Welcome to the Save Our Homes LS26 website – set up in 2018 as part of our campaign to prevent the eviction of over a hundred private renters on one post-war estate in Oulton, Leeds.
The #SaveOurHomesLS26 fight may be over, but we learned a lot along the way. This website [currently being updated] is now dedicated to sharing experiences and insights from our tenant activist campaign, in the hope that it might help you with yours. Navigate the menu tabs above to read more about our story, resident campaigners and key moments in our fight, what campaign tactics worked for us, and lots more.
Estate and Campaign Background:
In 2017, corporate landlord Pemberstone submitted a planning application to demolish and redevelop our estate, evicting 70 low-income households in the process. We launched a fierce campaign to prevent eviction and to keep our tenant community together. The estate was an ex-National Coal Board estate made up of iconic post-war prefab Airey homes and it had housed generations of families.
In 2019, Leeds City Council refused Pemberstone’s planning application because it would break up a low-income tenant community during a housing crisis. VICTORY! Then, Pemberstone appealed and #SaveOurHomesLS26 mobilised once again.
This time, we lost. In 2021, a government-level inspector approved Pemberstone’s plans, and by spring 2022 almost all assured shorthold tenants had been evicted. BUT… In September 2022, housing association Leeds Federated Housing purchased the estate from Pemberstone. Then, with money from Leeds City Council, Leeds Fed built 70 new homes – 40 affordable social houses, and 30 shared-ownership. Some previous residents are now – from March 2025 – able to return and rent the ‘affordable’ social rent homes under a dedicated Local Lettings Policy.
Not the victory we wanted, but a HUGE RESULT for all who can return. At last, a bit of housing security. Navigate along the tabs at the top to find out more about our story, tips and resources for other activist groups, and to read our blog posts.
WE…
FORCED a corporate landlord to give up their plans to demolish an affordable rented estate so they could build a middle-class home-ownership estate.
PRESSURED the landlord into selling the land to a housing association: Leeds Federated Housing. And pressured the council to financially support the sale – to the tune of £2.8 million.
PERSUADED housing association Leeds Fed and Leeds City Council to increase the social housing stock in ‘Cardboard City’ from 11 (the legal minimum) to 40, and to give priority returns to evicted tenants.
RE-UNITED many of the evicted and dispersed tenant community back on Cardboard City, under the creation of a bespoke Local Lettings Policy.
SHONE A SPOTLIGHT ON tenant communities and showed how close-knit and interdependent they are.
Editorial note: Content for this website has been written and organised by me, Jessica Field (daughter of Hazell and Mark Field, sister of Max – ex-8 Wordsworth Drive residents) unless otherwise stated. It’s designed to reflect learning from the SOH LS26 campaign, which was a community-wide effort shaped by so many people. While the website reflects different inputs and resources from various (ex)-residents and elsewhere, any errors are mine.
#SaveOurHomesLS26 