Nicola Redpath
"I am fed up of reading that the estate was a hotbed of crime and deprivation by the media and local politicians."
Read Nicola's Testimonial
Ian Redpath
"Southwark Council systematically ran down the estate, and broke up probably one of the strongest and friendliest communities in the borough. I am angry that tenants and residents have been duped into believing that this regeneration would benefit them."
Read Ian's Testimonial
Angela Ampomah
"We have been here for so long; we have had our children here and now you want to just throw us out like an empty bag of crisps? This regeneration has been a crime against the people who lived here; it has killed their livelihoods, their moral and their spirit."
Read Angela's Testimonial
Liz Grace
"We lived here for 35 years; that's a lifespan to a lot of people and then to be forcibly moved out of it - Why? because this land is worth millions; they want to get rid of the social housing and build properties for the rich, like the famous Strata Tower across the way."
Read Liz's Testimonial
Doreen Gee
"I feel quite angry when people call the estate a slum. It’s not a slum and it never has been. It was run down because of the regeneration. What we were told once is that they are trying to 'introduce a better class of people to the elephant and castle'; well I said 'you can’t get a better class of people than us.'"
Read Doreen's Testimonial
Greg Sanziri
"They said 'either you accept what we are offering or we will take you to court'; it was all about profit and economy - not people."
Read Greg's Testimonial
Helen O'Brien
"What was once a thriving community has now been scattered all over Southwark. Southwark's regeneration plans are a miserable failure, everyone who has worked on the regeneration at the Elephant should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves."
Read Helen's Testimonial
Orho Okorodudu
"I don't think the council understands what a community is. They look at things from a purely financial perspective, but the social and cultural consequences of dispersing a community are beyond measure."
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John Colfer
"Our parents never even contemplated leaving their family home, neither did many other long term residents and it broke many hearts. This broke up many families and friendships and scattered everyone far and wide."
Read John's Testimonial
Mojisola Ojeikere
"We have been harassed and intimidated out of our homes in a scheme that was supposed to make our lives better."
Read Moji's Testimonial
Terry Redpath
"We have been forced to give up our central London homes, in order to enable a private developer to build luxury private properties that none of us will ever be able to afford."
Read Terry's Testimonial
Larry & Janet Colfer
"It was a lovely community, and now it is sad because we have all been scattered."
Read Larry & Janet's Testimonial
Harry Tilman
Who has the right to say to me - "We want your home, you have got to go!"?
Read Harry's Testimonial
Rehme Mustafa
"I miss my friends at Elephant and my son in Camberwell. The Council bullied us out, they didn't want us there."
Barry
"I don't know why we couldn't all move to the same place, this is what they said at the beginning – they were going to build new blocks just for Heygate residents, but this never happened."
Read Barry's Testimonial
Liz Joseph
"Where I am now I don't like it, I would come back tomorrow if I could. People all looked after each other here, but where I am now it is not like that: people hardly talk to you round there."
Read Liz's Testimonial
Demetrius
"The council turned the heating and hot water off without warning in Winter 2010. They came and dropped off some portable fan heaters, but we were left to spend two years heating our bath water on the stove. They tried to drive us out."
Read Demetrius's story
Jerry Flynn
"The estate has been given an undeserved bad reputation, which has angered a lot of people. Almost overnight we woke up to be told we were living on one of the worst estates in Britain."