The decision to demolish four sub-standard tower blocks, defended by one councillor as the "least worst option" despite displacing hundreds of residents, is a small but telling episode in a much larger reckoning facing UK local authorities. Across the country, councils and housing associations are confronting an unpalatable choice between spending enormous sums retrofitting ageing concrete-framed towers to modern fire safety, energy efficiency and structural standards, or accepting the social cost of demolition and rebuild. This case will not be the last. It is a preview of decisions likely to be replicated in Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle and outer London boroughs over the next decade.