Southwark Council: ‘Housing crisis has reached a whole new level’

The billboards sell a grand vision for the future. Soon they are trumpeting – new houses… There are artistic impressions of what the new houses will look like, smiling residents walking through the new estate.

But for now, that’s as close as the new Bells Gardens estate in Peckham, south-east London, will get. Instead, graffiti covers the billboards.

The plan to build 80 social homes here, and another 40 on a plot next door, was halted a year ago – with no date yet for when work could start.

It’s not the kind of place council leaders would normally like to take you to, but according to Kieron Williams, leader of Southwark Council, it is a sign of the times.