Alma estate, Enfield

746 homes have been approved for demolition on Enfield's Alma estate at Ponders End.

7.8 hectares, Ponders End Railway Station - four high rise tower blocks (each 23 storeys), and a number of low rise maisonette and flatted blocks.

Enfield Council signed a joint-venture agreement with developer Countryside Properties for the redevelopment of the estate in November 2014.

The scheme is being funded by the Mayor and exempted from his requirement to ballot residents on the demolition of their homes.

Phase one of the four stage scheme has been demolished and is nearing completion. Remaining phases are still occupied.

Outline planning permission was granted in September 2015 but subject to the signing of a section 106 agreement when the first detailed application came forward. In June 2017 a section 106 agreement was signed which guaranteed just 200 of the 993 replacement homes as social rent:

In its Statement of Reasons justifying the Compulsory Purchase Order. Enfield relies on its own neglect of the estate as justification for its demolition:

Unlike most schemes, there is no housing re-provision proposed for the estate's 170 current leaseholders. Enfield has no shared equity scheme - if leaseholders want to buy one of the new shared ownership homes they will have to pay rent on the unowned equity.

In 2017 it was reported that Enfield Council was not meeting its statutory duty to pay for independent surveyor valuations and threatening to deny shared ownership offers to leaseholders who raised objections to the Council's scheme.

Links:

Enfield's planning application documents

The Mayor's stage 1 and stage 2 reports