'Key worker' fears - concern for public sector staff as Crown Estate tenants prepare for unveiling of prospective new landlords
Published: 19 March 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM
HOMES for the heroes of the public sector are being sacrificed in Pimlico so the Crown Estate can spend cash on commercial property and upmarket housing, tenants have claimed.
Around 300 properties in the Millbank Estate, which have offered affordable housing since the 1920s, have been earmarked for sale by the Crown.
With a consultation due to end on Tuesday, and news of the identity of a new private landlord imminent, a group of tenants are looking into mounting a legal challenge to block any sell-off following a packed public meeting held recently aimed at organising a campaign.
They have been joined by MP for Cities of London and Westminster Mark Field in warning that a quick-fire sale could destroy what they say is a “true mixed community”.
Some tenants have lived in the Victorian and Georgian properties for more than 50 years.
They fear the Crown is preoccupied with getting fast money to reinvest in high-profile developments. They also believe the Crown is keeping them in the dark over the deal.
Terry Harper, who has been a Crown tenant for 15 years, said: “A sale will decimate the community, it’s as simple as that.
“We don’t want a private landlord, we want the Crown. They have been perfect landlords and if necessary we will fight this in the courts.”
Another, Ann Dixon, said: “We had hundreds of people packing out the church up in arms about this, so it really shows what a strong sense of community we have. This is what is really at stake, especially if as we suspect, the new owners, put up rents in vacant properties.”
Speaking during a parliamentary debate on the sell-off, Mr Field said: “The Crown Estate has been a force of stability and continuity in our central London constituencies, so it is disappointing that we have come to this impasse. I cannot help thinking that it was the travails of that organisation over the past 18 months that persuaded it to look on the estates as something of a jewel in the crown for the purposes of a quick sale.
“I cannot stress too strongly the sense of community that exists in Millbank. Although a number of key workers in the Millbank estate work in local hospitals and schools and in public sector jobs here in the House of Commons, some of the people who are the glue in our communities work in newsagent’s shops and other relatively low-paid retail jobs but are nevertheless committed to living and working in central London. Without the properties in the Crown Estate we will lose that vital social glue.”
Profits made by the Crown go to the Treasury and then passed on to the royal family through the civil list.
A Crown spokesman said: “We are taking care to speak to people with the right skills and experience in managing this type of housing.”