Populo Living, a housing company wholly owned by the council, said power and water will be cut off to the building from Wednesday (November 12)
Newham Council is threatening to cut off the water supply to a foodbank in Stratford amid redevelopment plans. Populo Living, a housing company wholly owned by the East London council, is forcing Carpenters Café to relocate to a set of four containers so it can use the building as offices to run the £1.4bn development from.
Volunteers at the foodbank have been trying to resist the move for a year. After efforts to move into other community spaces were rejected by Newham Council, they have requested if the move can be delayed until after December 2 when their annual Christmas party will be held.
This is because the new site in Gibbins Road will not have space for foodbank users to sit down and chat with each other. Despite this, Newham Council has told volunteer Tee Fakubin that water and power will be cut off to the building from Wednesday, November 12 – making this impossible.
In an email seen by MyLondon, an employee at Newham Council claimed the ongoing dispute with Carpenters Café has caused “serious cost impacts” and added the area will be unsafe for visitors due to construction work.
Volunteer Folu Fakubin has described Newham Council’s decision as “heartbreaking”. “In Newham the poverty is one of the highest in the country,” he told MyLondon. “People are really struggling.
“We can’t hold our Christmas party in the container. We want to have a last hurrah, but no one would be able to sit down [in the new venue].
“We treat people well here. They can stop, have tea or coffee and some food and feel treated like humans. But it feels like profit comes before everything else.”
Plans for the regeneration of Carpenters Estate were first put forward in 2003 after residents had complained to Newham Council about poor building maintenance, asbestos and rodent infestations.
Over a period of more than 20 years residents have slowly been decanted from the estate’s low-rise terraces and three tower blocks – Lund Point, Dennison Point and James Riley Point – with fewer than half of the homes occupied in 2025.
Currently home to 710 properties, the estate will more than triple in size to 2,300 with about half of new homes slated to be for affordable rent. Some 73 per cent of estate residents backed a regeneration plan in 2021 with plans eventually given the go-ahead in February, but nonetheless Newham Council has faced strong opposition.
Populo Living will use the site in Dorian Walk to run the regeneration of the estate. A spokesperson said the regeneration project will bring major benefits for the community.
“London needs homes and the regeneration of the Carpenters Estate will deliver 2,300 new and refurbished homes for Newham,” they added. “50 per cent of these will be genuinely affordable at social rent.
“During the process of preparing the regeneration programme, the council has supported the work of the Carpenters Café by providing free space on the estate for several years, with an agreement the café would move elsewhere on the estate when the regeneration begins.
“An alternative purpose-built site, with improved facilities, has been available for the café to move into since July of this year. Populo requires access to the old TMO (Tenant Management Office) building, to begin the redevelopment of the estate and provide the homes people need. “
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