TV expert enters Robin Hood row

More than six months after announcing it would be taking a second look at the case, the Department of Culture Media and Sport told The Wharf there was still "no timeline" for an announcement.

English Heritage and Tower Hamlets Council have backed plans to replace the '70s estate with the 3,000 home Blackwall Reach development, but architects such as Sir Richard Rogers are keen to see it remain as a monument to the work of Peter and Alison Smithson.

TV architectural historian Dan Cruickshank weighed into the debate in an interview with magazine Building Design last week, prompting an angry response from Blackwall and Cubitt Town councillor Peter Golds.

Speaking before a debate at the Ecobuild conference at Earls Court, Mr Cruickshank argued that the demolition of the structure "would be one of the most grotesque acts of barbarism, vandalism - architecturally, visually and socially".

He added that he believed it worked as a residential building, and that any problems were "probably entirely down to lack of maintenance".

This view did not sit well with Cllr Golds, who has heard several complaints from residents at his surgeries over the last few years.

He said: "There's growing resentment in this area towards these people pontificating about Robin Hood Gardens, many of whom have comfortable homes far away from the estate.

"They're playing with people's futures. There are a lot of people there that are looking forward to being re-housed out of a building that's absolutely dreadful."