[diggers350] Oxford boatyard squatters will fight on

[Jock Coats]

A view from a part time campaigner on this...

I have to say that I think the City Council's "decision" in February  
was one of the most astonishingly opportunistic publicity seeking  
stunts I've seen.  No worse, of course, than promising a Caribbean  
community centre here or new housing there of course, but at least  
these others are within the remit and powers of the city council.   
They tried to allocate a sum of money (£2.5 million I believe) and  
then withdrew it in favour of "discussions with a view to buying" -  
mainly because their sum fell a long way short of what BW think they  
will get and in reality they knew there was no way they could afford  
it, and, more importantly, do not have the skill in the organisation  
to do it well if they could afford it.  Oxford City Council have a  
hopeless record on property and negotiation on development IMHO and I  
suspect that such a decision, if implemented in the bad old days of  
councillors' surcharging, would have resulted in such a punishment  
through total mismanagement.

I've been trying, both publicly and privately, in the local press and  
to campaigners, developers, politicians and others, to get them all  
talking about a Community Land Partnership/Land Trust approach but it  
seems everyone's been too busy - protesting in the case of those who  
want the boatyard to remain or singing loudly with fingers in ears in  
the case of BW or posing for nice photos in the case of the high net  
worth individuals I would expect to want to get involved more  
practically/financially in securing the site's future - to be too  
worried about finding any potential consensus.

It is clear to me that what BW want to do is itself opportunist and  
simply out for maximising commercial gain (and I am also appalled by  
the actions of a landowner that simply inherited nationalised land  
for the benefit of the community not commercial gain), yet I am sure  
that there is a middle ground that they would consider if it were put  
forward in a way that was commercially acceptable to them.

This whole case seems to me, knowing the long history, to be a very  
apt example of the antagonistic way the planning system all too often  
operates.  You know, where a landowner wants to do something that was  
not foreseen in the local plan and therefore is not prevented by it,  
planning authority immediately tries to slap on supplementary  
guidance knowing full well it will look like they are trying to  
scupper the plans, and then both sides dig in, spending hundreds of  
thousands of pounds paying barristers to argue it out.

The legal fees alone could have paid for most of what the campaigners  
want if it had instead been put into some kind of community land  
partnership!  I hate to be defeatist, but I fear this stand-off is  
going to result in the worst of all solutions - squeezing something  
for everyone onto the site and not actually resulting in a viable  
space for an operating boatyard, community space, affordable housing  
and all the rest without some kind of more creative thinking.

Putting everyone's faith in the planning system delivering what the  
community wants and not what the landowner wants seems to me to put  
too much hope in a system prejudiced in favour of the landowner.

All that said, I wish the campaigners well.  I can't help feeling (as  
I suppose anyone promoting what they think is a good potential  
solution would) that their energies have been misdirected into  
protest rather than practical consideration of ways out of the  
impasse.  And that if there is a final victory, they will not even  
get some of their aims fulfilled now because the heat has been turned  
up so much.  BW are now (if they weren't already) in a mood to be  
bloody minded and have probably spent too much money fighting now to  
be in any sense concilliatory.

Jock

On 14 Apr 2006, at 10:29, Gerrard Winstanley wrote:

> We'll fight on, say squatters
> By Emma-Kate Lidbury
>
> http://www.thisisoxford.co.uk/display.var.724687.0.
> well_fight_on_say_squatters.php
> 	
> Campaigners on the lookout for eviction attempts
>
> Protesters who have been squatting at an Oxford boatyard for more than
> eight months could now be days away from eviction but they say they
> will not go without a fight.
>
> A group of about 20 campaigners has been living at the Castle Mill
> boatyard, in Jericho, since August. They are battling against site
> owner British Waterways to keep the site for community use.
>
> Their campaign took a turn for the better in February, when Oxford
> City Council agreed to look into buying the site for the community,
> but yesterday protesters heard a rumour their eviction was imminent
> and British Waterways last night confirmed it will soon be sending the
> bailiffs in if the squatters do not leave.
>
> British Waterways spokesman Eugene Baston said: "They were told by the
> courts to leave by February 28. They have not done so, so now we are
> proceeding to evict. We had hoped they would go of their own accord.
> We appeal to them to do so as there is no defence in law for them
> being there."
>
> But John Keys, one of the protesters spearheading the campaign, said
> they were heading for a "full-on confrontation". He added: "This could
> be resolved peacefully without using bailiffs and brute force, but we
> will fight this every step of the way. If British Waterways attempts
> to force us out it's a bad idea."
> 'This could be resolved peacefully without using bailiffs and brute
> force, but we will fight this every step of the way. If British
> Waterways attempts to force us out it's a bad idea'	
> John Keys	
>
> The protesters are on high alert and have posted leaflets through
> hundreds of doors in Jericho in a bid to recruit volunteers to help
> patrol the boatyard day and night.
>
> Mr Keys said: "We have taken the precaution of asking people from the
> local community if they would stand shoulder to shoulder with us if
> British Waterways try to evict us.
>
> "The community seems to be almost 100 per cent behind us and we have
> already had a positive response. We have to show we are a force to be
> reckoned with."
>
> British Waterways is expecting to receive quotes from seven bidders
> the city council being one before the deadline in two weeks' time. The
> asking price for the land is £4m.
>
> Mr Baston added: "The plans have been in place for some time to evict
> the squatters.
>
> "If they do not go by the time a deal is agreed with the new
> developer, they will be evicted."
>
> 9:16am Thursday 6th April 2006
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Diggers350 - an e-mail discussion/information-share list for  
> campaigners involved with THE LAND IS OURS landrights network  
> (based in the UK ..web ref. www.thelandisours.org). The list was  
> originally concerned with the 350th anniversary of The Diggers (&  
> still is concerned with their history). The Diggers appeared at the  
> end of the English Civil war with a mission to make the earth 'a  
> common treasury for all'. In the spring of 1999 there were  
> celebrations to remember the Diggers vision and their contribution.  
> Find out more about the Diggers and see illustrations at: http:// 
> www.bilderberg.org/diggers.htm
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
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>

--
Jock Coats - Chair, Oxfordshire Community Land Trusts
c/o Warden's Flat 1e, J Block Morrell Hall, OXFORD, OX3 0FF
w: +44 (0)1865 483353 h: +44 (0)1865 485019
m: +44 (0)7769 695767 e: jock.coats at oclt.org.uk
www: http://www.oclt.org.uk/ - http://jockcoats.blogspot.com/