Londoners from across the city came together at City Hall for a housing justice event hosted by Green Party London Assembly Member Zoë Garbett, focusing on the crisis of estate demolitions and social housing loss.
The event focused on centring the experiences and perspectives of residents and campaigners fighting to protect social housing, prevent displacement and defend long-standing communities.
This comes against the backdrop of 137 estates across London slated for demolition, record levels of homelessness and councils spending £5.5 million every day to house people in need.
The event featured contributions from Andrea Gilbert (Lesnes campaign), Joseph Jones and Richard Lee (Estate Watch, London Tenants Federation and Just Space), and Imogen Tranchell (Save Shepherd's Bush Market).
Attendees participated in table discussions exploring how communities have challenged estate regeneration and gentrification, measures needed to protect residents and how councils and developers should be held accountable.
Zoë Garbett Green Party London Assembly Member said:
“Our planning policies too often ignore the people who actually live in this city in favour of developers whose priority is their profits.
“Regeneration is often presented as the solution by councils, but we know it comes at a cost, land is sold to private developers, luxury flats replace social housing, culturally significant spaces like markets are destroyed and communities are uprooted.
“Estates in London have housed people for generations and yet, for decades, they’ve been endlessly neglected and written off. Developers continue to call the shots at almost every stage of the process, and community-led plans are ignored. This event was about hearing directly from residents and campaigners who are fighting back, and it was inspiring to see so many engaged.
“The Mayor often hears from developers and lobby groups, but it’s crucial that the perspectives of local residents are at the centre of the conversation.
“I’ll be using what comes out of these conversations to make the case to the Mayor for planning policies that are fairer and that act as a real counterweight to the power of big developers, ahead of the publication of the Mayor’s new London Plan in May 2026.”
Imogen Tranchell from Friends of Shepherd’s Bush Market and Protect Our Places said:
"This was an important and empowering event. Across London our communities' homes, places and spaces are under threat from speculative development and profiteering. There has been a corporate capture of our democracy. Those who are supposed to represent us instead ignore and dismiss our voices, while doing the bidding of billionaire developers. By coming together in solidarity we can share our stories and build our skills and strength to resist displacement.”
Some of the grassroots campaigns at the event included:
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Fight4Aylesbury
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Aylesham CoHomes
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Lesnes Resistance
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PlushSE16 x NoPriceOnCulture
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Better Kentish Town West
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Aylesham Community Action Peckham
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Save Shepherd's Bush Market
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Social Housing Action Campaign
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Save Our Stockwell
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Kensal Canalside Campaign
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Refurbish Don’t Demolish
Notes to editors
Images from the event can be found here