Dexter, left, and Robert blow their saxes

Protest at bid to split up ‘soul-mate’ neighbours

Jazz musician friends among tenants fighting to keep estate homes

WHEN Derek ‘Dexter’ Whitehall moved into the sheltered housing flat in Primrose Hill next door to fellow sax player Robert Ellis-Hawke they quickly bonded over a love of jazz.

But after 11 years of being neighbours in Carole House in the Oldfield Estate, Regent’s Park Road, the jazz musicians are being forced apart after their landlords told residents they have to move out their homes by Christmas.

The two musicians – who have played gigs around the world, including in Cuba alongside members of the world-famous Buena Vista Social Club – are among 65 Carole House tenants who face being turned out their homes by landlords Central and Cecil Housing Trust (CCHT). CCHT wants to build “extra care” homes for infirm tenants but would have to re-house existing tenants across Camden. 

The tenants, who are mainly elderly, as well as 11 key workers, learned at the end of April that CCHT had already been awarded £1.8 million by the Housing Corporation to redevelop the site.

They have mounted a campaign against the plans and have started a fighting fund to cover legal costs. 

The newly-formed Carole Action Team (CAT), representing the tenants, handed Mr Varcoe an alternative proposal that he agreed to return to the board for consideration. It outlines ways for homes to be vacated “organically” rather than by removing tenants.

Mr Varcoe told the meeting the trust had problems filling the flats. “What was highly desirable in 1964 (when the flats were built) is not so in 2006.” He added CCHT were trying to work with Camden to meet the council’s care obligations.

Sally de Sousa of CAT said:  “We have hundreds of signatures from neighbours supporting our ‘save our homes’ campaign and it is very encouraging to get that support.”

Resident Adrian Hemming said: “The consultation process so far has been so abysmal. Tenants at Carole House do not have the same finance that CCHT have to help us fight this. CCHT by now is a very large and wealthy business.”