Almost 80 people took to the streets of Hackney this Wednesday to protest against the demolition of Marian Court while a family is living on the premises.
Hackney Council began the demolition of Marian Court on Homerton High Street earlier this year as part of their plan to build 275 new homes on the site. The work is going ahead in spite of the fact that a family with young children is still living in one of the blocks.
“The aim of the protest was to draw further attention to our neighbours’ plight… she is living on a demolition site and we have to do something about it,” said Lawrence Leason, one of the protest organisers.
“It’s really about trying to put pressure on the council and show them that there’s a lot of people who have their eyes on what’s going on,” Mr Leason said.
Hackney Council have said the initial demolition “will not impact the building where the remaining family on the estate is still choosing to live”. The council have also said that they have undertaken a “full health and safety assessment to ensure that the work will not cause any health risk to the family”.
However, in a tweet, Hackney-based charity, Sisters Uncut, condemned the demolition as a “total disregard for safety”.
Hannah White, a local resident who attended the protest, said: “I am shocked the council thinks it’s appropriate for the family to still be living in Marian Court while it’s being demolished. The disruption and stress must be unbearable.”
After approaching the council while homeless, the family were placed in Marian Court as part of a temporary rehousing programme in 2019. Recently, Hackney Council offered them permanent accommodation in Stoke Newington.
But, according to Sisters Uncut, the property offered has “damp and disrepair”, and as members of the family suffer from severe asthma it is “uninhabitable”.
Hackney Council says the new home fully meets “both the needs of the family and the standard we would expect for social housing”.
The council said: “Unfortunately, the extent of improvements sought by the resident has changed significantly since a tenancy agreement was signed, and their failure to engage with us on the work they would like to see means that, four months after they signed a tenancy agreement, we are no further forward in being able to make these changes.”
In response to the comments, Mr Leason said the council “seemed to be trying to discredit” the family over the claims about the new housing. “Seeing photos of it, it’s clearly not ready to be lived in, they’ve had all this time to get it sorted and haven’t,” he said.
Responding to the criticism, Hackney Council said: “living close to a construction site and in temporary accommodation is of course not ideal. We are continuing to support them to make the move so that they can enjoy their new permanent home, and we can get on with building more Council homes to give other families that same opportunity.”
