New Squatting Project in Nottingham
Tash [alan lodge] | 13.08.2005 01:17 | Free Spaces
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?
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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
nice place
Pe Jota
Homepage:
http://Uruguay
Solidarity from mexico!
13.08.2005 19:54
MO
e-mail:
sunsetroute@gmail.com
well done
16.08.2005 20:20
All the best
Flux
Flux
Well done guys.....
17.08.2005 14:14
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."
Henry
Just so right on.
17.08.2005 14:23
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
e-mail:
who want to know @ planet.com
somewhere to live
17.08.2005 17:30
Noodles
e-mail:
.....
Nice!
18.08.2005 09:47
L
and next ....... the 'Notice to Quit'
19.08.2005 21:14
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
Tash
e-mail:
tash@indymedia.org
Dirt Diggin' on 'Property Plus'
20.08.2005 19:17
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
Search available property
*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
> "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
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)
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:
Tash [alan lodge]
e-mail:
tash@indymedia.org
Nice one!
25.08.2005 09:16
Edam