Residents vow to fight potential homes demolition

The Save Ekin Road campaign group said it would fight any plans to demolish the estate

Residents living in sub-standard council homes said they would "never surrender" to the idea of them being completely demolished.

Cambridge City Council is considering redeveloping the flats and houses in Ekin Road in order to build new council properties for the city.

The Save Ekin Road group has said many of the homes have mould, damp and condensation.

However, the group's spokesman Maurice Chido said at a council meeting that residents would "fight you in the streets" and would "never surrender" the homes.

A report to the council by surveyors JLL proposed three future options for the estate, including refurbishment, the partial demolition of some homes, and the full demolition of the estate for redevelopment.

It recommended that the full demolition of the estate offered the "greatest opportunity" to provide "long-term benefits".

At a housing scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday, members of the Save Ekin Road group said they completely disagreed with the conclusions of the report.

They expressed "tentative support” for one option which would involve demolishing eight of the 32 hours, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Chido said: "We do not want to see a bad decision on Ekin Road, such as a full demolition option, we know that is a bad decision.

"If that is the decision that ends up happening, then we are left with no choice but to fight you - and councillors - we will fight you.

"We will fight you on the footpaths, we will fight you in the streets, we will fight you at our own front doors, and on our driveways, we will fight you in the courts of justice and of public opinion, because these are our homes and we will never surrender them."

The estate consists of houses and flats

Gerri Bird, the Labour executive councillor for housing and homelessness, said the city council was listening to the campaigners concerns and that they were speaking to "every single resident" on the estate.

"We won’t be throwing people out on the street, we will make sure they have everything they possibly need," she said.

"There are a lot of tenants who have told us they want to move out, that is also important, so we will find them a place where they want to go and we will make sure everything is sorted out for them."

The council is running a consultation on the future of the estate and has not yet made a final decision on what it will do.