squatting archive
| movement links
From: webmaster@schnews.org.uk
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 01:46:13 -0000
Subject: SchNEWS 488, Friday 11th March, 2005
Birmingham Nursery Social Centre Squat Success - March 2005
After 6 months squatting an abandoned children's nursery in Birmingham, the council has agreed to squatters' demands that the building be returned to local community use. The former council nursery had been boarded up and deserted for two years before the Nursery Social Centre Collective took it over in August. They have been running it as a community centre with fair-trade café, meeting place for workshops, cultural events, housing for homeless people, and a community garden. The collective resisted three evictions successfully, dressed in santa suits for the last one, and won over the support of the local community, media, and even judges in the court case said 'they were doing a good job'. They have voluntarily agreed to move on as Birmingham City Council have agreed that the RITE project, which works with young people excluded from the education system, will take over the building.
It's a shame that the council didn't agree to the collective's proposal to continue their social project, and that the RITE project only needs to be re-housed because they are being chucked out of their present building because - surprise surprise - it's being sold off to a private buyer. But for this building at least, direct action has persuaded the council to put a public building back into social use.
http://www.stuffit.org/nursery
squatting archive
| movement links