Posted on by

“We won!” SHAPE declares victory as Berkeley’s Aylesham Centre judicial review rejected by High Court

The scheme has reached the end of the road after an epic battle involving the Peckham people, a six-year campaign by Aylesham Community Action (ACA), Southwark Council and, finally, local MP Miatta Fahnbulleh.


The SHAPE Coalition was formed to support local people fighting for council homes and against inappropriate development in Southwark. SHAPE is celebrating its first major victory against the developer. The intensive campaign included three demonstrations, several lobbies of the Council, a public meeting, two cavalcades and public stalls and leafleting over a two-year period. ACA’s fundraising efforts ensured excellent legal representation.


Campaigners argued that 12% ‘affordable’ housing in a development is not acceptable. Residents said it was not meant for them. The development would have included sixteen tall towers, up to 20 stories high, with little consideration for the heritage of the area, local independent traders or the environment.

Together
SHAPE and Aylesham Community Action worked together to ensure Berkeley Homes failed to get its proposal approved: By putting pressure on local Councillors to refuse the scheme at planning committee in July 2025, then taking the argument to the Planning Inspector, who refused the appeal in May 2026, then backing the Council to oppose the developer’s attempt to overturn the Planning Inspector’s refusal in the High Court.


On 9 October 2026 the High Court ruled that Berkeley’s application for review was rejected, signaling the end of the road for the controversial scheme.


SHAPE has now turned its attention to other major schemes in the Borough and pledges to support any local campaigns organising against over development and unaffordable housing.


“We are delighted that the social cleansing scheme in Peckham has been defeated. The people have stopped the developers. This comes at the same time that the Lewisham Shopping Centre developer Landsec has effectively walked away following intractable opposition from local people, and residents of Cressingham Gardens and Central Hill Estates in Lambeth have secured their homes against the wrecking ball. The lesson for all of us is that if you keep fighting, you can win.” Tanya Murat, SHAPE Coalition


“Battles defending affordable housing are going on across London. Big developers are
determined to compensate for the rising building costs and lower revenue from free-market
homes, by cutting affordable housing. The Aylesham result shows they can’t always win.
It’s especially important after the Mayor allowed a huge cut in affordable housing on the
giant Canada Water scheme. It also sends a message for future decisions on the Borough
Triangle and Bermondsey Place, two more Berkeley schemes Southwark Council has
rejected for too little affordable housing. The Mayor is now looking at these decisions
himself and Berkeley will be hoping he overturns them – he must disappoint them and get
behind Southwark.” Jerry Flynn, 35% Campaign


“This win for Peckham is monumental. The community can have an impact. Let’s harness this momentum and use it throughout Southwark to fight for our borough!” Siobhan McCarthy, Aylesham Community Action

Posted on by

Join the empty homes poster campaign

Join this Empty Homes poster campaign to help highlight the scandal of empty homes and up pressure on the government to requisition and acquire empty properties.


The government has brought in new powers for Local Authorities to take back empty homes under Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) for up to 7 years, the ownership remains with the property owner, and temporary accommodation remains at the cost of Local Authorities.

Join the Empty Homes Poster Campaign and let’s have a visual protest across our towns, cities and rural areas.

Request the posters and build a campaign in your area to highlight the number of empty estates/homes in your area.

A4 Empty HomesDownload
A3 Empty HomesDownload
A4 Empty Homes colourDownload
Posted on by

Pre-budget march against austerity, 27 October

Join the Housing Bloc!

March against austerity: Assemble 6pm, Tuesday 27 October, Victoria Embankment to Trafalgar Square and Downing Street

Speakers include Zack Polanski and Jeremy Corbyn

IG account with supporters https://www.instagram.com/march.against.austerity

Homes for All calls on housing campaigns to join the housing bloc on the march against austerity on the day before the Budget. 

Despite positive announcements from Andy Burnham, the indications suggest that the market will continue to dominate government policy on housing which results in closing essential community services and being replaced by the drive for profit. The market rips apart people’s lives and contemptuously disregards the erosion of working class communities. 

The obscenity of the market and the ability to organise and fightback has been shown in Spain, when a real estate landlord evicted an 87 year old woman unable to afford the 250% rent rise!  A mass protest was mobilised by the Spanish tenants union and the protests continue and now include anti-fascist demands after the far-right attempted to move into the housing camp.

Report in the Guardian quotes a housing campaigner:

“The power of the people has ushered in a new era,” said Alicia del Río, of the Madrid Tenants’ Union, as she floated plans for a general strike in November.

Posted on by

United protest at parliament for council homes and rent control

Housing protest 9 Sept 2026, Parliament Square

Around 250 supporters joined the Housing Protest on Sept 9 to hear from 14 different housing campaigns and 6 MP’s speaking in support of rent freezes and investment in council housing as the only long term solution to the housing emergency. The scale of the housing crisis was revealed by the breadth of the differing campaigns. Many contributions echoed the need for building a grassroots housing coalition and to keep on organising.

Speakers included: John McDonnell MP, Streets Kitchen, Chris Hinchliff MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Save Brick Lane, Campaign Against Climate Change, St. James Tenants Association, Labour Campaign for Council Housing, Refurbish Don’t Demolish, SHAPE/Homes for All, Fuel Poverty Action, London Renters Union, Housing Action Southwark & Lambeth, Greater Manchester Tenants Union, Grenfell Activist/HfA & SuTR, Ealing Housing Co-op, Green MP, Hannah Spencer, ACORN, Bell Ribeiro – Addy MP, Nadia Whittome MP.

Instagram and Facebook posts from the protest.

Thanks to Dave Gilchrist for the pics.

Posted on by

Migrants don’t cause the housing crisis!

Nigel Farage and Reform UK’s proposed housing policy changes are deeply racist and demonstrate a staggering level of ignorance on the state of housing and how to resolve it. Their housing plans will also seriously affect disabled and vulnerable people.

Shamefully both Labour and the Tories, rather than acknowledge the contribution of ‘foreign nationals’ are riding on the tailcoats of Reform UK preferring to wash over their own governments’ historic responsibilities for the housing crisis. Blaming ‘foreign nationals’ just continues the scapegoating of refugees and migrants that has led to so much division and the growth of racism.

It’s crucial to end the scapegoating that is dividing our communities and provide people with a real chance of a decent home.

We have updated our leaflet ‘Migrants and refugees don’t cause the housing crisis!‘ so the housing movement can understand and respond to the myths being pushed by the far right and mainstream political discourse.

HFA_housing-v-racism_leaflet_Sept2026_A5_4pp_SPREADSDownload

If you want hard copies for your stalls, demos or meetings, please email: infohfanew1@gmail.com

Pete Apps Substack article: ‘Nigel Farage’s housing policy is a racist misrepresentation of what social housing is and who gets it‘ shows who is lucky enough to get council housing – it’s not migrants.

HFA_housing-v-racism_leaflet_Sept2026_A5_4pp_PRINTDownload

Posted on by

Protest 9 September: Fix the housing crisis now!

Fix the housing crisis – Protest

🗓️ Wednesday 9 September, 12pm – 2pm
📍 Parliament Square, Westminster, London

Burnham’s backtracking on council house builds and the funding share from the Affordable Housing Programme shows no real radical break from Starmer’s housing policies. The protest is a real opportunity to highlight this and bring us together and hear from housing campaigns and supporters.

Please join the protest and sign the housing statement

STATEMENT BELOW

9 Sept 2026 statement 31AugDownload

We’ve got a new Prime Minister who is promising to tackle homelessness, but ruling out rent controls, who says we need more social housing but doesn’t have a credible plan. We need a new generation of social rent council homes that include family-sized and accessible homes, designed to meet climate emergency challenges. And right now, we need rent controls to tackle the cost of living crisis.

Read more from the Labour Campaign for Council Housing on the real figures proposed for council housing:

73,000 homes for “strategic partners” but just 3.8% are council homes

The government has announced the first tranche of funding for its Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026-36, for “Strategic Partners”.

There has been much hyperbole and misinformation accompanying the announcement of the first funding for the government’s Social & Affordable Homes Programme. The official Labour Party Twitter account said that “Labour is funding more than 70,000 new homes across England, putting councils at the heart of house building.” Another said “This is the biggest council house building revival in decades”. Others such as Labour Future, not bothering to check, have talked of “Labour’s plan to build 70,000 council homes”. Alas, the reality is far different.

Posted on by

PECKHAM IS NOT FOR SALE! LANDMARK VICTORY AS AYLESHAM CENTRE APPLICATION REFUSED

The Aylesham Centre planning application was REFUSED!

Berkeley Group failed to get their gentrification scheme through. In a David and Goliath struggle the people of Peckham first pressured Southwark Council to refuse the scheme, then took the fight to the Planning Inspector and won. 

Homes for All was proud to support the SHAPE campaign from the start.

The main reason for victory?

Unity, organised and demonstrated – repeatedly – on a mass scale. Six years of sustained pressure by ACA and SHAPE Coalition set up in 2024 to take the fight to the streets.

A demonstration of 600 in 2025, public meetings, benefit gigs, protests, 5,000 objections, a colossal fundraising effort. A campaign capturing the support of 21 Southwark organisations and inspiring many others.

The fundraise meant the campaign could pay for an excellent barrister and ACA was granted “Rule 6” status, meaning they could intervene effectively in the Inquiry.

Unite and fight, always.

The refusal
The biggest issue for local people was the insulting offer of 12% so-called affordable housing (no council housing on the table at all btw). But there were so many other things wrong with the proposed development that the Inspector wouldn’t have approved it even if the amount of affordable housing had been 35%. 

Here’s some of the things the inspector said about the scheme:
“it would rise cliff-like in the townscape” 
“It would tower over its setting”
“an unduly forceful presence on the street scene”
“The blocks would be out of scale, visually intrusive”
“overly domineering”

And so on…

This massive overdevelopment was disrespectful to the people of Peckham, and our local traders and environment. It was not right for Peckham. It put profit before people.

Developer’s next move?
Berkeley Group say they will look at the decision carefully to plan their next steps. They may try to get the decision overturned by a “288 challenge” (similar to a judicial review) or of course, they good re-submit a planning application. Painting themselves as the victims of the piece, they recognise the decision has repercussions elsewhere and are claiming developers will stop ‘investing’ in London now. 

Telegraph article Legal row looms after 800 new London homes blocked
Southwark News article Aylesham Centre redevelopment rejected – it would have changed Peckham’s skyline forever and given 12 per cent affordable housing
Urban Activist article How Local People Prevailed Over a Major Developer in London – in Six Questions

Whatever happens next, SHAPE Coalition will be ready to take up the fight again for the Peckham, Southwark and working class communities everywhere.

Join the next action for SHAPE Coalition

SHAPE / Save OKR morning protest

Details here

Outside start of Old Kent Road Area Action Plan Examination in Public

Tuesday 9 June, 9am to 10am @ Southwark Council Offices, 160 Tooley St, SE1 2TZ

The Old Kent Road Area Action Plan does not prioritise council housing or local communities. It is a developers’ charter.

Posted on by

Old Kent Road march demands council housing and protection for local communities

We supported around 200 Housing and community activists from a range of groups including SHAPE Coalition and Save Old Kent Road. We marched down The Old Kent Road 25 April 2026. The area is under threat from overdevelopment and the erasure of local traders – including many from the global majority – and vital cultural spaces.

We want 100% council housing on council land, 50% council housing on private land. The Old Kent Road Area Action Plan does not prioritise council housing or local communities. It is a developers’ charter.

Speakers on the demonstration included Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth, PCS SELLS Branch, Latin Elephant, Stand up to Racism, Aylesham Community Action and Southwark Acorn.

Local people are calling for:
🔥Homes for people not for profit
🔥Council housing, not luxury flats
🔥Stop overdevelopment
🔥Protect local traders and cultural spaces

YouTube video of Save OKR demonstration (2.4 min)

Follow SHAPE COALITION on Instagram

The next protest will be outside Southwark Council’s offices:

SHAPE Morning protest outside start of Old Kent Road Area Action Plan Examination in Public
Tuesday 9 June, 9am to 10am @ Council Offices, 160 Tooley St, SE1 2TZ
The Examination in Public is where the Council brings their plan to the Planning Inspector who will approve or reject it. Supporters of the Plan and objectors will have a chance to speak. We will be outside in support of objectors to show the Council that the community won’t accept more social cleansing.
Please check details before you come in case of any changes.
https://www.ayleshamcommunityaction.co.uk/SHAPE

Credit: pics and video https://www.instagram.com/davgilz/

Posted on by

Southwark housing and planning activists to demonstrate on Sat 25 April

Stop Social cleansing!
Demonstration Saturday 25 April
March down Old Kent Road!
Assemble 12pm, Michael Faraday Memorial (opp. Elephant & Castle Tube, Northern Line entrance)

Save Old Kent Road and SHAPE Coalition helped to organise the planning bloc on the successful National Housing Demonstration on 18 April and they are planning the Save Old Kent Road demonstration on 25 April. Homes for All urges all housing and planning campaigners to join them. They are on the frontline of the developer-led destruction of communities, and they have a record of holding local politicians to account.

Bus down Old Kent Road
SHAPE and Save OKR hired an old London Bus to tour Old Kent Road demanding Southwark Council alter the Old Kent Road Area Action Plan and increase the amount of social rented housing and protect local businesses and traders. They are urging Councillors to support changes to benefit local people before the plan goes to Examination in Public in June.

The current plan amounts to social cleansing – with 20,000 new homes, but only 5,000 social rented, maximum. The second half of the 20,000 homes is dependent on the Bakerloo Line Extension, but the funding for that is not yet secured. There is no commitment on the number of new council homes and a dozen towers of over 20 storeys are going to be mostly not affordable, with an unlimited amount of student housing.

Campaigners are also concerned about the lack of protection for well-loved cultural spaces and the removal of industrial land and traders – to be replaced by flats.

The plan could end up pushing more working-class people out of the area.

Save Old Kent Road said:
“In 2021, Southwark Council themselves found that 93% of people in Southwark require either social or affordable housing. Since then, things have only got worse. There are now over 22,000 households on Southwark Council’s social housing waiting list and over 10,000 people in Southwark Council temporary accommodation.
The need for genuinely affordable council housing around the Old Kent Road is extreme, but all Southwark Council have done is hand over a cheque to developers and asked them to fill in the number.
The Old Kent Road ward is the most ethnically diverse in Southwark. Instead of investing into the health of our communities, Southwark Council wants to force us out and bring in full-scale gentrification.”

SHAPE Coalition said:
We believe Southwark Council can do better. It is time to start challenging the rule of developers, as they were forced to do with the Aylesham Centre Peckham planning application, which they refused because it only proposed 12% so-called affordable housing. We have to stand together against overdevelopment of homes local people can’t afford. We are demanding homes for people, not for profit, and protection for vital local traders and cultural spaces.”

Joint demands include:
• Homes for people not for profit
• Council housing, not luxury flats
• Stop overdevelopment
• Protect local traders and cultural spaces

Posted on by

Movement demonstrates unity on national housing march

Thousands marched in Central London for council housing and rent controls

The National Housing Demonstration in Central London on 18 April showed the potential to unite the many housing campaigns to demand real solutions to the housing and planning emergency. Saturday’s demonstration was biggest unity demo since people came together on the Kill the Housing Bill demo in 2016.

Homes for All was proud to be part of the organising, alongside the London Renters Union in the coalition under the Homes for Us banner.

The demo was backed by over 80 other tenants’ unions, trade unions and grassroots campaigns. There were five coaches from cities across the country and activists travelled from as far away as Newcastle and Portsmouth.

Supporters of Homes for All demanded a massive programme of council housing – including taking over empty homes – and the Planning Bloc organised by SHAPE Coalition demanded “Planning for People, Not for Profit”.

“I’m here today because as a mother, grandmother and working class person who’s been fortunate enough to benefit from council housing, I fear there won’t be affordable housing for future generations.” Molly, Homes for All organiser

Tanya from SHAPE Coalition urged people to attend the demonstration down the Old Kent Road on Saturday 25 April.

“We are facing a housing emergency and instead of making the planning system work for ordinary people, the Labour government and the Mayor of London are handing more power and public money to developers. The Mayor of London has just approved the giant Canada Water development – where the developer British Land reduced the amount of affordable housing from 35% to 3%. That’s what happens when politicians decide to work within the system, instead of challenging the system.”

Media round-up

Standard article Housing a basic need, not an investment vehicle – Zarah Sultana

Just Space article NATIONAL HOUSING DEMONSTRATION

Socialist Worker article National Housing Demo calls for rent controls and council housing

Politics Joe video Thousands of renters protest their landlords