- philthornton01
- Jun 2
- 4 min read
Almost exactly 10 years ago a councillor at the London Borough of Camden lashed out at well-heeled local residents objecting to a new Sainsbury’s opening in Belsize Park to “check their privilege”, warning that the area was in danger of becoming “too posh”. The objectors won after the company dropped its plan. The site is now a Pret a Manger.
The campaigners had successfully prevented another Tesco from opening on the same site while Sainsbury’s also raised the white flag over two other contested sites with half a mile from that one (one of which is still boarded up). The net result is that this mixed area has two mid-sized supermarkets, a Marks & Spencer and a former Budgens now run by an Irish chain as a “world class food emporium”, neither of which is best known for offering cut-price value for money.
The councillor, Theo Blackwell (now a senior figure at London City Hall), said that the new store would have benefitted residents on lower incomes and provided more choice. His telling three-word phrase encapsulated what was then an emerging trend for the established home-owning classes within London to act swiftly and concertedly to retain the status quo.
While this may seem a trivial example, it is one of an array of forces that threaten to leave London a sterile place, denied of variety and lacking in services that are needed, used and often provided by a large swathe of the city population. While some parts of London are succeeding in preserving their privilege, others are changing in nature as part of a gentrification process that is squeezing out the less well off.

Right to the city
From an urban geography perspective, this can be seen as a battle for the right to the city, as I discussed in May. This term, first set out by the French Marxist sociologist and philosopher, Henri Lefebvre, sees all people living in cities having the right to influence how their urban environment develops, no matter their legal status, background, physical capabilities or identity.
While anyone can be said to have right to the city, fellow Marxist thinkers such as David Harvey have said that the focus when thinking about ensuring everyone has that right should be on those who find themselves losing their rights — the poor, the underprivileged and those marginalised from political power. So how does this theoretical analysis map out on the ground?
The gentrification process taking place across London over the last few decades has seen urban renewal schemes replacing affordable housing for working and middle-class families with upscale developments. These new areas typically feature high-end residential units —often within gated, privately-controlled spaces — alongside international chain stores, temporary retail concepts, and high-priced dining and entertainment venues.
A brilliant piece of analysis of government data by The Londoner last year showed that in the prior 12 months, more than 50% of new housing construction consisted of two-bedroom properties. Nearly all remaining new builds were one-bedroom units. Just 10% of newly constructed homes featured three bedrooms, while an extremely small portion—merely 2%—contained four bedrooms or more. This represents the lowest proportion of larger homes since data collection started in 1991, tied with previous record lows.
On top of that the capital has the most expensive childcare in the country, where parents pay an average of £218 per week for one part-time nursery place. Given that and the shortage of family housing, it should be no surprise that birth rates in London are among the lowest in England with a birth rate of 1.41 children per woman in 2022 below the England and Wales average of 1.49.
Sterilisation
The shortage of affordable family homes coming on the market combined with a surfeit on one- and two-bedroomed “luxury” homes will inevitably change the mix of the population in that area, attracting the young and mobile as well as investors. While the elite groups and capitalist property developers are claiming their right to the city, the more marginalised and less well-resourced are losing ground.
One visible sign of the impact of the exodus is the rash of closures of primary schools across the capital as the number applying for state school places tumbles. The latest examples are two schools in Southwark, Charlotte Sharman and St Mary Magdalene that are set to close on 31 August. Aa local councillor put it: “Families are being priced out, and the result is plummeting pupil numbers, leaving our local schools in increasingly difficult positions.”
But if more families well from less well-off backgrounds are moving out of the city, then at some point the growing population of high-earning singletons and couples will find the services they rely on, both public and private, falling down as this accidental sterilisation programme leads to fewer workers able to travel to work to fulfil these roles.
There is no right to the city set in law anywhere other than Brazil, which put into statute in 2001. Elsewhere these rights are decided in the courts of law and public opinion and in the media. Perhaps the only remaining options who those who feel they are losing their right to the city is to copy the example of Belsize Park middle class and get there and protest, loudly.