Council launches its Great Estates Programme – a new way for residents to improve the look and feel of their estates

20 May 2019

Southwark Council today (Monday 20 May) launched The Great Estates programme - a new way of thinking about, talking about and making decisions about our council estates.

From today, local residents can make suggestions for small improvements they would like to work with the council to deliver on their estates, with almost £1m available for the first pilot stage of projects. The council will work with residents to develop an Estate Improvement Plan for each pilot estate, detailing what local people love about their estate, and what they would like to do to improve it. The council hopes to work with contractors, developers and other local businesses and cultural institutions to help expand the fund to ensure all estates are able to benefit.

A Great Estates guide has also been published to inspire residents and show what might be possible. Suggested areas of improvement include better lighting and painting, to public art and gardening projects, though all kinds of ideas will be considered.

Cllr Leo Pollak, Cabinet Member for social regeneration and new council homes is leading the initiative.  He commented: “We are incredibly excited to be launching our Great Estates programme, a new way of thinking about, talking about and making decisions about the future of our estates.   At the heart of this is a new license for residents to work with the council to help improve the look and feel of the shared spaces in our estates, and a process for upholding new expectations to make sure our estates are safe clean and cared for. Our vision is to uphold our council estates as properly privileged parts of the city and we are calling on residents to come forward with new ideas – big and small – for how to improve the shared spaces in their estates.”

The Great Estates approach has two main elements; one is to work more closely with residents to identify appropriate sites for building new council homes which local people want and need; and secondly, to enrich our estates by working with residents to identify new ways to improve the look, feel and lived experience of our estates, through the development of Estate Improvement Plans.

Residents who want to get involved should go to: www.southwark.gov.uk/greatestates

The consultation will be open for six weeks and pilot schemes will be selected by a Great Estates Steering Group made up of local representatives and experts. The council will then work with residents over the summer to develop Estate Improvement Plans that will start to be implemented towards the end of the year.

Page last updated: 21 May 2019