As part of the new masterplan, Southwark identified 15 council-owned sites (including play areas, a car park, a vacant nursing home) surrounding the Elephant & Castle, which it plans to hand over to housing associations in return for them building an element of 'social' housing for rehousing Heygate tenants.
In the foreword to the council's information pack delivered to Heygate residents, Deputy council leader Catherine Bowman says: "We have made sure that the construction of your new homes is the first thing that happens in this regeneration scheme."
In July 2007, the council executive suddenly decided to bring forward the decant of the estate, despite the fact that not one of the 15 replacement 'early housing sites' had been completed. In response to protest, tenants demanded a legal document be drafted entitling them to a 'right to return' to the estate once it had been redeveloped. It later emerges that the legal document drafted by the council contained a clause stating that the 'right to return' would expire after 7 years.
A leaked internal report shows that by 31 Oct 2008, the estate has been half emptied and that most of the remaining residents are elderly. The report also highlights the difficulty of trying to decant 1,100 households into existing council properties when there are no more than 35 these becoming available every fortnight.
198 'notices to quit' were issued to tenants during the decant.
In June 2009, the council confirmed that 6 of the 15 replacement housing sites will no longer be built.
Instead of providing them with the new homes they were promised (or other suitable accommodation), Southwark decides to offer residents 'Happiness therapy' with TV happiness guru Robert Holden.