Legal support required to assist High Court action to block illegal demolition of Victorian Terrace Housing by Lambeth Council and property developers at St Agnes Place where 150 people were recently evicted and made homeless from London's oldest squatted street.
George James - Community leader and Spokesman for Agnes Place
Demolition of a Community - St Agnes Place, London.
George James is a Rastafarian community leader and spokesperson for St Agnes Park in Kennington Park - London's oldest squatted street.
Last year Lambeth Council went to the High Court to forcible remove 150 residents claiming that eviction of the squatters and demolition of the Victorian terraced housing was a necessary part of a regeneration strategy for the area.
Plans presented by the council in conjunction with a property development company propose the construction of 60 new build apartments and a sports facility on the site.
On Tuesday, 29th November, 2005 Lambeth council executed eviction orders against the residents of St Agnes in a move enforced by over 200 riot police and enforcement officers.
A previous attempt to evict the tenants in 1974 failed amid organised community protest and fears of sparking a flash point for tensions within an ethnically diverse community.
On this occasion with an element of suprise and use of overwhelming force the eviction action suceeded - 21 houses were emptied and 150 people made homeless on a freezing cold November morning.
According to reports by some of the displaced, pledges by Lambeth council to provide rehousing and alternative accommodation to the vulnerable and those with children failed to materialise.
Ironically, councillor Mary Lynch, of Lambeth Council, told BBC News: "We can't justify letting people live in these houses when we have 12,000 homeless people on our waiting list for houses."
Today, all but a few of the Victorian houses, originally built to accomodate families of servants working in Buckingham Palace have now been gutted out - stripped of gas and water pipes, staircases removed, they sit vacant in a state of dereliction and decay.
The area has been heavily fortified by the property developers and access to the community centre, Rastafarian Church and recording studio where Bob Marley stayed and worked in 1977 has been blocked.
Demolition of homes on the site has now commenced behind a tall security perimeter screening wall - despite the fact that Lambeth Council must complete an application to Central Government via the High Court for a demolition order to make the process legal.
Local residents and conservation groups are currently engaged in a last ditch legal action to block this application before more of the areas housing heritage is destroyed - proposing instead that a renovation and restoration initiative offers a more appropriate and benficial solution to the local community.
This view is backed by the opinion of the architect who carried out an official structural survey of the houses finding them to be in no worse condition than any other Victorian terraces in London. He stated that the sturdy four-storey Victorian Terraces whilst in an obvious state of neglect were robust, structuraly sound and could easily be restored.
A childrens adventure playground, one of a scarce few such facilities in a deprived inner city part of London will also be demolished under the plans.
George James claims that Lambeth's actions are financially motivated and have been executed without a care for due consultation process or involvement with the local community.
Surrounded by parkland and close to Oval station, each new apartment could fetch around £500,000 although Lambeth claims that 60% of the units will be "social housing" affordable to those on low incomes.
Without proper legal assistance to make the case for a rethink Lambeth's redevelopment plans are being forced ahead whilst the local people of St Agnes Place are powerless to watch as a part of their community is being destroyed.
George James can be contacted by email -
e.james2@btinternet.com
Lambeth Council's Media Affairs Spokesman on St Agnes Place is John Hosken (00 44 (0) 207 9262841).
More Info about St Agnes Place can be found via the following links -
A 30 history of St Agnes Place
http://www.stagnesplace.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=1
Coverage of the Eviction by Indymedia.org
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328686.html
Eviction Pictures -
http://www.stagnesplace.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=7
Photos from the aftermath of the St Agnes Place Eviction -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonreporter/sets/1479931/
Oldest Squat Residents Evicted - BBC London
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4481284.stm
Riot police clear 'oldest squat' - BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4483950.stm
Eight years in St Agnes Place - Guardian Newspaper
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1654643,00.html
St Agnes Place - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Agnes_Place
George James is a Rastafarian community leader and spokesperson for St Agnes Park in Kennington Park - London's oldest squatted street.
Last year Lambeth Council went to the High Court to forcible remove 150 residents claiming that eviction of the squatters and demolition of the Victorian terraced housing was a necessary part of a regeneration strategy for the area.
Plans presented by the council in conjunction with a property development company propose the construction of 60 new build apartments and a sports facility on the site.
On Tuesday, 29th November, 2005 Lambeth council executed eviction orders against the residents of St Agnes in a move enforced by over 200 riot police and enforcement officers.
A previous attempt to evict the tenants in 1974 failed amid organised community protest and fears of sparking a flash point for tensions within an ethnically diverse community.
On this occasion with an element of suprise and use of overwhelming force the eviction action suceeded - 21 houses were emptied and 150 people made homeless on a freezing cold November morning.
According to reports by some of the displaced, pledges by Lambeth council to provide rehousing and alternative accommodation to the vulnerable and those with children failed to materialise.
Ironically, councillor Mary Lynch, of Lambeth Council, told BBC News: "We can't justify letting people live in these houses when we have 12,000 homeless people on our waiting list for houses."
Today, all but a few of the Victorian houses, originally built to accomodate families of servants working in Buckingham Palace have now been gutted out - stripped of gas and water pipes, staircases removed, they sit vacant in a state of dereliction and decay.
The area has been heavily fortified by the property developers and access to the community centre, Rastafarian Church and recording studio where Bob Marley stayed and worked in 1977 has been blocked.
Demolition of homes on the site has now commenced behind a tall security perimeter screening wall - despite the fact that Lambeth Council must complete an application to Central Government via the High Court for a demolition order to make the process legal.
Local residents and conservation groups are currently engaged in a last ditch legal action to block this application before more of the areas housing heritage is destroyed - proposing instead that a renovation and restoration initiative offers a more appropriate and benficial solution to the local community.
This view is backed by the opinion of the architect who carried out an official structural survey of the houses finding them to be in no worse condition than any other Victorian terraces in London. He stated that the sturdy four-storey Victorian Terraces whilst in an obvious state of neglect were robust, structuraly sound and could easily be restored.
A childrens adventure playground, one of a scarce few such facilities in a deprived inner city part of London will also be demolished under the plans.
George James claims that Lambeth's actions are financially motivated and have been executed without a care for due consultation process or involvement with the local community.
Surrounded by parkland and close to Oval station, each new apartment could fetch around £500,000 although Lambeth claims that 60% of the units will be "social housing" affordable to those on low incomes.
Without proper legal assistance to make the case for a rethink Lambeth's redevelopment plans are being forced ahead whilst the local people of St Agnes Place are powerless to watch as a part of their community is being destroyed.
George James can be contacted by email -
e.james2@btinternet.com Lambeth Council's Media Affairs Spokesman on St Agnes Place is John Hosken (00 44 (0) 207 9262841).
More Info about St Agnes Place can be found via the following links -
A 30 history of St Agnes Place
http://www.stagnesplace.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=1 Coverage of the Eviction by Indymedia.org
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328686.html Eviction Pictures -
http://www.stagnesplace.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=7 Photos from the aftermath of the St Agnes Place Eviction -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonreporter/sets/1479931/ Oldest Squat Residents Evicted - BBC London
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4481284.stm Riot police clear 'oldest squat' - BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4483950.stm Eight years in St Agnes Place - Guardian Newspaper
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1654643,00.html St Agnes Place - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Agnes_Place
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