According to an article published in the Estates Gazette, Wandsworth Council has appointed Bilfinger GVA to find a development partner for the 32-acre Winstanley and York Road estates. The scheme could potentially have a gross development value in excess of £1bn.
The Estate Gazette wrote:
“Gerry Hughes, senior director at Bilfinger GVA, said: “It is rare to have a regeneration opportunity like this in such a high-profile and well-connected location with such latent potential.
“It presents an opportunity to show the way in delivering a world-class development, while fully protecting the interests of local people,” he added.
The preferred partner will be selected through an OJEU process beginning on 11 January.“
David Cameron announced £140 millions to help transform the poor estates
A few days ago, David Cameron pledged to bulldoze ‘sink estates’ where he claims “poverty has become entrenched“. He specifically made a link with the 2011 riots and said in the Sunday Times that three out of four rioters in 2011 came from sink estates. “The riots of 2011 didn’t emerge from within terraced streets or low-rise apartment buildings. The rioters came overwhelmingly from these postwar estates. That’s not a coincidence” he wrote.
He announced a new £140 million fund that will pump-prime the planning process, temporary rehousing and early construction costs for 100 housing estates in Britain, aiming to transform them. The multi-million redevelopment programme is to be overseen by Lord Heseltine, who helped to transform the Liverpool and London docks in the 1980s.
The housing developments being targeted reportedly include the Winstanley estate in Wandsworth, south London.
Several studies following the 2011 riots showed that actually there is no evidence that many rioters acting in Clapham Junction in 2011 came from the Winstanley and York estates; rather the contrary. The Guardian published several articles about the “riot commute” and reported that “an analysis of one day’s court hearings found 70% of those accused of riot-related crimes had travelled from outside their area“. The newspaper quoted one 18 year-old interviewee from Lewisham who described how he and his friends drove around in a van to several riot sites, including Clapham Junction because they heard something was happening in the area.
