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Blind and partially sighted residents are fearful for their futures after being told the 58-year-old housing scheme where they live will be sold.
Their tenants’ association in West London is campaigning for the Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT) to continue its ownership of their homes.
The self-contained flats and communal area in Shepherd’s Bush form the charity’s last housing centre after four others were sold or transferred.
Andrew Hodgson, chair of the Pocklington Lodge Tenants’ Association, said the trust has gradually reduced the level of housing support provided for tenants, whittling away the basis for the specialist accommodation.
The retired civil servant has a lease and pays a monthly rent of £1,400 but fears he and others may have to move out if a housing developer buys the site. TPT maintains that it is not selling to a developer, the tenants receive all the ‘necessary’ support they need and it has consulted them thoroughly on the ‘future operating model’.
Mr Hodgson, 69, who has lived in his home for 38 years, told Metro: ‘The lodge has been run by a charity which had the expertise and history of supporting blind people, but sadly this has been neglected.
‘We had letters on November 14 last year stating that because of cost TPT was considering four options for the future of Pocklington Lodge, none of which we found to be suitable for the tenants’ needs.
‘We have campaigned on the basis of a fifth option — that we feel that they should continue to manage and own the building but with improved services. We feel that they could use this as a flagship building for accommodation for visually impaired people and publicise it.’
In April, the tenants discovered that the Trust had decided to sell Pocklington Lodge and find a new provider, according to Mr Hodgson.
The charity has taken the decision as it is prioritising support in education, employment and engagement over housing, he said.
The move follows the trust’s sale of another housing complex it ran for blind and partially-sighted people in Roehampton, south-west London.
‘In 2016 they made similar promises to the residents in Roehampton to those that they are making to us now; that their tenancies were safe and they would look for another provider,’ Mr Hodgson said.
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‘What proved to be the case was that they sold that building to a property developer, which is not what we want here and why we are anxious and seeking legal advice.
‘If Pocklington Lodge went to a developer we don’t know what could happen, whether they could just seize our tenancies and we’d have to rely on the council re-housing us.
‘There are some people who need the support more than others but a lot of people need some level of support.
‘Above all though, we are used to living here, it’s our home, it’s a nice area with brilliant transport links, and we don’t wish to move.’
Mr Hodgson told Metro that the accommodation had previously been supported with a resident manager but was now treated as independent living, with no resident staff and less support than in previous years.
‘We suspect that over the years the trustees have been less in favour of supported housing and they expected people to move on from this accommodation,’ he said.
‘In 2017, they decided to cease having supported housing and made it independent housing. We weren’t in approval of that, but we didn’t have any choice because Pocklington had made their decision.
‘At the same time, the council, who had partly funded the staffing of Pocklington Lodge through a scheme called Supporting People, withdrew their funding. It meant that we were left high and dry.
‘We managed to persuade the council for support for six hours a week for people coming into the office, to read mail to us and certain things like that. Pocklington outsourced the maintenance of the lodge through to other organisations.
‘Now they are saying they don’t have the scale to manage the property but it is a situation of their own making because they have taken away the support over the years.’
Thomas Pocklington's vision
The Thomas Pocklington Trust was set up by Thomas Pocklington, a jeweller-turned-property developer who ensured that his charitable work would continue after his death in 1935.
One of the philanthropist’s last wishes was for ‘a suitable institution for the care and welfare of the blind’ on his estate.
The lodge opened in 1967, at the time providing 100% of the purpose-built housing for visually impaired workers in London.
A trust spokesperson said: ‘TPT’s strategy has over time moved away from providing accommodation for people with sight loss and related conditions…the trustees decided that the approach of housing a group of visually impaired people together had become inefficient.
‘The board decided that the purposes of the charity could be achieved more effectively by providing services and other support to visually impaired people, rather than specialist accommodation.
‘These decisions were taken around 2010 and meant that housing was no longer core to our strategy and the four other functional centres were transferred with the last being transferred around 2016.
‘The trustees were concerned to ensure that they balance the needs of all beneficiaries and consider that they could achieve greater charitable benefit by using the funds to support other charitable activities.
‘It is worth noting that this approach is consistent with many other organisations in the sector.’
The trust denied that the trust will sell the complex to a developer.
The representative said: ‘We have repeatedly reassured tenants that we will not sell to a property developer and that their security of tenancy and future rent increases are important issues to us.
‘We will be looking for a buyer who has better expertise to deliver social housing than us, tenants could receive additional support as some have asked for. We have reassured tenants that we will look to keep rents at an affordable level and secure their tenancies with a new owner and in accordance with the Tenants’ Rights Bill when implemented.’
The charity insisted that all the tenants received the ‘necessary’ support from social services, with no indication otherwise.
‘We do not believe that social services will change their provision to anyone because of a change in ownership and have not heard of this happening elsewhere,’ the spokesperson said.
In relation to the Roehampton sale, the representative said: ‘It is not accurate to say the centre at Roehampton was transferred with the assurances mentioned.
‘The building was no longer suitable for accommodation and was sold to a housing association who redeveloped it we believe (all the tenants were rehoused including some to Pocklington Lodge).
‘Of the three other centres the ones in Plymouth and Wolverhampton were transferred to other organisations and the one in Northwood was similar to the one in Roehampton and we believe the site has been redeveloped.
‘We have not received a single complaint from any of the tenants, ex- tenants or any of the family or friends or any other connected party from any of the four other centres since they transferred about our handling of the transfer or the subsequent implications (indeed we received thanks from several of them).’
The charity explained why there has not been a resident manager for at least 10 years as being due to changes in local authority support and the ‘cessation of over-arching support contracts.’
The spokesperson said: ‘Having already identified the need to consider the future operating model for Pocklington Lodge, TPT had carried out an extensive consultation exercise with tenants, which included writing to all tenants to explain the nature and scope of the consultation on November 14, 2024, meeting with approximately 40 tenants and responding to queries from individual tenants.
‘The consultation identified that the main concern for tenants was reassurance that they will be able to remain living in Pocklington Lodge and continue to pay affordable rents.’
The spokeperson added: ‘TPT is here to support all blind and partially sighted people which according to the NHS is two million people.
‘Clearly this includes the 50 tenants at the Lodge, but we are here to support many other people too.’
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