A campaign group says revised plans to retain 14 houses when the council redevelops the Ekin Road estate “do not go far enough”.
However, some residents say the move cannot come soon enough as they live in “near uninhabitable” properties due to “severe cases of mould, damp and condensation”.
The Save Ekin Road group, which has repeatedly called for all 32 semi-detached houses on the estate to be retained, is calling on the authority to save a further six homes.
It also wants the authority to prioritise rehousing council tenants from the houses that are to be demolished in the retained council-owned homes.
In a statement published on Monday (20 May), the group said: “We hope the council can see that our requests are a significant concession from our group, as we are no longer calling for the retention of all 32 semi-detached houses on the estate, but rather for this reduced set of 20 houses.
“Our request is that the council makes the rather minor revisions to its proposal for Ekin Road as outlined in request one, so as to preserve the six semi-detached houses in the north-east corner of the estate, in addition to the 14 already being preserved on the southern edge.
“And to implement a resident rehousing strategy that allows for the residents in the 12 houses that are to be demolished to be rehoused in the spare capacity within the council houses that are retained.”
However, the group says that should the changes be made then the proposal “might” be one that it can “openly support”.
Darren Easton, who represents the residents in favour of redevelopment, said: “People are living in properties that are mould-ridden. They have got damp, they’ve got subsidence in the buildings, they’ve got repairs needed on their properties and we’ve got rats running around. This is a 1940s building and we are living in 2024.
“We should not be living like this. These buildings should be gone.”
Mr Easton said he understood the concerns of the other residents, but said they were preventing those he represented from moving on. He also questioned why it had taken so long for the plans to come forward given the state of homes on the estate.
Cambridge City Council announced last week that it is now set to build 131 new mixed-tenure homes alongside the retained homes.
The news comes after a report published by consultants JLL concluded that full demolition of the estate offered the “greatest opportunity” to provide “long-term benefits”.
But the consultants will now amend their report following feedback from the public, including a promise by the Save Ekin Road Group that they would “never surrender” their homes and would “fight the council on the footpaths, streets, and from their front door”.
Redevelopment of Ekin Road is part of the council’s wider programme of work across Cambridge which it says will improve accommodation standards for people living in existing council homes.
At the start of this process 98 of the 122 existing homes were council homes and while fewer council homes will be built under the new proposals, the outcome will be more large three-or four-bed family properties, increasing from 22 to 37. Some 64 new council homes will be built, with seven more now likely to be retained and retrofitted.
The authority says doing nothing at Ekin Road is not an option because some of the council homes have significant maintenance and structural issues and are well below the current standards it applies to new developments.
The JLL report, with feedback from the consultation and the updated proposals, will be included as part of an officers’ report to be discussed at the council’s housing scrutiny committee on 18 June.
If the proposals are approved by councillors on that date, affected council tenants will be given priority status to bid for a new council tenancy from 19 June.
A Cambridge City Council spokesperson said: “As always we will carefully consider suggestions and feedback from residents of the estate, as we have done throughout the process so far.
“We understand that anyone facing redevelopment will have lots of questions and we will continue to be available to discuss people’s individual circumstances with them.
“All residents are also invited to attend the upcoming Liaison Group meeting at the start of June to talk about the latest plans and discuss any concerns.”
