Tonight I am staying at the occupation house on the Lesnes Estate in Thamesmead where Peabody housing association has planning permission to demolish all of the homes to build luxury apartments. We have our sleeping bags and duvets and are ready to sleep. 

 

We had a brilliant day at the BBQ with residents who are fighting to stay in their homes. We spoke about the first week in the house and our plans moving forward and getting a meeting with John Lewis, Peabody’s executive director, who is the lead for the Thamesmead redevelopment. 

 

I had a good night’s sleep. The house was not cold during the night, which was one of my fears, getting ill is just something I can’t afford to happen right now. The only issue we have is going to the toilet in the middle of the night as we don’t have access to one but luckily, I did not need to go. 

 

This morning, we had to get the engagement table out with our leaflets explaining what the protest occupation is about and talk to residents who have not heard about what is going on. What is shocking is the amount of private renters on the Lesnes Estate who are not being informed that they could potentially lose their homes if their landlords choose to sell to Peabody. 

 

We have a lot of work still to do on reaching out to all residents, in particular private renters impacted by the redevelopment of the Thamesmead estates. I will leave it here with a picture below of us putting a bed up for more people to stay in the home.