Issue 9 of the East End Howler is out now!
Click here to download a free pdf copy or click on the link on the right panel.
All of the articles are posted on this blog, click on HOWLER INDEXES to find the articles easily.
As always, we’re hungry for feedback and input, if you’re interested in what we’re doing, then email us at actioneastend@gmail.com
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| From Blogger Pictures |
Issue 8 of the East End Howler is out now!
Click here to download a free pdf copy or click on the link on the right panel.
All of the articles are posted on this blog, click on HOWLER INDEXES to find the articles easily.
As always, we’re hungry for feedback and input, if you’re interested in what we’re doing, then email us at actioneastend@gmail.com
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| From Blogger Pictures |
The Metropolitan Police have asked the City of London Corporation (trustees for Wanstead Flats and the rest of Epping Forest) for permission to build a temporary Olympics operational base on the Flats (with an 11 foot high solid barrier, housing 80 horses and 12,000 police in a day) for 90 days in 2012. For the plan to go ahead, a law that has protected the Forest since 1878 (itself the result of a successful community campaign) must be amended. Thousands of local people have complained that this would set a dangerous precedent for the future, and demanded to know why the Flats site was chosen.
The Save Wanstead Flats campaign called a mass community picnic on the site on September 5th. Despite a grey day, around 200 hundred people turned up to enjoy their green community space, share food and drink, and show their opposition, not least by grilling Paul Thompson, the City of London Corporation representative who was there. He told locals that the site was chosen because it was the cheapest (at £170,000), but that he wouldn’t reveal the other possible sites on the grounds of ‘commercial sensitivity’ (even though it’s our money, as taxpayers, that is being used!). The campaign has also collected several thousand signatures in a matter of weeks as a way of building opposition to their plans. The police have been conducting a PR spin ‘consultation’ exercise (at a cost of £49,000), consisting of a travelling exhibition, and asked the campaign to send down a couple of representatives to a meeting, an offer which the campaign (sensibly) turned down, inviting them instead to a public meeting on October 6th. 300 people turned up, filling the hall, and subjecting the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Corporation to a barrage of informed and intelligent questions covering accountability, cost, the environment, security and traffic. Unsurprisingly, the vote on the proposal held at the end of the meeting was unanimously against.
The next mass action is a ‘Beating of the Bounds’ – a traditional community event to mark the boundaries of land owned and used by the community (to show the size of the proposed security base site). We’ll be taking back Wanstead Flats on Sunday November 21st at 2pm – bring your family and friends, see you there!
Get involved in the Save Wanstead Flats campaign – come to our meetings, lobby your councillors and MPs, and visit our website at www.savewansteadflats.org.uk
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| From Blogger Pictures |
The weather for the Mass Community Picnic, organised by the Save Wanstead Flats campaign, was predicted to be fine and sunny. But as I walked up Woodgrange Road towards the Flats at lunchtime, the sky was leaden and I could feel the occasional spot of rain. There was no way of knowing how any people – if any – would show up to what had been billed as an opportunity for local people, concerned about plans for a police operational base on Wanstead Flats, to meet neighbours from around the area who share their concerns about defending common land that belongs to all of us.
At 12.30pm there were about ten of us, but I need not have worried. Small groups of people soon appeared from every direction, bringing their blankets and food, whilst at around 1.30pm, a large group of cyclists from Forest Gate showed up in procession. There was a good turnout too from the local churches and a number of the schools and a good mix of residents from Forest Gate, Leyton and Wanstead. The children’s banner-making area, organised by a friend from Godwin Road, came up with some funny and brilliant placard designs.
I heard some rather wild speculation about the overall numbers, but a rough headcount at about 2.15pm suggested 350 picnickers, which is fantastic achievement for what was fairly autumnal afternoon.
Paul Thomson, the Superintendent of Epping Forest, was also there and to give him all due credit, he stayed to debate with local people despite a pressing engagement in Chingford for the Epping Forest Festival. I’m pretty sure he felt he had little choice at times though. One of my friends said the impromptu public meeting that had surrounded him was like a ‘gherao’, an Indian protest tactic from West Bengal that involves surrounding a politician or employer and refusing to let them leave until their demands are met or their questions answered! However, Paul kindly confirmed that the City of London Corporation would definitely provide representatives for the residents’ public meeting that took place on Wednesday 6th October – this convinced the Metropolitan Police to stop beating around the bush and they turned up as well.
COUNTER OLYMPICS NETWORK (CON) is a network of groups and individuals who have come together to organise against the London Olympics. Our aim is to use the spectacle of the Olympics to strengthen existing organising on local issues like housing, privatisation and surveillance. We want to highlight the unique problems that the Olympics bring to London and how it affects struggle more generally. We want to use the Olympics to our advantage, not by buying a ticket or buying into the false legacy promises, but by using this opportunity to bring people affected by the games together.
We will be holding regular monthly organising meetings and public socials. The next meeting will be Tuesday 9th November, 7pm at Durning Hall in Newham (Earlham Grove, E7 9AB).
The first social event will be held on Friday 26th November in LARC (Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel) from 7pm. There will be speakers, films, music and drinks. Please check our website for more details.
WEBSITE: http://counterolympicsnetwork.wordpress.com/
EMAIL: counterolympicsnetwork@aktivix.org
This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of Eastside Community Heritage – http://www.hidden-histories.org.uk/wordpress
In March 1946 the decision was made by West Ham council to make an application under the Town and Country Planning Act to compulsory purchase 163 acres of Wanstead Flats between Capel and Aldersbrook roads, the majority of which lay outside of the borough boundaries. This land would be used for the building of homes to house around 7000 people. West Ham council noted that the London County Council (LCC) had already made applications for land in Chingford and Chigwell for housing outside of its boundaries. West Ham council were influenced by the idea of self contained cottage estates located away from heavy industry. There had been a move of population from the more heavily damaged areas in the south to the north of West Ham and the open land of Wanstead Flats was an obvious target for development
The West Ham proposals were opposed by the City of London Forest through the Epping Forest Committee, Sir Frank Alexander as Lord Mayor of London wrote personally to Bevan criticising the proposals which were also opposed by the all neighbouring local councils.
A spirited local campaign was organised with Stanley Reed, a West Ham schoolteacher and Lakehouse Estate resident, acting as secretary of the Wanstead Flats Defence Committee. This organised a broad based coalition of over 160 organisations including trade union branches, religious groups, political parties and sports organisations who came together to oppose the proposals. The committee organised public meetings, house canvassing, letter writing campaigns and lobbied local politicians
The campaign also cut across party political allegiance with Leah Manning the Labour MP for Epping being a vocal opponent of the proposed developments and presenting Parliament with a 60,000 signature petition against the plans. Mrs. Manning spoke at many meetings against the proposals and attacked the plans during a Parliamentary debate as “vandalism.”
Alicia Reed, the wife of Stanley Reed who was interviewed in 2007 about the campaign remembers: “Leah Manning [MP]… said she was going to sit down in front of the bulldozers and was very outspoken”.
Lewis Silkin, Minister for Town and Country Planning, and a former Chair of Planning for the LCC, established a public inquiry into the compulsory purchase. This opened on the 2nd December 1946 at West Ham Town Hall, Stratford (now the Old Town Hall). It lasted 4 days and at times was punctuated by acrimonious exchanges. Amid catcalls from the public gallery the West Ham Town Clerk described the inquiry as a battle between “haves and have-nots.” This was followed by cries of “shame!” when Wanstead Flats was described as an “unattractive open space.”
Following the inquiry (the deliberations taking place during the coldest winter of the twentieth century, locally Alexandra Lake froze) the decision was made in April 1947 to reject the application. However Silken did accept that the compulsory purchase was not “ultra vires” (beyond the power) and the 1878 Epping Forest Act did not exempt the land from an attempt to compulsory purchase it.
West Ham Council went on to embark on a comprehensive redevelopment programme across the borough which Stanley Reed documented in his film “Neighbourhood 15”. Mr. Reed was elected onto Wanstead and Woodford council as an independent councillor for Park Ward and later went on to become the director of the British Film Institute. He later wrote that: “My part in the saving of Wanstead Flats is the single achievement of my life of which I am unreservedly proud.” West Ham and East Ham councils jointly prepared proposals for development in the Pitsea and Laindon areas of Essex, although ultimately the development was undertaken by the Basildon Development Corporation.
The proposals by East Ham council for permanent development for schools by on Manor Park Triangle were eventually rejected following a public inquiry in the early 1950s
For Wanstead Flats, the City of London established a joint committee with West Ham, East Ham, Wanstead and Woodford and Leyton councils to look at development of Wanstead Flats on modern lines which produced some proposals which were implemented during the 1950s and is still widely used today.
This episode in the history of the area highlights the tension that existed and still exists today between preservation and development. Certainly, Wanstead Flats was a designated open space and was described as such in the Abercrombie’s Plan for London. However it is also true that West Ham was attempting to follow guidance to separate housing from industrial development. Illustrations by courtesy of Newham Archives and Local Studies Library.
See here for the first part of this feature – http://eastendhowler.wordpress.com/2010/09/05/saving-the-flats-the-wanstead-flats-campaign-of-1946-2/
“Nuclear Trains” carry highly-radioactive cargoes across London. Each week such trains travel on the North London between Stratford and Hackney Central through the Olympic site. They are carrying containers of nuclear fuel rods from the nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk up to the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria where the deadly plutonium and uranium they contain is separated.
THESE CARGOES ARE DANGEROUS
As a result of a terrorist attack or serious accident the flasks could break open, releasing highly-radioactive material that would blow for miles in the wind and kill thousands of people in a built-up area like Stratford.
Such a terrorist attack on a nuclear train in the vicinity of the Olympics would thus create a “terrorist spectacular”, which makes the trains a very tempting target.
Ask your MP or local Councillor to try to get these trains stopped from going on the line through the Olympic site until at least the Games are safely over.
JOIN THE CAMPAIGN
Join our campaign by sending a request for more information to Stop Nuclear Trains through the Olympic Site!, c/o Nuclear Trains Action Group, 162 Holloway Rd, N7 8DQ; tel. 020-7607 2302, or e-mail: david.lrcnd@cnduk.org. See web site: www.nonucleartrains.org.uk
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| From Blogger Pictures |
Issue 7 of the East End Howler is out now!
Click here to download a free pdf copy or click on the link on the right panel.
All of the articles are posted on this blog, click on HOWLER INDEXES to find the articles easily.
As always, we’re hungry for feedback and input, if you’re interested in what we’re doing, then email us at actioneastend@gmail.com
 |
| From Blogger Pictures |
One thing is certain – news that the Metropolitan police planned to site its Olympic operational centre on Wanstead Flats should never have appeared first on the pages of the Evening Standard in early June. The proposed plans, which iinvolve creating a fenced, high-security compound with buildings, parking areas, stables and even police holding cells for at least three months during 2012, are so close to residential neighbourhoods in Newham and Redbridge that they were always likely to become controversial. To enable the police to use Wanstead Flats as a base, the City of London Corporation, who manage the land for the benefit of local people, intends to amend an act of parliament that has protected Epping Forest from enclosure for 132 years. The precedent this sets, on top of the disruption, the secrecy and the sense that the Olympics are being used as an excuse for those in power to do whatever they like, has resulted in a storm of protest. But even after years as a community worker in Newham, the strength of feeling has been a surprise even to me.
The Save Wanstead Flats campaign has grown from a public meeting in mid July, which itself came about because a small group of local people saw the Standard article and approached Durning Hall Community Centre in Forest Gate (where I work) for help. We provided our main hall for free and helped with publicity, but on the evening of the meeting, we have no idea how many would turn up. As we soon discovered, the meeting was packed to capacity, with over 250 people attending and a unanimous message emerging from local residents– there was overwhelming opposition to a police operational base, concerns about the conduct of the City of London Corporation and real anger about the lack of consultation. A steering committee was formed – and more than 20 people signed up to be part of it.
It took a month for the police and the Corporation to react, but in what looked like a direct response to the public meeting, they finally decided to undertake what is laughably known as ‘community engagement’ in early August. A public relations company was hired to arrange meetings with a selected few, rather than the wider public, whilst a website set up to sell the case for using Wanstead Flats during 2012. Worryingly, local residents finally found out that ‘consultation’ on the plans for the Flats would end on 26 September, with comments considered by Redbridge council later in the year. With the first, closed ‘listening’ event arranged for mid-August, this meant that there was only a six-week period, half of it during the peak holiday season, when local people would be able to voice their concerns. This isn’t a proper consultation – it’s a tick-box exercise.
The campaign has continued to insist that representatives of the police and the Corporation attend a public meeting arranged by local people themselves and on their own terms, with sufficient time to make sure local communities around the Flats have been informed. A small delegation turned up at the police’s initial presentation of their plans and hand-delivered invitations to the campaign’s public meeting, which has been set for on 6 October. But we are still waiting to hear whether the police or Corporation officials will turn up to answer questions.
Meanwhile, a Mass Community Picnic has been called for Sunday 5 September at 1pm, on the spot to the west of Centre Road where the police want to site their base. It’s an opportunity for everyone who lives near Wanstead Flats to come along with food, picnic blankets, their children and their friends and join others to demonstrate the local community’s opposition to these proposals.
Choosing to try and site an Olympics policing base on Wanstead Flats has touched a nerve – and in part, it’s one that reveals genuine and underlying concerns about the Olympic Games itself. So much of the rhetoric both during the bid and in the five years that have followed has focused on what a privilege it is for London – and east London in particular – to play host to the Games. There have been so many promises about the benefits that residents will experience. Instead, the biggest impact has been disruption, decisions made will little involvement of local communities and a sense that we are being pushed aside to make way for a sporting event that has little to do with us.
What is possibly more surprising is how long it has taken for more people to stand up and say, “enough!” The same broad support was far from evident when the residents of Clays Lane had their homes bulldozed to make way for the Olympic park. Perhaps because Wanstead Flats is used by such a wide range of people of all ages, or because a local community centre was prepared to offer its support, has helped to galvanise opposition. But whatever the reason, the Metropolitan police and the City of London Corporation has a real fight on its hands – and plenty of questions that this time need far more than vague assurances.
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| From Blogger Pictures |
This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of Eastside Community Heritage – http://www.hidden-histories.org.uk/wordpress
The campaign against the attempted enclosure of Wanstead Flats by Henry Wellesley, Earl Cowley in 1871 and its eventual inclusion within the Epping Forest Act of 1878 is well documented. Less well known is another campaign 75 years later against the compulsory purchase of around half of Wanstead Flats for housing development immediately after the Second World War. This article will highlight this hidden history that had a profound impact on both Wanstead Flats and the social geography of West Ham County Borough.
Like many post Second World War stories it starts during the 1930s. Wanstead Flats immediately to the north of Forest Gate was a popular destination for local people. Organised events such as the fairs, bands and music hall performance at the bandstand, boating and fishing on the lakes and sport such as football and cricket, drew people from a wide area. Many people also appreciated an open space to escape the crowded housing and industrial development of West Ham and wider East London. Indeed, Wanstead Flats has been recognised as a vital green space or “wedge” by the London County Council (LCC) in 1935 and the City of London as Conservator of Epping Forest organised a conference held at the Guildhall in 1939 to develop proposals for its improvements.
Any development was postponed by the outbreak of war in September 1939 and Wanstead Flats itself hosted a variety of civilian and military uses during the Second World War. These included allotments, anti-aircraft gun batteries, barrage balloons and bomb shelters. The bandstand was to be a collection point for salvaged wood from bomb damaged buildings and surplus food grown on the allotments. Later, parts of the Flats were closed off for use as a troop assembly point before and during the invasion of France in 1944. The area was also used as a German Prisoner of War camp. By 1945, using emergency wartime powers 102 “hutments” were already housing West Ham residents on the area north of Capel Road and East Ham borough authorities proposed temporary housing between Manor Park and Aldersbrook.
The Second World War had a serious impact on the housing stock within West Ham which had been severely damaged during World War Two. The Royal Docks and associated industry had been primary targets (Target A), for the Luftwaffe air raids. During the London Blitz of 1940-41 thousands of high explosive and incendiary bombs had fallen on the area. Later, 68 V1 flying bombs and 33 V2 rockets hitting the area added to the destruction. In total 14,000 houses were destroyed and many more were damaged within West Ham. By 1945 23 % of West Ham was designated as severely war damaged and was described as an area of “rubble strewn gaps and patched houses.”
Although the population of West Ham had continued to decline from a high of around 320,000 people in the mid 1920s around 50,000 people were expected to return from evacuation or military service at the end of the war. By 1946 West Ham council had over 10,000 people awaiting homes. Many homeless people were crowded into unsuitable housing or living in temporary “Rest Centres”, often in local schools which were returning to educational use. Some people resorted to squatting. West Ham council reported squatters in former military huts on Wanstead Flats during the “Squatting Summer” of 1946. Other people were forced to live outside of the area splitting up families and friends. Diaries of the period record the despair and strain of overcrowding. People scoured the small ads in newspapers and shop windows for rooms to let and Daltons Weekly became required reading for home hunters.
Development on Wanstead Flats had already received the support of Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Heath in the newly elected Labour Government. Bevan, the leftwing MP for Ebbw Vale, was acutely aware that housing would be a defining issue for the government. He had pledged to build 200,000 houses a years. Although as Minster of Health, Bevan was ultimately responsible for housing policy, responsibility for delivery was divided between the Ministries of Health, Works and Town and Country Planning. The housing itself would actually be built by local authorities. Even with this unwieldy division, wags opined that Bevan had “Half a Nye on housing”, Bevan was determined to provide new housing quickly for the war weary population and was frustrated with any delays.
In January 1946, speaking in a debate in the House of Commons about the emergency housing situation in East Ham he declared:
“The people must have shelter… The Commoners of Epping Forest must surrender to the overwhelming needs of the people.”
The 1944 Town and Country Planning Act introduced by the wartime coalition government led by Winston Churchill had given local authorities sweeping powers to deal with “blitz and blight” through reconstruction and redevelopment. To alleviate the housing situation West Ham council was determined to quickly provide better housing for the post-war population. It had already launched the “Homes Now” campaign to pressure the government over delays in providing finance and materials for housing.
See here for the second part of this feature – http://eastendhowler.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/saving-the-flats-the-wanstead-flats-campaign-of-1946-part-2/
