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New Squatting Project in Nottingham

Tash [alan lodge] | 13.08.2005 01:17 | Free Spaces

A building empty for many years has been occupied. The neighbours constantly fed up with the council inaction, a mess in the garden, drug abusers round the back of the property, windows smashed. Not something you would like to live next door to. Thus, the group has much community support, and now they're secure in their new home, there is much tidying up to do and this has already begun.

















New Squatting Project in Nottingham

It's been a while in the planning, but it's just this afternoon .... it's happened.

A building empty for many years has been occupied. The neighbours constantly fed up with the council inaction, a mess in the garden, drug abusers round the back of the property, windows smashed. Not something you would like to live next door to. Thus, the group has much community support, and now they're secure in their new home, there is much tidying up to do and this has already begun.

I imagine we'll keep you up to date with developments. The group have high hopes for the place, and hope it will inspire other to consider doing the same in the area. Networks to be grown.

I wish them well.


Earlier post on Nottingham Indymedia :: Squatting :: Some Current Advice

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/08/320446.html


**********

This is the case for squatting. Homes are empty, people need somewhere to live. Greenfield site are getting built on. The greenbelt is under threat. House prices mean that so frequently property changes hands in speculation and investments. The needs of millions of people are ignored. AND YET ..... there are all these homes empty. As the article below, recently published by the BBC shows:

"There are currently 58,192 derelict homes in the region, blighting their communities".

Does this strike anybody as unreasonable?
What should WE do about it?

**********

Hoarders blamed for home deficit
Catherine Cashmore BBC News, Nottingham

TV programmes and speculators are being blamed for a rise in the number of empty homes in the East Midlands.

Absent landlords are buying up derelict houses simply to wait for the next property boom.

Others, inspired by makeover programmes, are buying old properties to do them up but fail to realise how time consuming and difficult it is.

There are currently 58,192 derelict homes in the region, blighting their communities by being magnets for vandalism, squatters and rats.

Many councils are now employing people to get empty homes lived in.

One of those people is Andrew Vickers, the newly-appointed empty homes officer for Nottingham City Council.

"There are 483 empty homes on my list, one which has been empty for 17 years," he said.

"These people see these DIY programmes and they want to get on with it - they've no concern for the neighbours or the community, they're very selfish empty home owners.

"Many speculators buy up portfolios of properties waiting to cash in on price increases.

"I've had some of these people offer me backhanders for getting hold of a property, any property, they just want property."

The council uses compulsory purchase orders allowing local authorities to take possession of a property if an owner fails to get it occupied.

It has also removed a 10% Council Tax discount for unoccupied homes and charges full rates to absent landlords in an attempt to get empty houses occupied.

Since Mr Vickers started in his job a few months ago 220 empty homes out of an initial figure of 550 have been brought back into use in Nottingham.

"There is a demand for houses and people are squandering resources that could be used to put a roof over people's heads," Mr Vickers said.

As well as often being neglected, empty houses can affect a whole area.

Council housing experts believe a boarded up or rundown property on a street can take as much as £10,000 off the value of neighbouring house.

"People identify empty homes and they start dumping sofas and fridges," Mr Vickers said.

"When they see there is no possession it becomes fair game. If anything's not nailed down, it goes.

"I've no sympathy if they come bleating to me. If they'd had it occupied it wouldn't have happened."

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England wants more brownfield sites to be built on and more old houses refurbished to protect the countryside from being used to meet the demand for houses.

But financial assistance for such schemes varies from area to area.

Nottingham offers no incentives but a few miles away in Amber Valley, Derbyshire, the borough council offers up to £20,000 to help first-time buyers do up redundant buildings.

Steve Marshall and Clare Petterfore have spent three years renovating a former fruit and vegetable wholesaler, built in 1892 in Heanor, Derbyshire.

"I can remember it being a fruit and veg shop when I was a young lad, I used to come in here with my mum," Mr Marshall said.

"The floors were rotten, the roof needed doing, you could see the stars from the inside.

"We've saved our history, we've saved our heritage."

Ms Petterfore said the development has visibly improved the street.

"Everyone's supporting it, the neighbour's have said they're glad it's not a builder who would knock it down," she said.

Mr Vickers says improvement grants should be more readily available but also wants stronger powers to takeover empty houses and make it easier to bring them back into use.

BBC NEWS:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/4599359.stm

Published: 2005/07/26 10:48:13 GMT


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ADVISORY SERVICE FOR SQUATTERS (ASS) 2 St Pauls Road, London N1 2QN tel: 0207 359 8814 fax: 0207 359 5185

I do suggest you send off for the current Squatters Handbook ( 12th edition )

 http://www.squatter.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=33

it is cheap and worth everyone getting up to speed.


Legal Warning [to print out]  http://www.squatter.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=31

download  http://www.squatter.org.uk/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=1


Resources :: Downloads  http://www.squatter.org.uk/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=19&Itemid=29


freeB.E.A.G.L.E.S. legal resource centre for UK political campaigners.

 http://www.freebeagles.org


**********

It is worth a look, checking out our sister projects at:

Cambridge Social Centre!
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/08/320307.html


To get in touch you can email at  cambridge@socialcentres.org, but the best thing to do is just come along and say hello. We seem to be an interesting bunch of dissidents, lots of computer people (well, this is Cambridge), environmentalists, a brain scientist, students, musicians, writers, artists and all round creative types.

Occupy, Resist, Create!

**********

For another example of 'alternative' buildings projects ... please take a peek at:

EcoWorks: Straw Bale work on "eco-building" in St.Anns

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/08/321023.html



____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email:  tash@gn.apc.org
Web:  http://tash.gn.apc.org
WAP phone  http://wappy.to/tash
My Blog  http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com
BroadBand  http://tash.dns2go.com
Member of the National Union of Journalists [No: 014345]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
____________________________________________
OS Grid Ref: SK 575414 - Lat/Lon: 52:58:03N, 1:08:38W

Tash [alan lodge]
- e-mail: tash@indymedia.org
- Homepage: http://tash.gn.apc.org

Comments

Hide the following 11 comments

Great!

13.08.2005 19:30

Congratulations
nice place

Pe Jota
- Homepage: http://Uruguay


Solidarity from mexico!

13.08.2005 19:54

greetings of solidarity and good wishes. I hope your project goes well, and always remember the squatters code of ethics, they are good ones. Ive been squatting an old school building in Obregon, sonora (mexico) and we have connected water and power, done MUCH cleaning and created a freeschool and infoshop/kitchen. We support ourselves by selling frozen treats (helados) and scrapping metal (copper, alumninum). We have weekly meetings and shows, free alternative cinema, and alot more activities! Hope you can forfill your dreams and wishes for that space and keep an eye for the pigs, they are always crawling around...!

MO
mail e-mail: sunsetroute@gmail.com


well done

16.08.2005 20:20

Well done good folks of Nottingham- and a big hello to the nice chap I had a chat with at the SUMAC book lounge at the BGG.
All the best
Flux

Flux


Well done guys.....

17.08.2005 14:14

this is the latest chapter of action, that has a long and honourable history .

Squatters believe that they have a right to make use of unoccupied property and indeed a sizeable culture of squatting exists today in the UK. A comprehensive web site Squatting: the real story exists to put their side of the arguement. An extract from their introduction gives a flavour:

"Since 1968, over a quarter of a million people in Britain have walked into an uninhabited house owned by someone else and proceeded to set up without seeking permission and without paying rent. By doing so, they have become squatters. Some have been thrown out within hours. Others have stayed for months, even years, before being evicted by bailiffs or leaving under threat of a court order. A few have managed to establish permanent homes.

Most squatting has occurred in old flats and houses in the larger towns and cities, but every conceivable type of empty property has been squatted - from luxury flats to dilapidated slums, from country cottages to suburban semis, from old churches to disused factories

Squatting is an ancient practice, and has occurred at some stage, in different forms, throughout the world. Yet the last 12 years in Britain has seen a spectacular rise in the number of people who have taken over empty buildings. No longer does "squatting" describe the isolated actions of numerous individuals. Instead, it has become a social movement of great significance, whose impact upon housing policy has already been considerable, but whose potential has yet, perhaps, to be fully realised."

 http://www.squatter.org.uk/links.html

Henry


Just so right on.

17.08.2005 14:23

t's a cold, windy night in San Francisco, and three men are about to take shelter in a vacant apartment

building. One of them digs a crowbar and bolt cutters out of his backpack; another keeps a careful eye out for police or passersby. In a matter of seconds they've snipped off the lock and opened the door. They survey the house, looking for any signs of occupancy or renovation—newspapers or mail, paint buckets or ladders. Satisfied that the house has been empty for some time, they relax and settle down for the night. Tomorrow, they'll put a new padlock on the door, and set about fixing up their new home.

Thousands of miles away in Amsterdam, 50 young people have set up a barricade outside the front of a large building. The police, in full riot gear, file out of their vans and form a line opposite them. Inside the house, the doors have been reinforced with sheets of scrap plywood. The last remaining people in the building pour bottles of vegetable oil down the stairs in order to slow the cops down. Outside, the police raise their batons and charge the house.

Squatters see the capitalist view of real estate—an investment opportunity rather than a basic human need—as fundamentally flawed. By opening up buildings that are left unused, squatters feel they are providing a public good. Whether housing themselves or other homeless people, squatters believe they are making a small bridge in the gap between the rich and the impoverished, the landowner and the peasant. Squatting is both a means of survival and a political act.

We need so much more of this, Don't we. Nottingham Rocks.

Markus, San Francisco Squatters Assoc
mail e-mail: who want to know @ planet.com


somewhere to live

17.08.2005 17:30

Squatting is an alternative lifestyle, but for some people, its the only way to find somewhere to live that affordable. I've lived in squats in the past and I can tell you its not just having a laugh. There should be no reason to squat in the first place. Surely affordable housing should be available to everyone as a basic human right.

Noodles
mail e-mail: .....


Nice!

18.08.2005 09:47

That place has been empty for years, had a look at it myself a few times, well done folks! hope you get a good innings.

L


and next ....... the 'Notice to Quit'

19.08.2005 21:14




Seven days ago, these folks squatted a building that had been empty for seven years.

Over the last week, they had a tidy of the rubbish out of the garden, shooo'd away the drug abusers out of the yard, painted out the grafitti, got rid of the needles found around and about. Started fixing aspects of the house, both for security, and to make the house more comfortable.

And the City Councils response. A Notice to Quit, served this afternoon.

So, advice is being sought, a petition is being organised, already signed by many local residence who remember what the place has looked like before the squatters moved in.

But anyway, life goes on ......

On sunday 21st August, the house continue to make improvements. Rubbish having been cleared up, a bit of community gardening is being laid on for anyone who would like to help.

Ideas and plant donations are most welcome.



See also .... >

Council serve eviction notice

 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/08/321569.html

Tash
mail e-mail: tash@indymedia.org


Dirt Diggin' on 'Property Plus'

20.08.2005 19:17

The Council visitor works for Nottingham Property Plus.

Nottingham City Council is a major force in the Nottingham property market.
Nottingham Property Plus acts as the council's property agent, letting and
managing its sizeable portfolio of industrial and commercial property.
Nottingham Property Plus operates as a letting-only agency for Nottingham
City Council

 http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/www/propertyplus

Search available property
 http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/www/propertyplus/view_all.asp

*Under street / estate, Burns Street is not listed.*

Does this mean that they don't have any immediate letting
plans? Does this mean that they are simply making a point?

We should be told!

(Thanks, Tash, for this tip off...)

RonnyW


Nottingham Civic Society

21.08.2005 10:28

'L' says

> "Don't know how old the building is, but if it's grade 2 listed,
> Nottingham Civic Society may offer some support, and can
> bring it up at council meetings. Get a local petition signed?

Yes, of course, this is yet another possible line of research. The object of the squat being use and preservation, rather than neglect, lack of care and general inaction which appear to be the hallmanks of Council efforts to date

Nottingham Civic Society  http://www.nottinghamcivicsociety.org.uk

The Society is engaged in:

* fighting for conservation and good planning in Nottingham

* safeguarding listed buildings from demolition or neglect

* celebrating well-designed new buildings and renovations

and ...

Nottingham Arboretum - background history & restoration works (August 2004)

 http://www.nottinghamcivicsociety.org.uk/arboretum.htm


So, looking at this list, don't there appear to be some similar objectives here.

Worth a letter, me thinks .....

Conact info:

Secretary:
Ruth Hardiman,
9 Huntingdon Drive,
The Park,
Nottingham NG7 1BW
Tel: (0115) 910 7798
e-mail:  secretary@nottinghamcivicsociety.org.uk

Tash [alan lodge]
mail e-mail: tash@indymedia.org


Nice one!

25.08.2005 09:16

Every time I've walked past this building I thought what a shame it was that such a nice building was all borded up and being left to ruin. Hope you all have many happy times there! :o)

Edam