Let me say this before I begin. We are committed to good quality affordable housing for everybody.
(Have you had that letter? And the brochure? With the pictures in it?
Grass and trees. Young people sitting round tables in outdoor cafes, people riding bicycles.
Pictures of new flats. Artists impressions. Computer generated.
They do look very nice.)
Sixteen new developments, to be built over the next five years. New homes for everybody.
We are leading one of the most exciting, innovative regeneration programmes in Europe. We will recreate open spaces,
Provide the kind of high street shopping environment that people want!
There are huge opportunities, as a result of the regeneration programme.
Huge opportunities!
Both for people living in the area now and for potential investors
and for people who might look to live there in the future.
A Happy future full of happy future people. People with well-behaved children in successful schools, who go happily shopping at the weekends in the new improved shopping centre!
(Where are they going to be, these new flats? Where are you building them? Are they going to be near my kid’s school?)
We’re tripling the number of homes and shops.
Vastly improving the amenities, the commercial offerings. It will be the destination retail space for the whole of London!
The whole of London will want to be here in this happy future place.
We’re going to make Southwark one of the top places to live!
If not the top place to live.
There’ll be a five screen cinema!
But it will still be a carbon neutral development!
We’re going to reclaim the space for happy pedestrians and happy healthy cyclists!
And we know that the key to all this is to work closely with local people.
We’ve consulted the local people. 94% of people we consulted want a happy brighter future.
They want quality affordable homes.
We’re all agreed, us and the local people/
/94% of the local people, the vast majority
That brand new homes and shops/
/and a five screen cinema/
are what we want in the happy happy future.
And we’re really excited about this vision. This vision of quality affordable homes.
And the economic and social regeneration that will accompany this.
Yes. We’re going to regenerate this area. Socially and economically.
I’ve got a home. Here it is.
I like my home. I’ve put a new kitchen in. My neighbour comes round on a Tuesday, and we have tea and biscuits on the balcony.
I don’t want to move. I’ve thought about it. Not really. I’ve been here since the beginning.
I’ve been here years.
People here know each other. We’re a community.
We can see now that the Heygate estate was a failure.
Not a failure, no, an outdated vision.
Yes. That’s right. It was conceived of in a time when planners had very different ideas about what made good social housing.
Not suitable for these new times. These new happy future times.
It’s not suitable for the modern day living.
Modern day futuristic happy carbon neutral urban living
And it has sadly reached the end of its life.
But I’ve just had a new kitchen put in?
Don’t forget about the five-screen cinema! Bicycle paths and cafes!
Thing is right, me, I’m a creature of habit. I’ve been here for 35 years. A lot of us have.
Yeah.
I’m not really in need of a bicycle or a cinema.
(There was a lovely cinema though, once, wasn’t there? What happened to that?)
I just tend to pop round my neighbour’s for a cup of tea.
I’ve had my kitchen done. And she’s only down the hall from me.
As part of the overall regeneration (social and economic regeneration) the Heygate estate is being decanted.
Residents will be poured into/
Not poured, no, residents will be offered brand new housing/
A range of housing options to suit their needs. In the sixteen brand new quality affordable carbon-neutral homes developments for the happy future people.
We don’t want to be regenerated.
No. What’s wrong with the generation of people who are here now?
And who’s gonna be left after the social regeneration?
Just to clarify, the existing residents of the Heygate estate will become the happy future people. In the range of quality option new affordable home developments
Which suit their needs.
Which suit their needs. Exactly.
In new homes? Where are the new homes?
There aren’t any new homes for us to move into. No-one has built any.
You said you were building new homes. We got the brochure. Lovely they looked. But where are they?
There has been some delay in the building of the new homes.
The recession has meant we have had to re-address the timetable for the new developments.
But we are still committed to the redevelopments.
Look. The Heygate estate is going to be decanted. According to the agreed timetable.
It’s going to be decanted, and then it’s going to be demolished.
There’s a schedule for the decanting of the estate. Block by block we’ll decant the residents into their new affordable carbon neutral homes that meet their needs.
I don’t want to be decanted. My family doesn’t want to be decanted.
We’re offering you all the opportunity to choose your new home. You can bid for your new suitable home that suits your needs from the range of homes on Homesearch. Bid for the one you like. You can do it on the internet with one easy click. Choose and click. Very simple.
I haven’t got the internet.
Right. I’ve looked at the Homesearch, I’ve tried bidding on the Homesearch. But I can’t get nothing on it. It always goes to someone else higher up the list than me.
There’s loads of us all bidding for the same houses. It leaves a bitter taste. I feel like I’m competing with my next door neighbour.
I’ve got two bedrooms here. I decorated my flat, I’ve got a nice kitchen. I’m not being offered better.
Not even being offered the same.
But don’t forget about the new homes! In the future, there will be new homes, we’re committed to providing the new homes, in the happy future, and you can go and live in them.
So you want us to move once now. And then move again when these new homes get built? I don’t want to move twice.
If they get built.
Otherwise we get stuck in whatever you decant us in to in the meantime.
What I’ve been offered isn’t suitable. I’m only being offered the left-over council stock that no-one else wants.
We’re just being offered left-overs. Flats that no-one else wants. Where we don’t know anybody.
You’re like vultures, circling round, picking off the weakest and the poorest so that you can wipe this area clean and build yuppie flats here.
Or you can find yourself another home. We’ll give you an incentive if you find yourself a private alternative.
You can move into the private sector. We’ll pay you to move into the private sector. With all the benefits and choice of private sector housing.
It’s all about choice. And options. To suit your needs.
Look. Look. Look. Let’s work together here. We’re all committed to the same outcome. We’ll allocate you a case manager who will individually help you to make the transition.
I’m not going anywhere. So there’s nothing to manage.
It’s all very stressful. Being told you’ve got to move out. It’s making me ill.
We’re setting up stress-management workshops. We want to minimise the stress. We appreciate that moving home can be a stressful process.
I’m going to stay here.
I can’t sleep. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be evicted. I’ve always paid my rent on time. I was on the residents committee. I cleaned up the grafitti and I fixed the lights in people’s porches and I helped old ladies with their shopping when the lift was out of order. I don’t want to be evicted.
If you don’t choose a home, we’ll select one for you. We’ll make you an offer of a home, and you’re free to reject it if it doesn’t suit your needs.
We’ll make you three offers. Because it’s all about choice.
We’ll give you three opportunities to take up the offer of the alternative housing.
If you don’t take up the offers then we have no option but to serve you with an eviction notice.
I used to know everyone on my floor. Now there’s no-one here. And I’m frightened at night.
I can’t sleep. I don’t know where I’m going to go. I don’t know where you’re going to put me. I won’t know any body there.
We can’t guarantee your safety. The estate will be desolate at night. If you refuse to move, we can’t continue to protect you.
Three…
Two…
One…This is your last one. Your last chance. This or nothing.
I’ll take it.
Good. Good. Your case worker will help you pack your bags. We’ll give you a relocation grant. Chop chop.
What about me?
I’ve been sent a letter of eviction. We’re being forced out.
You’ve had your three chances. Three alternative homes. You didn’t want any of them.
You’re not co-operating. If you won’t co-operate, we can’t help you.
We’ve gone through the proper procedure. You haven’t participated.
I’ll just sit here and wait for the bulldozers then shall I?
(long pause)
People have left their flats still filled with the detritus of their lives. Took what they needed and left what they didn’t. Some people died waiting, and all that was removed were their bodies.
As the people leave, or die, and their homes empty out, there’s a hovering flock waiting to colonise the spaces. Nature abhors a vacuum. A race between the squatters and the welders.
When the homes go all that’s left is concrete. The trinkets and tea pots and curtains decay, are stripped back, torn out. Then it’s the fixtures that are scavenged. The piping, the taps, the aluminium window frames. At the end, all that’s left is a huge stack of empty concrete boxes.
I’m the last one left now. My home feels like a tiny ship barely afloat on a huge grey sea of concrete. I feel like I am shrinking and that the world I have made for myself is getting more and more insignificant as the weight of the empty concrete overwhelms me.
I stand on my balcony and visualise the bright new future. Bulldozers tearing these concrete tendons with their metal teeth, dragging it down. Net curtains and tatters of flowery wallpaper.
Is this how it all ends?
Let me say this before I begin. We are committed to good quality affordable housing for everybody.
Have you had that letter? And the brochure? With the pictures in it?
Grass and trees. Young people sitting round tables in outdoor cafes, people riding bicycles.
Pictures of new flats. Artists impressions. Computer generated.
They do look very nice.
Sixteen new developments, to be built over the next five years. New homes for everybody.
We are leading one of the most exciting, innovative regeneration programmes in Europe. We will recreate open spaces,
Provide the kind of high street shopping environment that people want!
There are huge opportunities, as a result of the regeneration programme.
Huge opportunities!
Both for people living in the area now and for potential investors
and for people who might look to live there in the future.
A Happy future full of happy future people. People with well-behaved children in successful schools, who go happily shopping at the weekends in the new improved shopping centre!
Where are they going to be, these new flats? Where are you building them? Are they going to be near my kid’s school?
We’re tripling the number of homes and shops.
Vastly improving the amenities, the commercial offerings. It will be the destination retail space for the whole of London!
The whole of London will want to be here in this happy future place.
We’re going to make Southwark one of the top places to live!
If not the top place to live.
There’ll be a five screen cinema!
But it will still be a carbon neutral development!
We’re going to reclaim the space for happy pedestrians and happy healthy cyclists!
And we know that the key to all this is to work closely with local people.
We’ve consulted the local people. 94% of people we consulted want a happy brighter future.
They want quality affordable homes.
We’re all agreed, us and the local people/
/94% of the local people, the vast majority
That brand new homes and shops/
/and a five screen cinema/
are what we want in the happy happy future.
And we’re really excited about this vision. This vision of quality affordable homes.
And the economic and social regeneration that will accompany this.
Yes. We’re going to regenerate this area. Socially and economically.
I’ve got a home. Here it is.
I like my home. I’ve put a new kitchen in. My neighbour comes round on a Tuesday, and we have tea and biscuits on the balcony.
I don’t want to move. I’ve thought about it. Not really. I’ve been here since the beginning.
I’ve been here years.
People here know each other. We’re a community.
We can see now that the Heygate estate was a failure.
Not a failure, no, an outdated vision.
Yes. That’s right. It was conceived of in a time when planners had very different ideas about what made good social housing.
Not suitable for these new times. These new happy future times.
It’s not suitable for the modern day living.
Modern day futuristic happy carbon neutral urban living
And it has sadly reached the end of its life.
But I’ve just had a new kitchen put in?
Don’t forget about the five-screen cinema! Bicycle paths and cafes!
Thing is right, me, I’m a creature of habit. I’ve been here for 35 years. A lot of us have.
Yeah.
I’m not really in need of a bicycle or a cinema.
(There was a lovely cinema though, once, wasn’t there? What happened to that?)
I just tend to pop round my neighbour’s for a cup of tea.
I’ve had my kitchen done. And she’s only down the hall from me.
As part of the overall regeneration (social and economic regeneration) the Heygate estate is being decanted.
Residents will be poured into/
Not poured, no, residents will be offered brand new housing/
A range of housing options to suit their needs. In the sixteen brand new quality affordable carbon-neutral homes developments for the happy future people.
We don’t want to be regenerated.
No. What’s wrong with the generation of people who are here now?
And who’s gonna be left after the social regeneration?
Just to clarify, the existing residents of the Heygate estate will become the happy future people. In the range of quality option new affordable home developments
Which suit their needs.
Which suit their needs. Exactly.
In new homes? Where are the new homes?
There aren’t any new homes for us to move into. No-one has built any.
You said you were building new homes. We got the brochure. Lovely they looked. But where are they?
There has been some delay in the building of the new homes.
The recession has meant we have had to re-address the timetable for the new developments.
But we are still committed to the redevelopments.
Look. The Heygate estate is going to be decanted. According to the agreed timetable.
It’s going to be decanted, and then it’s going to be demolished.
There’s a schedule for the decanting of the estate. Block by block we’ll decant the residents into their new affordable carbon neutral homes that meet their needs.
I don’t want to be decanted. My family doesn’t want to be decanted.
We’re offering you all the opportunity to choose your new home. You can bid for your new suitable home that suits your needs from the range of homes on Homesearch. Bid for the one you like. You can do it on the internet with one easy click. Choose and click. Very simple.
I haven’t got the internet.
Right. I’ve looked at the Homesearch, I’ve tried bidding on the Homesearch. But I can’t get nothing on it. It always goes to someone else higher up the list than me.
There’s loads of us all bidding for the same houses. It leaves a bitter taste. I feel like I’m competing with my next door neighbour.
I’ve got two bedrooms here. I decorated my flat, I’ve got a nice kitchen. I’m not being offered better.
Not even being offered the same.
But don’t forget about the new homes! In the future, there will be new homes, we’re committed to providing the new homes, in the happy future, and you can go and live in them.
So you want us to move once now. And then move again when these new homes get built? I don’t want to move twice.
If they get built.
Otherwise we get stuck in whatever you decant us in to in the meantime.
What I’ve been offered isn’t suitable. I’m only being offered the left-over council stock that no-one else wants.
We’re just being offered left-overs. Flats that no-one else wants. Where we don’t know anybody.
You’re like vultures, circling round, picking off the weakest and the poorest so that you can wipe this area clean and build yuppie flats here.
Or you can find yourself another home. We’ll give you an incentive if you find yourself a private alternative.
You can move into the private sector. We’ll pay you to move into the private sector. With all the benefits and choice of private sector housing.
It’s all about choice. And options. To suit your needs.
Look. Look. Look. Let’s work together here. We’re all committed to the same outcome. We’ll allocate you a case manager who will individually help you to make the transition.
I’m not going anywhere. So there’s nothing to manage.
It’s all very stressful. Being told you’ve got to move out. It’s making me ill.
We’re setting up stress-management workshops. We want to minimise the stress. We appreciate that moving home can be a stressful process.
I’m going to stay here.
I can’t sleep. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be evicted. I’ve always paid my rent on time. I was on the residents committee. I cleaned up the grafitti and I fixed the lights in people’s porches and I helped old ladies with their shopping when the lift was out of order. I don’t want to be evicted.
If you don’t choose a home, we’ll select one for you. We’ll make you an offer of a home, and you’re free to reject it if it doesn’t suit your needs.
We’ll make you three offers. Because it’s all about choice.
We’ll give you three opportunities to take up the offer of the alternative housing.
If you don’t take up the offers then we have no option but to serve you with an eviction notice.
I used to know everyone on my floor. Now there’s no-one here. And I’m frightened at night.
I can’t sleep. I don’t know where I’m going to go. I don’t know where you’re going to put me. I won’t know any body there.
We can’t guarantee your safety. The estate will be desolate at night. If you refuse to move, we can’t continue to protect you.
Three…
Two…
One…This is your last one. Your last chance. This or nothing.
I’ll take it.
Good. Good. Your case worker will help you pack your bags. We’ll give you a relocation grant. Chop chop.
What about me?
I’ve been sent a letter of eviction. We’re being forced out.
You’ve had your three chances. Three alternative homes. You didn’t want any of them.
You’re not co-operating. If you won’t co-operate, we can’t help you.
We’ve gone through the proper procedure. You haven’t participated.
I’ll just sit here and wait for the bulldozers then shall I?
(long pause)
People have left their flats still filled with the detritus of their lives. Took what they needed and left what they didn’t. Some people died waiting, and all that was removed were their bodies.
As the people leave, or die, and their homes empty out, there’s a hovering flock waiting to colonise the spaces. Nature abhors a vacuum. A race between the squatters and the welders.
When the homes go all that’s left is concrete. The trinkets and tea pots and curtains decay, are stripped back, torn out. Then it’s the fixtures that are scavenged. The piping, the taps, the aluminium window frames. At the end, all that’s left is a huge stack of empty concrete boxes.
I’m the last one left now. My home feels like a tiny ship barely afloat on a huge grey sea of concrete. I feel like I am shrinking and that the world I have made for myself is getting more and more insignificant as the weight of the empty concrete overwhelms me.
I stand on my balcony and visualise the bright new future. Bulldozers tearing these concrete tendons with their metal teeth, dragging it down. Net curtains and tatters of flowery wallpaper.
Is this how it all ends?
From Parliament to Elephant, Vauxhall Farm to Lower Marsh.....
One Mile Away is a new play about a one-mile-radius area of London, created by 
