One large-scale regeneration proposal for south London was rejected by tenants this week and another is under threat from residents who fear they may lose their current homes when work is completed.
The multi-million pound initiatives would see thousands of homes modernised and improved. Unhappy tenants, however, are threatening to scupper the regeneration work.

In Southwark, the Elephant Links community forum refused to back the commercial terms of the £1.5bn Elephant and Castle project, as they involved a stock transfer to an RSL.

The forum would prefer that a community trust be established so that residents can get a larger share of the profits from the project.

"We want full consideration of all the housing options," said Richard Lee, the forum's coordinator.

Southwark Land Regeneration is the joint venture driving the scheme. It was understood to have threatened to withdraw if the terms were not agreed in time for a meeting this week.

That meeting has now been postponed until next month.

Venture director Nicholas Taylor denied however that the meeting's postponement spelled the end for the project.

"I am hardly likely to withdraw if a date has been missed and discussions are still progressing," he said.

Meanwhile, Greenwich council's masterplan to redevelop Kidbrooke, in south-east London, was also under threat.

Tenant activists claimed that the council had failed to guarantee residents the right to return to the area upon completion of the regeneration.

Ferrier Residents' Action Group said the council had been awarded £23m in Single Regeneration Budget funding towards the area's regeneration, but that its proposals for the Kidbrooke scheme, which includes the Ferrier estate, were unacceptable.

"We have tried to get assurances that residents can return and have been stonewalled by the council," said Nick Russell, FRAG vice-chairman. "The council has carried out consultation with residents but this has just been a Cinderella process."

The council said in a statement to Housing Today that it "hopes that existing tenants will choose to stay", although it declined to say whether this represented a guarantee of a right to return. FRAG is sending a deputation to the council this week to pursue its case.