Nunhead Community Centre Occupation

So where were we...

When I last posted about the Nunhead Community Centre we'd just had a public meeting which agreed to reject the Council's proposal of a couple of small shop fronts as a wholly inadequate replacement for the Community Centre and we were launching our campaign to Save the Centre. We were doing all the traditional campaign things - letter writing, getting the local paper involved (see here and here), asking questions, lobbying Executive Members etc.

The council was still adamant that it would cost £1.3m to reopen the centre (more than four times the original £300k quote) and was sticking firmly to its line that the shops were the only option. In fact residents even saw a local property developer being shown round the centre.

Then about a week and a half ago some squatters moved in. Now considering that it's been well known that the centre was closed and empty for two years this is not terribly surprising, but it turns out these are not just any squatters, these are campaigning Nunhead Artist occupiers.

I went over to see what was going on and found the centre occupied by a few well known local artists who are involved with organising Nunhead Arts Week and other community events. They told me they thought it was a scandal that the centre had been left empty for so long and that they want to tidy it up and start getting it used for community events again. They are cleaning it and getting health & safety tests done (particularly to check there is no legionella), then they hope to get public liability insurance and then invite the community in.

There are quite mixed views about this amongst local residents. Some see them as taking courageous direct action, seizing a public building back from the council which has been showing little or no regard to the community's wishes. Others are angry that they have taken unilateral action and fear that their action could be counterproductive and undermine the campaign to save the centre.

I have to say I'm quite torn on the matter myself. As a councillor I can't condone their actions and fear that it could undo the small amount of progress I think we were making, but I must admit it mostly felt like we were hitting our heads against a brick wall and the idea of just ignoring the council and reclaiming the centre for the community is quite tempting.

A meeting is being arranged over the next few days between the Nunhead Community Centre Campaign Group and the Occupation Group so we'll see what comes out of that.