WORK to demolish an estate of poorly-built houses and replace them with new ones is about to begin.
Permission to knock down the first four buildings in Birling Road, Erith, was given by Bexley Council last week.
The homes in Birling and Brasted Roads were built using the Orlit manufacturing system and are now beginning to crumble.
Many of the residents have lived there for nearly 50 years and form a tight-knit community.
When Orbit Housing Association, which now owns many of the houses, proposed wholesale demolition in 1998, it caused an outcry among the tenants.
Now the housing association has come up with a plan to replace the buildings gradually with new modern houses and bungalows, which will be offered to the existing tenants, to keep the community intact.
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