PEOPLE living on a south London estate prepared to press on with a legal battle against their council yesterday after it gave the go-ahead to the demolition of their homes.

Residents of Cressingham Gardens in Brixton said the decision by Lambeth council’s cabinet was not surprising but still “unlawful.”

A large protest took place on Monday evening outside Lambeth Town Hall, where the the cabinet was meeting, but councillors were unmoved.

Cllr Matthew Bennett, cabinet member for housing, said during the evening’s discussion: “Where there have been failings, I am very sorry for those failings. (Nonetheless) a decision needs to be made after consultation.”

Resident Andy Plant said: “We were expecting it pretty much because the cabinet meetings are really just rubber-stamping of decisions that have already been made.”

The council blamed cuts to local authority budgets for the need to flatten the derelict estate.

Mr Plant, who has lived on the estate for just under 20 years, said the council had been ignoring residents’ needs since long before the start of the current funding squeeze.

“From about 2005 on, the neglect has been quite bad,” he said, adding that various problems on the estate were finally solved a couple of months ago, when the council “realised they hadn’t actually been meeting their repair obligations.

“They suddenly found £1.5m to do bits and pieces around the estate that they couldn’t find for so many years previously.”

Mr Plant said he believed residents had a couple of years until evictions took place, “but that’s not a reason to go ‘Oh, that’s all right’ because it’s not going to go away.”

Protests like the one on Monday are expected to continue, particularly as a High Court judicial review and a public inquiry might be held.

Residents have long disputed the validity of the consultation, saying their preferred option, a £9.4 million refurbishment, was overlooked.

On Monday, the cabinet unanimously backed a £100 million new build on the site.

Solicitor Ugo Hayter spoke on behalf of residents, saying: “Lambeth’s decision was clearly unlawful and we look forward to it being quashed by the High Court.”