FLATS being built on the site of a former council estate are going on sale for more than £500,000 each,  housing activists revealed yesterday. 

A yet-to-be-built studio flat on the grounds of the one-time Heygate Estate in the London borough of Southwark was put on sale online yesterday for £515,000. 

The demolition of the estate and its sale to property developers Lend Lease was highly criticised by residents and local campaigners.

Housing campaigner Liliana Dmitrovic, who lived in the area for over 20 years, told the Star the price was “absolutely appalling.

“How many former Heygate residents, who got scandalously little ‘compensation’ for their homes, will be queueing to buy a studio flat for £500,000?”

The south London borough’s average income was recorded at just below £17,000.

Southwark council cabinet member for regeneration Cllr Mark Williams claimed: “In Southwark we are doing more than any other borough to tackle the housing crisis head on by delivering more new homes.”

At the former Heygate site, he added, the council “secured a minimum of 25 per cent affordable housing.”

In a similar dispute, general union GMB opposed plans yesterday for a housing trust to cut back on the number of social housing units in one of the last remaining estates in London’s borough of Chelsea.

The union’s political officer Gary Dolan said: “It is of primary importance that key workers have the ability to remain in the borough to service hospitals, schools and other public services within the community where they live. 

“This development will do nothing to alleviate the situation and will only exacerbate the problem.”

The average monthly rent in Kensington and Chelsea is £2,708.