The first stage towards knocking down the Heygate estate was to call the Elephant & Castle an 'Opportunity Area'. So anybody living on a Council estate down the Old Kent Road can be forgiven for being a little worried by Southwark's proposal to call it an Opportunity Area with a draft Area Action Plan on top.
Southwark's ambition is to build at least 20,000 new homes within the Opportunity Area. The Council's Cabinet report accompanying the draft Area Action Plan says that in order to find space for the 20,000 new homes it "would not preclude development" on existing housing estates, but that consultation on such proposals would be "carried out in accordance with the principles set out in the July 2015 Cabinet report."
Extract from Cabinet report accompanying draft Area Action Plan