The Rich Have Lawyers (Hardcover)

This text is an overview of CPO processes in estate regeneration to determine whether the rationale, processes, impact and outcomes associated with housing estate regeneration is compatible with the compelling public interest. The text draws on the lived experiences and engagement with residents, focus groups and associations, undergoing estate regeneration on estates in the London borough of Lambeth. These engagements and lived experiences are augmented by a review of contractual, policy, political, legal, planning documentation, data and other evidence from direct engagement with the council since 2015 to date. Evidence over the last decades five decades appears to suggest that there is an increased deployment of CPO led estate regeneration in London. which triggers the demolition of homes with residents in situ. And although estate regeneration can primfacie invoke beneficial outcomes or promoted by proponents as positive, It is cited as part of a phase of an evolving land expropriation process that culminates into a form of accumulation by dispossession it through the displacement, dispossession and disenfranchisement of residents. Such dispossession contributes to an inter-generational detrimental impact on marginalised communities due to the historical structural inequality, racial disparity and the current impact of Covid19. The statutory compensation for the loss of a physical property, is inadequate for the loss of a home as place of belonging with support networks and the consequential long-term detrimental impact. Added to that is the inherent structural imbalance of resources that make legally challenging estate expropriation an insurmountable task for residents. It is therefore arguable that even with statutory restraints and remedies, the law is either inadequate or plays a central role in the displacement and dispossession of individuals. This text therefore provides a foundational overview of CPO led estate regeneration, the historical, ideological perspectives of land expropriation and how that is linked to the current CPO led housing estate regeneration.