Southwark CounciL is “reviewing security arrangements” on the Aylesbury Estate after residents told the News last week it was “like living in Alcatraz.”
Barbed fences were erected and locked gates installed around some of the blocks on the Walworth estate amid safety concerns for the semi-derelict blocks and the remaining residents.
After squatters infiltrated Chiltern House, the new security gates were locked with leaseholders and tenants complaingin that security guards would not let them in at the gates nearest to their homes.
After leaseholders like Agnes Kabuto, 57, complained when her elderly disabled mother, was forced to walk all around the estate to get home. “My disabled mother can’t go all the way around to get in when all the entrances are blocked. They are making our lives a misery. It’s like Alcatraz. It’s no longer like a home. It’s like a prison really,” she said.
This week, Cllr Mark Williams, Southwark’s cabinet member for regeneration, planning and transport, said they were now reviewing the situation and trying to find an alternative.
“We will be looking at the best way to alleviate these worries without compromising the security of the site. The current arrangements will remain in place until an alternative solution can be found,” he said.
