist". This does not appear to be the view held by Kensington and Chelsea TMO. Perhaps one is being honest and one is not? Can you spot which one is telling fibs?
Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Our Community
The Cremorne community pre-dates the Cremorne Estate.
Terraced houses existed on the site before the construction of the current Cremorne Estate. Many of these houses were bombed during the Second World War when the Lots Road Power Station (which supplied electricity to the London Underground) was targeted by the Luftwaffe. Many families became homeless as a result.
The Cremorne Estate was built in 1954 to rehouse many of these homeless families. Many residents have lived here ever since. The sense of community is very strong.
The Council should be ashamed.
Terraced houses existed on the site before the construction of the current Cremorne Estate. Many of these houses were bombed during the Second World War when the Lots Road Power Station (which supplied electricity to the London Underground) was targeted by the Luftwaffe. Many families became homeless as a result.
The Cremorne Estate was built in 1954 to rehouse many of these homeless families. Many residents have lived here ever since. The sense of community is very strong.
Our wonderful gardens in bloom
Cllr. Coleridge's assertion that we are "underprivileged" is a euphemism for: "lazy, unemployed and dysfunctional". This is not true. Many of our residents and their families fought in the Second World War. They have worked all their lives, put their children through school and university and are decent upstanding members of society. Their recompense in old age would appear to be to be displaced and have their community destroyed.
The Council should be ashamed.
SAY NO TO GENTRIFICATION!
Tuesday, 24 June 2014
How can I help?
Things you can do to help and contribute to our campaign:
LIKE and SHARE our Facebook page 'Save The Cremorne Estate'.
Make our logo your PROFILE PICTURE on Facebook:
FOLLOW us on Twitter @SaveTheCremorne.
TWEET your thoughts on gentrification using the hashtag #GentrifyingChelsea.
FILL IN and SHARE the TFL survey and choose the NO TO CHELSEA WEST option.
SIGN and SHARE the E-PETITION to pressure the government to stop the demolition of our homes.
EMAIL us at savethecremorne@gmail.com to volunteer to flyer and lobby.
TALK to people in our community, especially those without access to the online campaign.
LIKE and SHARE our Facebook page 'Save The Cremorne Estate'.
Make our logo your PROFILE PICTURE on Facebook:
FOLLOW us on Twitter @SaveTheCremorne.
TWEET your thoughts on gentrification using the hashtag #GentrifyingChelsea.
FILL IN and SHARE the TFL survey and choose the NO TO CHELSEA WEST option.
SIGN and SHARE the E-PETITION to pressure the government to stop the demolition of our homes.
EMAIL us at savethecremorne@gmail.com to volunteer to flyer and lobby.
TALK to people in our community, especially those without access to the online campaign.
SAY NO TO GENTRIFICATION!
Monday, 23 June 2014
Gentrifying Chelsea
Last week, a Kensington and Chelsea TMO Board briefing was leaked indicating that the Cremorne Estate would be demolished within 6 years to make room for private property developments and a Crossrail 2 railway station.
The briefing states that RBK&C Council Leader Councillor Paget-Brown has personally requested that TfL consider sites further west of the originally safeguarded site of Chelsea Fire Station.
TfL will therefore now consult on the proposal for a station at a location labelled "Chelsea West".
The consultation is NOT honest or transparent.
It does NOT indicate in its maps and posters, or available information sources that the proposed site of 'Chelsea West' is actually the Cremorne Estate.
A letter from Councillor Tim Coleridge, cabinet member for Transport and Planning, to Mayor of London Boris Johnson, dated August 2013, indicates that there was full knowledge of the plans to demolish hundreds of homes and failure to inform residents or the public.
In the letter, the Councillor admits that:
The lack of transparency and blatant elitism behind the plans is wholly and completely unacceptable.
The 'Save The Cremorne' campaign is defending the estate's vibrant and long-standing community which is under attack by the Council's plans to demolish the estate - 250 homes - and hand the site over to private property developers.
The briefing states that RBK&C Council Leader Councillor Paget-Brown has personally requested that TfL consider sites further west of the originally safeguarded site of Chelsea Fire Station.
TfL will therefore now consult on the proposal for a station at a location labelled "Chelsea West".
The consultation is NOT honest or transparent.
It does NOT indicate in its maps and posters, or available information sources that the proposed site of 'Chelsea West' is actually the Cremorne Estate.
A letter from Councillor Tim Coleridge, cabinet member for Transport and Planning, to Mayor of London Boris Johnson, dated August 2013, indicates that there was full knowledge of the plans to demolish hundreds of homes and failure to inform residents or the public.
In the letter, the Councillor admits that:
"social deprivation in Chelsea is most pronounced between World's End and the West London Line: there are areas that fall within the 20 percent most deprived parts of the country."Councillor Coleridge's solution, it seems, is to displace the deprived but vibrant community that has lived in the Cremorne and surrounding estates for decades, and gentrify the whole area. Replace the poor with the rich and the deprivation "issue" will have been solved. Such genius!
The lack of transparency and blatant elitism behind the plans is wholly and completely unacceptable.
The 'Save The Cremorne' campaign is defending the estate's vibrant and long-standing community which is under attack by the Council's plans to demolish the estate - 250 homes - and hand the site over to private property developers.
WE SAY NO TO GENTRIFICATION
What's this all about?
We are residents and neighbours of the Cremorne Estate in Chelsea.
The Estate is a 1950s Council estate, owned by the local authority (the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) and managed by its ALMO, Kensington and Chelsea TMO.
On Wednesday, 18th of June, we learned that our homes had been selected for "regeneration" by the Council. We didn't learn that from the Council or the ALMO, who have quite simply not bothered to tell us, but from a leaked document.
The Cremorne Estate is located next to the Kings Road in Chelsea. For a very long time, a site half a mile up the road, next to Chelsea Fire Station, had been earmarked for the construction of a station on the Chelsea-Hackney line, now known as Crossrail 2.
Transport for London consulted on the proposed Crossrail 2 station at the Fire Station last year. Unknown to the residents the Council approached the Mayor of London directly asking him to consider an alternative site for the construction of a station. A site on our estate. The letter is linked to below.
Letter from Cllr. Coleridge to London Mayor Boris Johnson
Construction of a Crossrail 2 station on our estate would require its demolition. As per the Council's decant policy all of the tenants would be rehoused elsewhere (not necessarily nearby) and all the leaseholders would be bought out and sent on their way. All of the shops below our homes on the Kings Road would be demolished. The community on the estate would be destroyed. The local community would be irreparably damaged.
We're not going to take this lying down. We have started a campaign of opposition to what amounts to a grossly underhand move by the Council to destroy our homes and our community.
There's a right way and a wrong way to do anything. The right way involved engaging with residents and the wider community on any proposals which might affect them. The Council have clearly decided to do things the wrong way.
TfL is consulting on the Council's proposals. We're asking our residents, neighbours and the wider community to oppose them. We started with this:
Please support us.
The Estate is a 1950s Council estate, owned by the local authority (the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) and managed by its ALMO, Kensington and Chelsea TMO.
On Wednesday, 18th of June, we learned that our homes had been selected for "regeneration" by the Council. We didn't learn that from the Council or the ALMO, who have quite simply not bothered to tell us, but from a leaked document.
The Cremorne Estate is located next to the Kings Road in Chelsea. For a very long time, a site half a mile up the road, next to Chelsea Fire Station, had been earmarked for the construction of a station on the Chelsea-Hackney line, now known as Crossrail 2.
Transport for London consulted on the proposed Crossrail 2 station at the Fire Station last year. Unknown to the residents the Council approached the Mayor of London directly asking him to consider an alternative site for the construction of a station. A site on our estate. The letter is linked to below.
Letter from Cllr. Coleridge to London Mayor Boris Johnson
Construction of a Crossrail 2 station on our estate would require its demolition. As per the Council's decant policy all of the tenants would be rehoused elsewhere (not necessarily nearby) and all the leaseholders would be bought out and sent on their way. All of the shops below our homes on the Kings Road would be demolished. The community on the estate would be destroyed. The local community would be irreparably damaged.
We're not going to take this lying down. We have started a campaign of opposition to what amounts to a grossly underhand move by the Council to destroy our homes and our community.
There's a right way and a wrong way to do anything. The right way involved engaging with residents and the wider community on any proposals which might affect them. The Council have clearly decided to do things the wrong way.
TfL is consulting on the Council's proposals. We're asking our residents, neighbours and the wider community to oppose them. We started with this:
Please support us.
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