Young people's views have been incorporated into Blocked, a film about the frustrations of life on the Chalcot Estate in Primrose Hill. The documentary had its premiere at a Hampstead cinema earlier this month.
Paul Perkins, a youth and community worker based at the St Mary's Centre, a voluntary sector community venue in Primrose Hill, produced the film.
With the help of volunteers, he interviewed young people about their concerns including the damp, faulty lifts and the stigma attached to life there. Some young people also wrote poems about life on the estate.
"Young people who come from this estate feel like they're spoken to differently," said Perkins. "They feel that the stigma attached to the estate can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Most don't trust the Government."
The project, which involved about 20 teenagers, was set up after young people voiced their concerns at a discussion group held at the St Mary's Centre.
Perkins used secret filming and recorded conversations to ask why the council's efforts to transform the estate through the private finance initiative (PFI) had failed.
A spokesman for the London Borough of Camden said it had been shocked and disappointed at the Treasury's decision in February not to provide 115m in PFI funding to revamp the estate. The council is now negotiating for half the amount to cover a scaled-down improvement plan.
