Agar Grove Tenant Management Co-operative

The Agar Grove Estate was built in 1965 and there followed a long period when the London Borough of Camden were unable to spend enough money on its upkeep and it gradually fell into a decline. Vandalism became rife, graffiti appeared everywhere, children behaved dreadfully and crime flourished alarmingly. In particular, the tower block Lulworth, became a frightening place to live. We had an expectation of burglary officially equal to any other trouble spot in the country and 86% of the tenants had asked to be rehoused and were awaiting transfer at the beginning of 1990. It was at this time that LBC first told us of the possibility of our applying for an Estate Action Bid which would provide us with the money to improve and refurbish Lulworth. We promptly roused the interest of sufficient tenants and formed a steering group to negotiate with LBC and the DoE, as it was then called. After many pitfalls and setbacks along the route the final decision was ratified at the end of 1992 for