Plans to axe frontline staff working on estates have been criticised by tenant representatives and unions who are considering strike action over the redundancies.

Lambeth Living, the company running Lambeth's social housing stock, plans to cut between 32 and 36 caretaker roles as part of a move to lose up to 70 members of staff.

The announcement, last week, sparked fears about safety for tenants and leaseholders, as well as concerns more responsibility for running the estates will be placed on the shoulders of residents.

But Lambeth Living insisted the lost estate service officer roles would be replaced with staff with broader roles, making estates safer.

Lambeth Unison assistant branch secretary, Dan Jeffery, said the union was discussing strike action.

He said: "These job losses will directly impact on the quality of service people on estates receive.

"The loss of estate service officers will mean friendly faces on estates will be lost - that i'm sure will make estates feel less safe for more vulnerable residents."

Central Hill Tenants and Residents Association chairwoman, Jean Haley, said: "We are already doing work on estates we shouldn't. We want more staff based on the estates, not less."

She also said she had reservations about whether splitting services into three geographical teams would make staff more visible to residents.

She said: "We are based in Norwood. If the service is based in Streatham what benefit is that to us?"

A Lambeth Living spokeswoman said: "The new structure, if agreed, will strengthen rather than weaken the safety of estates.

"The proposal is for estate service officers to be replaced with estate housing officers (EHOs), who will be the eyes and ears of estates, and have more responsibilities including health and safety checks, monitoring new contractors, ensuring a good level of cleaning and maintenance and engaging with residents.

"While there will be slightly fewer EHOs, we believe our service will be improved because of the expansion of the role combined with additional resources, which are being put into other frontline service areas such as complaints and anti-social behaviour.”

Public consultations to discuss the proposals with residents were due to take place this week.