Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Battersea Park Adventure Playground Occupied

Wandsworth Against Cuts | 06.01.2013 21:09 | Free Spaces | Public sector cuts | London

With the expected demolition of Battersea Park Adventure Playground due to begin early tomorrow morning (Monday 7 January), local anti-cuts activists Wandsworth Against Cuts and Occupy London supporters have occupied the playground in protest at Wandsworth Council’s decision to destroy the unique children’s facility and replace it with a staff less ‘safe’ facility.

Picture by ronanshaun http://www.flickr.com/photos/27748912@N05/
Picture by ronanshaun http://www.flickr.com/photos/27748912@N05/


The occupation follows ongoing opposition from local residents and groups for months and can be located at: Battersea Park, South West corner near junction of Albert Bridge Road and Prince of Wales Drive, SW11 4SF.

Those occupying the play area call on Wandsworth Council to reverse the decisions to get rid of play staff and to destroy the adventure playground. They say:

We share a common aim: that Battersea Park Adventure Playground should be re-opened by Wandsworth Council as a public service, with the existing structures and the staffing levels required for safe, adventurous play, especially for the 13 to 16 year age group.
We believe the council should reconsider the destruction of this unique and popular facility and respond positively and democratically to the thousands of residents who have expressed their support for free, staffed, adventurous playgrounds.

Norman Maclean of Wandsworth Against Cuts (WAC) said:

The highly qualified staff at this very popular and historic playground have provided a stimulating and safe environment for many thousands of children over the past sixty years. The playground staff have helped teenagers from the local area, including the large Doddington, Ethelburga and Surrey Lane Estates, to grow up free from gang and drug related pressures. They have organised cultural, social and educational activities which have helped young people develop confidence and independence.

We call on Wandsworth Council to reverse their decision to get rid of play staff and destroy the adventure playground. Their plan is to extend the adjacent, conventional playground into the adventure play area. This will only be suitable for younger children who are being supervised by their parents.

We call on everyone to support this occupation by visiting the playground, by bringing food and other supplies, or, if they can, by joining it.

Response from local people of Battersea

Local resident, Michael McCarthy, said:

I think it’s terrible what is happening to Battersea Park Adventure Playground. I brought my daughter here today to see for myself what is happening. I think it’s great someone is fighting these cuts. Are the kids going to go? There is nowhere else.

Another local resident, Lois, commented on the response to the occupation since it started saying:

There has been a constant stream of local residents expressing outrage at the impending bulldozers and gratitude to campaigners for trying to stop them. Lots bringing practical support too; and young and old sending messages to the council on our ‘have your say sheet’. No attempts to shift our guardian angels so far but I fear they might just be waiting for the weekend families, to go home because they know they support the occupation.

Videos about the campaign to Save Battersea Park Adventure Playground:

Youtube: 1 | | 2

Wandsworth Against Cuts
- Homepage: http://occupylondon.org.uk/archives/24602

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Video of Public rally in support of Occupy — Brian Jones
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech