18 December (Part 2) - Peabody on the move? Possibly
In March 2016 I was privileged to be invited by Peabody Housing to a meeting at which they revealed
their plans for the tower blocks on Wolvercote Road and sixteen months later
much
the same plan was presented to Bexley’s Places Committee. In brief the old
blocks were costing £2,000 a year to heat at 2016 prices and had to be
demolished sooner rather than later.
And
they are still there but maybe things are at long last making progress. I know a
lady who bought her Wolvercote Road flat more than 50 years ago and as she heads
towards her 100th birthday and having survived two years of stressful date
slippage is about to make the move to the other side of Yarnton Way. A number of
her friends have been helping with shelves and flat-pack assembly etc.
As she was told she had to be out by the end of January one might assume that
Wolvercote Road will come tumbling down at some time in 2024. Or 2025, or maybe later.
The new flat looked rather nice but may prove
to be a little too high-tech for a nonagenarian.
BT has unbelievably refused to transfer her 50 year old phone number to the new
address. That would have been a five minute job when I worked in an old fashioned
electro-mechanical telephone exchange. A press of a button now. Maybe I will
have to make a complaint on the lady’s behalf.