Workers' Liberty

Residents of Aspland estate and Marcon Court have been successful in their campaign (as reported on in Solidarity) to force Hackney Council to back down from its plan to privatise their estates.

The Council’s Cabinet will discuss the issue on 25 July, and was going to vote on a recommendation to transfer the estates to a new landlord, and to demolish Marcon Court and rebuild it with a majority of private flats for sale.

Now, the recommendation will instead be to note residents’ opposition, pull the estates out of the “Review”, and put them into the Decent Homes programme with the rest of Hackney's estates.

The Tenants’ and Residents’ Association (TRA) has vowed to fight on, to ensure that the Council properly refurbishes the crumbling estate.

This is a victory for community solidarity. We stopped the privatisation plan because we were not fooled by Council propaganda, and were not prepared to see a working-class community swept aside to make way for yet more expensive flats for City commuters.