Residents on a Kingston estate earmarked for regeneration will have the final say over whether work goes ahead after the council made it official policy to hold a vote on the final proposals.

The council has been working towards demolishing the existing 865 homes on the Cambridge Road Estate and building more than 2,000 in their place for two years.

But because money from the Mayor of London has already been secured, Sadiq Khan’s new policy of requiring a residents’ ballot does not apply.

The council has, however, committed to offering a binding vote on the final regeneration deal.

Cllr Olly Wehring, who represents the ward the estate sits in, said: “Until now, the regeneration of Cambridge Road Estate had been a project that was being forced on the community.

“Imagine being told what was going to happen to your home and having no choice about it. That’s not a choice at all.

“The Liberal Democrats have long supported a vote – or ballot – on the estate regeneration. Now, the new Liberal Democrats are in administration in Norbiton and on Kingston Council, so we are committed to giving the community the power to decide its own future.

“A ballot puts the residents at the heart of the regeneration project that will only happen if the residents approve of it.

“Once everybody has a firm idea of what regeneration looks like, then the CRE community will be able to vote on the proposal.”

The decision was approved at a full council meeting on July 17, during a response to a petition from the local Labour party calling for, among other things, the ballot.

Phil Bevin, who organised the petition, said: “I’m really pleased that we’ve got a ballot now in principle. Residents have a special understanding of their community, so they know what’s best.

“But I think what was actually agreed was unclear.”

Dr Bevin was nervous that the ballot might not be open exclusively to estate residents.

Conservative leader of the opposition Cllr Kevin Davis said that should in fact be the case – that the approximately 3,500 people on the council’s housing waiting list should be asked too, but recognised they might not be given the same weight as the votes of estate residents themselves.

Dr Bevin said that this would be unfair, because current plans only include the replacement of social housing stock, i.e. that any new houses built would not benefit people on the housing list.

The petition also called for an increase in social housing, and council leader Liz Green said in response that she has asked the Greater London Authority for more money towards the regeneration so that more can be built.

How that will affect the ballot is unclear, and Cllr Wehring said the details of the vote will be worked out with the estate residents as well as the heads of the three resident organisations that represent them.