Highgate back lane, 1972.
Images like this are usually associated with the industrial north, not one of London's most prestigious boroughs. However in 1972 a whole area below Highgate hill, with streets of Victorian terraces, was due for demolition. They had been allowed to fall into a state of decay, Victoriana was unfashionable and new flats and a dual carriageway were planned.
Planning blight becomes the scourge of such places. Long before the planning permissions were in place, people had moved out or been evicted from their homes. The area became derilect, litter strewn. Squatters moved in, most did not have anti social aims, they were protesting at the vandalisation of the community and the sheer waste of what were mainly still perfectly sound houses.
Years later some of the promised new homes were built. The dual carriageway never materialised.
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