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Hackney Council Closed Nursery Occupied and Reopened as Community Centre

atherden community centre | 29.01.2001 14:10

Community activists have occupied a nursery closed by the council to reopen it as a community centre as part of the wider mobilisations against Hackney council selling off of public services.

We are a group of local activists involved in environmental and social issues and have re-opened the centre to allow members of the community and local groups to make legitimate use of it. There is not only a shortage of schools, nurseries, centres for older people etc, but a serious lack of spaces in which local people can determine what it is that they need and want. We are already communicating with other community-based groups in Hackney and want to extend this to all interested individuals and groups, to work out collectively what will happen here. Already suggested are: A community café, creche, workshop space, meeting room, library, evening classes, office space, organic garden…

We all live in Hackney and have suffered the constraints of a local authority whose actions are dictated by both Central Government and private business. We have witnessed housing waiting lists grow, seen older people isolated in their homes with no services, schools and nurseries closed and public sector workers made redundant or forced to accept appalling conditions. All of this at a time when Regeneration appears to be the 'buzzword' of Hackney Council, with millions of pounds being poured into cynical money-minded developments such as luxury flats and private nurseries. Council flats remain empty, supposedly because there is not the money to refurbish and yet they have a budget of millions from the sell off of council stock and large public buildings. Endless sites and properties lie unused or are snapped up by property developers for luxury accommodation.
Atherden Road Nursery is simply one more example of profiteering and lazy decision-making.
Atherden Road Nursery was closed by Hackney Council on Friday the 12th of January despite a series of protests by parents and children. Hackney Council, which was declared bankrupt to the tune of millions of pounds last year, closed the Nursery in spite of 1000 Hackney children on waiting lists for nursery places. They tried to claim that the facility was under-used, much to the anger of local parents. In fact, the site is worth millions to developers, and the Council are keen to bail themselves out of the financial mess they got into through previous squandering of public funds. This waste of much-needed resources is not acceptable in one of the poorest Boroughs in London. Nor is the manoeuvering of councillors desperate to attract investment in any form - Hackney needs affordable housing and basic facilities, not yuppie developments like 'Red Square', the latest monstrosity currently being constructed near Clissold Park.
Hackney Council have shown themselves time and again to be inefficient and corrupt. Far from representing the people of their Borough, they consistently take decisions counter to the wishes of local residents and indeed common sense.
Atherden Road Nursery should not be sold to the highest bidder, only to be turned into a private, profit-making nursery or demolished for the development of luxury flats or a private business venture. It was and should always be a community facility, open to local people. The Council are not fit to run it, own it or make decisions regarding its future.
We believe in working together without hierarchical structures and without discrimination against groups and individuals on grounds of race, gender, sexuality or age and will be holding public meetings to decide how the building should be used.

There will be an open meeting on Saturday 3rd February at 2 PM, when anyone who wants to work non-hierarchically and with no political party agenda will be welcome to continue this process.

atherden community centre
- e-mail: atherden-community@gmx.net

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  1. Way to Go ! — INGOBERNABLE