Sir: The clamour over Centre Point has tended to obscure
the, In many ways more important, issue of what is happening to the residents of Central London.
In the City of Westminster, the Population is falling by 6,000 a Year. The plight of Pimlico, the last mixed income area of any size in Westminster, illustrates why. The traditional residents are being forced out by a new breed of developers who are not interested in letting but only in selling leases at very high prices or worse, simply sitting back watching their empty Properties increase in value by thousands of pounds a year. We estimate that there are at this moment at least 1,000 empty flats in Pimlico alone. No wonder prices soar as an artificial shortage is carefully created. Nothing but the strongest sanctions will bring these flats back on the market. People of all. income groups are !Wing in fear and confusion as they are bribed, harassed, or in the case of furnished tenants, simply given notice to quit. Who will replace them when •the flats come back on the market? Probably heavily subsidised executives from abroad.
As if this was not enough, last Chairman
city. Kenneth Kemp
Pimlico Tenants' and Residents' Association week the Crown Estate Commissioners announced a huge re-development scheme stretching into Pimlico, the highlight of which is a grand CBI conference centre — in the middle of a traditionally residential area !
The sword of Damocles hangs indeed over the heart of this great
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