Are residents in Colliers Wood being "mass evicted"?
Plus: Through the eyes of Sustainable Merton's CEO Diana Sterck
Good morning, Wimblers — I hope that everyone has had a good week.
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This week, we sat down with Diana Sterck, CEO of Sustainable Merton, to discuss what environmental action looks like at a local level. Scroll down to read about the triumphs and tribulations of running an environmental charity in 2026.
Britannia Point in Colliers Wood has been in the news these past few weeks, as it has been reported that the residents of the high-rise are being evicted en masse. According to London Centric, Criterion Capital, owned by billionaire Asif Aziz, is issuing residents with Section 21 notices, also known as “no fault” evictions. Scroll down to read about the latest updates. If you or anyone you know has been affected by this recent news, don’t hesitate to get in touch: zak@thewimble.com. I have already received an email from one reader voicing her concerns for what this means for the borough.
Other than that, we’ve got your news snippets, a lovely new-build property of the week and some great recommendations for the days ahead. Keep sharing and subscribing if you haven’t already.
Call-out for readers: as Mother’s Day is coming up, we’re looking to champion the amazing women in our borough. If you’d like to nominate your mother or another woman that you know, then get in touch and tell us why: zak@thewimble.com.
News snippets 🗞
🌆 Are the tenants of Britannia Point being “mass evicted”? Private tenants in the block have told outlets that they had been given two months’ notice as part of a spate of “no fault” evictions, also known as Section 21 notices, which are set to be banned from 1 May under a new tenants’ rights bill. Britannia Point is owned by Criterion Capital, a company controlled by billionaire landlord Asif Aziz. An email sent to one tenant confirmed that Aziz was seeking “vacant possession of the entire building”. In other words, it was rumoured that all tenants were to be evicted, despite being up-to-date on their rent and keeping their property in good condition..
Tom Copley, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development in London, wrote to Aziz directly, urging him to rethink the move. Copley said, “To evict tenants shortly before the implementation of the Act would be a short-sighted and cynical attempt to bypass the rules and show a disregard for the very spirit of this much-needed legislation.”
On Monday 23 February, it was reported that Aziz and Criterion had made a U-turn. Residents of Britannia Point received door-to-door visits from representatives of Criterion Capital, who told them that their “mass eviction” was just “rumours”. It was later revealed that the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, had written to Aziz personally to ask him to stop the mass evictions: “The right to a good, safe and stable home is fundamental and I am steadfast in my opposition to the use of Section 21 no-fault evictions, let alone their potential use on a mass scale,” said Khan. Last week, London Centric sent their reporter to knock on the doors of Criterion’s Delta Point high-rise in Croydon. After visiting more than 200 flats, their reporter found a vast number of units that had been vacated by private tenants in recent days, suggesting that Criterion’s mass evictions were already underway and happening across London. Merton Labour councillor Stuart Neaverson has called the Aziz family “the cruellest landlords in London” and that the “attempt to put so many people onto the streets is reminiscent of something from Dickensian times.”
It’s unclear what all of this means for the residents of Britannia Point; the tenants facing eviction say it’s up to Sadiq Khan to take the lead and put a stop to this. Whether he can remains to be seen. Follow London Centric’s ongoing updates here to stay in the loop about the situation.
Note: If you or anyone you know has more information about the reported mass eviction of Britannia Point, then let us know by emailing: zak@thewimble.com.
🍷 Vallebona has launched a 12-seat counter for intimate dining alongside its deli, retail and wine operations. Check out this article in Restaurant to read more about the expansion.
🎥 The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour will visit the New Wimbledon Theatre on Wednesday 16 November. It promises to be a night of heart-racing storytelling through short films about climbing, mountain biking, kayaking and more. Read more about it here.
Property of the week 🏡
This four-bedroom new build is rather stylish, don’t you think? I’m used to new builds looking devoid of character, but this one has charm, from the jacuzzi bathtub to the Japanese-style garden. This house is part of Olias Court, a boutique development of 6 apartments and 3 houses just minutes from Raynes Park station. But what’s the price? This particular property will set you back £1.3m. Check out more photos here.
The Wimble’s to-do list 🎉
🎤 The Varsity Vocals International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella: The biggest a cappella competition in the country will be hosted at the New Wimbledon Theatre this year! This is the competition that supposedly inspired the hugely popular Pitch Perfect films. Whoever wins on the New Wimbledon stage will have the chance to advance through the competition, singing off against the top groups in each region for the chance to be crowned World Champions on a Broadway stage in New York. Tickets range in prices and can be bought here.
Where: New Wimbledon Theatre
When: Saturday 7 March, 7pm
🎶 Magnificat! Academy Choir Wimbledon: The Academy Choir Wimbledon with the Academy Baroque Players will perform a feast of choral music, including pieces by JS Bach, CPE Bach and Buxtehude. Tickets are £20–35 for adults and £5 for under-18s and students.
Where: St John’s Church, Spencer Hill
When: Saturday 7 March, 7pm
🖌 Meet Jack Frame at Clarendon Fine Art: Renowned for his striking portraits, Jack captures the beauty, strength and subtle intricacies of nature with vivid colour and meticulous technique, celebrating the quiet drama of the natural world and the shifting moods of the seasons. Get yourself down to the lovely Clarendon Fine Art venue to check his work out!
Where: Clarendon Fine Art
When: Saturday 7 March, 1–3pm
🚴♀️ Cycle marking or registration scheme event: We know bikes are stolen across the borough all the time — this is the case for most parts of London. But what can we do to deter thieves? Well, you can start by visiting the Village Ward Police team this Sunday and getting a free theft-deterrent bike marking.
Where: Village Ward Police stall at the Farmers Market
When: Sunday 8 March, 10–11.30am
🐉 Bhutan: Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon: The Buddhist kingdom Bhutan is known as Druk Yul, the Kingdom of the Thunder God. This lecture by Zara Fleming journeys through the history, art and culture of this extraordinary country. In recent decades, the kingdom has undergone significant change, and this lecture poses the question: will Bhutan be able to maintain the fine balance between tradition and modernity without diminishing its culture? Members go free and tickets for everyone else are £10. Grab them here.
Where: The Sacred Heart Church Hall
When: Wednesday 11 March, 7.30pm
🥕 Wimbledon Village Farmers’ Market: It’s that time of the week again! Pop on your wellies, flat cap, best Barbour jacket and make your way up to the village this weekend for a chance to pick out the best local produce.
Where: Wimbledon Village High Street
When: Sunday 15 March, 10am–3pm
Through the eyes of Diana Sterck, CEO of Sustainable Merton 🌿
Founded in 2007, Sustainable Merton is a charity that’s dedicated to promoting sustainable living across the borough. It’s a community-led charity that has had a deep and meaningful impact on locals since its foundation. In 2017, Diana Sterck took over as CEO. Since then, she has stacked up a long list of achievements: launching Merton’s “Community Fridge” in 2020; planting 8,000 pollinator-friendly plants and bulbs across the borough with the help of Merton Garden Streets volunteers; setting up the “Preloved Studio” to reduce textile waste, save money and give old clothes new life for residents across the borough.
In short, Diana Sterck has led the charity to achieve great things. But what does environmental action look like at a local level? How does one’s economic situation affect their ability to live sustainably? What are the challenges that a charity such as Sustainable Merton faces? And crucially, what can we do as locals to help out? I sat down with Diana last week to find out.
Straight in with a big question: what does sustainability look like at a local level?
It can be tricky to understand sustainability at a local level. We all get distracted by global policy, fossil fuel emissions and current affairs. What we have to do is drill down and ask ourselves what we can do as individuals or businesses at a local level. If we all made small changes in our lives, that combined effect would be quite substantial. For us, it’s all about getting the community involved and understanding what the effects of our behaviours have on the environment and the people around us. But in terms of what sustainability means: sustainability is simply about leading better lives, respecting our environment and actually living lives that are more affordable. So much of the world we live in is about money. But we can actually save a lot of money by changing our behaviours at a local level: growing our own food, volunteering and not buying so many new clothes, for example.
And how does sustainable living at a local level work in practice?
I think making local connections and having more of a circular economy are crucial. Someone’s waste material may be someone else’s core material. So much of our waste can be repurposed by someone else. I think food miles are also particularly important. We needn’t import food from thousands of miles away when we can potentially grow our own produce or source it locally.
Do you think the education around sustainability is better now?
I think young people are pretty clued up about the environment and climate change. In fact, I’d wager that it’s young people influencing their parents for the better. But I do think sustainability as a concept is still quite niche. We tend to behave collectively: we still buy coffee in throwaway coffee cups that can’t be recycled; we still buy new clothes and throw them away with the slightest tear.
What are some of the powerful wins that you’ve had in our community?
We’ve had a lot of success in stopping textiles from going into the waste stream, and we’ve done this by influencing people to repair, repurpose or swap their clothes. One of our biggest achievements has been the Community Fridge, which we run out of Morden Baptist Church twice a week. We launched that in 2020. The idea is simple: one person’s surplus food is another person’s meal. We have a team of volunteers that collect food that would otherwise be thrown away but is still safe to eat. We tend to collect this food from supermarkets, restaurants and local cafés. Our focus is primarily on people who can’t afford the weekly shop. In the last year, we’ve distributed 63,000kg of food that would otherwise end up in the waste stream. That’s equivalent to 153,000 meals across the borough.
And what are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a local charity?
As a charity, we have to leverage funding that is either grants or donations. In that sense, we’re only as good as the money we get. It can also mean that our projects are a little stop-start. But I think another key challenge is changing people’s behaviours. Air quality is a good example. We know that the air is polluted, but I don’t think the majority of people know just how bad it is. And we can have a huge impact in reducing pollution on a personal level by switching our car engines off when we’re picking up the kids from school or just slowing our driving speed down. A key challenge for a local charity like ours is that we can’t affect change on a global or corporate level. Corporations will keep packaging produce in wasteful plastic, for example, and it’s really only the government that can stop that.
Do you think disparate economic factors across the borough make it harder for some people to lead sustainable lives?
Most definitely. The life expectancy in Wimbledon is 10 years higher than in Mitcham. That’s a stark statistic. It may have got a little bit better over the past 15 years, but not significantly. And in some of the poorer areas of the borough, we see higher rates of pollution. We’re very lucky to have electric buses serving the majority of the borough, but in those areas with weaker transport links, we see higher rates of petrol emissions, which in turn negatively impacts the lives of local residents. It’s really important that we support those parts of the borough that need more help.
For someone reading this who is new to sustainable living, what can they do right now to make an active change in their life?
I think it’s about asking a person what’s important to them. Do you spend too much on clothes? Have you got clothes that you could wear with a bit of repair? Come along to one of our drop-in sessions and see what you can do with just one item of clothing. Is your toaster or kettle not working? Don’t throw it away; bring it to one of our Repair Cafes. In terms of food, if you’re concerned that there are people in the borough without access to good produce, come and volunteer with us and you’ll be making a difference. We’re very accessible, we’re very friendly and we’re very diverse at Sustainable Merton. I would just say come along to something that appeals to you; join us in the garden, walk around, observe nature and feel good. You don’t even have to do any gardening. But taking the action to do something that makes us feel better about ourselves and our community is really what sustainability is all about.
If you’d like to get involved or learn more, head to Sustainable Merton’s website here.
Question of the week 🔍
Last week, I asked you what road Wimbledon Fire Station is now located on. The answer: Kingston Road.
Q: Which restaurant in SW19 has a Rosette award?
You’re up to date 👋
Thank you for reading this week’s edition of The Wimble. If you have any ideas for features or stories, get in touch with zak@thewimble.com. Other than that, have a great rest of the week and we’ll see you next time.
Fantastic read. Really thought provoking.