Support New Era estate’s fight against evictions

Pete Green reports.

New Era estate campaigners, together with several hundred supporters, protested on Monday outside the offices in Berkeley Square of Westbrook, the property company which has bought up their estate.

We then marched to Downing Street where the campaign organisers handed in a petition signed by 300,000 against the threat of exorbitant rent rises (up to £2,400 a month) and the eviction of all those who cannot afford to pay – which is just about everyone currently living on the estate in Hoxton.

Although Tory MP Richard Benyon’s company has withdrawn from its share of the property, the US owned ‘Westcrooks’ (as they were called on the campaign placards) are still determined to push ahead with plans to drive out residents, many of whom have lived on the estate for decades.

Left Unity will oppose this along with all the other examples of social cleansing instead of social housing across inner-city London. We support the call for Hackney Council to buy up the estate, freeze the rents and turn it over to the residents to be run as a cooperative.

There will be a protest outside Hackney Town Hall on Monday evening December 15 when the council is meeting. If you live in London you can also sign up to turn up to the estate to resist any threatened evictions.