On Friday 14th March, baliffs from the local county court who had issued eviction papers to seize a large building (owned by Asda), meekly walked away after they were soon left in no doubt as to the level of resistance accompanying the occupation of a bit of liberated space off the Old Kent Road, which has now been squatted for over 6 months. The baliffs were greeted by the sight of 2 dozen protesters taking position on the roof of the main building which is located on a larger area of land, the entirity of which is the proposed site for a new ASDA supermarket. As things stand, ASDA already do have planning permission to build this development, but currently only own the land underneath this large building (the venue of the last "Reclaim the Future" event). However, a much larger area of open-space exists in the remainder of the overall site, with 22 titles of land belonging to Southwark Council, and the remaining 20 titles owned by private businesses.

The "Ossory Road Yard" community space, located off the Old Kent Road, has been occupied since September 2002. Those living in this liberated space during this time have been trying to use their occupation to flag up the issues of community-use of land and highlighting the negative impact that another supermarket development would have in the local area. For instance, how superstores take profits out of an area, strangle local shops, and how the extra traffic generated from another supermarket will mean more pollution in an area in which one of the busiest roads in London passes through. At the same time, Peckham has one of the lowest levels of car ownership in the country per given-head of the population, with 100,000 living within 1 square mile. Concerned locals and campaigners question the wisdom of whether another supermarket development in an area already host to Tesco, Lidl and Aldi as well as the whole chain of DIY stores is the best use of land for a local area with a severe debt of open space and land dedicated for community use.

ASDA 'ad it's day!
Though ASDA have planning permission to build this supermarket, campaigners point to the fact that the original consultation gave scant regard to all of the concerns of local people, whilst a proper Enviromental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not carried out prior to the granting of this planning permission by Southwark Council. Most significantly, on 4th Feb, the EU Commission decided to take the UK government to court over it's failure to carry out EIAs in a number of high profile propsed developments, including Crystal Palace. The EU is now considering whether to include the case of the propsed ASDA development on Ossry Road in their evidence. As a result, the development at Ossory Road is temporarily halted in it's tracks, and so local businesses are left in limbo as to their own future plans, while a area of open space threatens to remain idle without the intervention of a mixture of local concerned people and dedicated campaigners and activists.

Since September 2002, the Ossory Yard Community have hosted events, children's weekends, discussion groups, banner and puppet making workshops and an Anti-War Forum. Plans remain to create an allotment space and kid's adventure playground on the site, local facilities which the local council have criminally squandered in the last few years without any local consent.

People at Ossory are asking for more bodies to get down to the site over the weekend, particularly by Sunday night. There is a gathering planned for Sunday night in the building. People should bring a sleeping bag and any other essential provisions to keep them going!

Directions to site:
Ossory Road is off the Old Kent Road, South London. Take buses 53 or 172 from Elephant & Castle, or the 21 from London Bridge or 78 from Liverpool Street. Get off 2 stops after Tescos. Ossory Rd is on your right. Directions from New Cross: take the 53 bus and get off at the first stop after McDonalds which is a 1-minute walk from Ossory.
Contacts: 07742 456480, 07796 238459