A twist has emerged in the ongoing saga concerning the future of Chelsea's Sutton Estate, as council leaders consider a fresh approach suggested by the campaign to save the housing for the borough's poorest.

In a rare display of unity, Kensington and Chelsea councillors have backed an investigation into whether to include the historic estate in Chelsea's conservation area.

Petitioners had campaigned for their support for the move, which could see the estate, set for demolition and conversion by the Clarion Group into a mixture of luxury flats and social housing, given extra protection.

However, any deal on the estate's future is far from done.

This May brought hearings on Clarion's appeal against the council, which blocked its plans in 2016. The appeal inspector's report will be brought to the Housing Secretary, who will make the final decision.

Chelsea's Sutton Estate has had the threat of demolition hanging over it

Campaigners, backed by celebrity support including from comedian Eddie Izzard,have long asked the council to protect the estate, in keeping with William Sutton's original intentions for the site.

The Victorian businessman left his fortune to housing the royal borough's poor and working classes.

Clarion has said refurbishing the estate to meet current social housing standards was not viable.

Its original plan, which proposed building 237 social homes and 106 for sale privately, was rejected by the council.

The appeal inspector was asked to consider its revised scheme for 270 social homes and 96 for sale during May's hearing.

Clarion told the appeal hearing its plans “will bring much needed regeneration of the Sutton Estate, replacing the existing affordable housing, providing the maximum reasonable affordable housing, all social rented, and bringing an increase in the overall amount of housing on the estate”.

The process for adding to Chelsea's conservation area is complex; involving character assessments and public consultation.

But the potential for such a move was set in motion on Wednesday (June 20), when councillors were presented with a petition signed by about 2,900 people.

Adding the estate's footprint to the conservation area would afford it special protections, meaning any future development planning applications would have to show public benefits to outweigh any harm to its character.

Conservation area status would not stop the landowner from pursuing demolition and redevelopment, but the public benefits resulting from the scheme would likely need to be greater than at present, advice issued to councillors on Wednesday said.

Former Sutton Estate resident Andrew Barshall told the full council meeting Clarion's plan would turn it into “a gated community of luxury flats with their own private gardens”.

He said: “To us this looked like arrogance at best, at worst: the social cleansing of Chelsea.”

He said it was concerning to see units kept empty while the borough was “desperately short of social housing”.

Councillors voted unanimously to work with all housing associations to address the issues facing the borough.

Grenfell, housing and property lead Cllr Kim Taylor-Smith threw his support behind the extension of the Chelsea conservation area, asking that the nearby Samuel Lewis State also be included.

He added that he would be approaching the Government to ask them to give local authorities powers to buy buildings from housing associations unable to maintain existing stock.

He said he wanted the council to work closely with housing associations to keep the focus on social rent options.

“In the most expensive borough in London in one of the most expensive cities in the world, where few but the very richest can now rent, let alone buy a home, the need for housing associations will be much greater,” he said.

Labour leader Cllr Robert Atkinson questioned how the Sutton Estate could be replaced with anything other than social housing.

He said: “The William Sutton Trust was clearly put together for the poorer residents of Chelsea, I don’t understand how that trust has been absorbed and taken over … how was the intention of William Sutton so over-ruled?"

“Personally I am amazed also by how the intentions of William Sutton, the great benefactor of the borough, are being sidelined,” Conservative Cllr Will Pascall added.

Advice to the council said the evaluation stages for extending the conservation area could take place over the summer, leaving time for consulting the community and making a decision by autumn.