Campaigners occupy university building to highlight Oxford's housing crisis

Tony Gosling tony at cultureshop.org.uk
Wed Oct 8 12:11:02 BST 2014 

Campaigners occupy university building to highlight Oxford's housing crisis
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11520198.Campaigners_occupy_university_building_to_highlight_Oxford_s_housing_crisis/
Campaigners unveil a House of the Commons banner on the old power station
Dympna Irwin, left, and Miranda Shaw are among the campaigners
Campaigners' website http://www.houseofthecommons.org
Emacs!


  First published 09:00 Wednesday 8 October 2014  in News

  by Alex Wynick, Reporter covering Blackbird 
Leys and Greater Leys. Call me on 01865 425403

  CAMPAIGNERS are squatting in a historic 
riverside building to protest against Oxford’s housing crisis.
  The group say they got into the Old Power 
Station in Arthur Street through an open window 
and are planning to host a series of public 
events and lectures to flag up the lack of housing in Oxford.
  But Oxford University, which owns the building 
on the Thames opposite Osney Island, has said it 
was not empty but was used for storage.
  It says it has contacted the police and sought 
legal advice about evicting the protesters.
  Campaign organiser Andy Edwards, 29, who lives 
in south-east Oxford, said: “We will be exploring 
creative solutions to the housing crisis, 
discussing everything from tenants’ rights to affordable housing.
  “These are local people who are frustrated 
about the lack of affordable housing in the city. 
It’s affecting people in a really acute way.
  “We’re demonstrating that it’s an issue that 
should be raised on the political agenda and given more weight.”
  Mr Edwards, a designer, said thegroup would 
leave the building on Sunday when the four-day 
series of events came to an end.

Related links
Squat needs to spark a wider debate about city housing

  He said there was a group of up to 15 people in 
the building at any one time.
  Jericho resident Dympna Irwin, 57, who is 
studying an MA in Contemporary Art at Oxford 
Brookes University, said: “I live in Jericho, 
where 23 per cent of people live below the 
poverty line, and then people pay £1,000 a week 
for a one-bed flat. It’s the centre of the national dichotomy.”
  Miranda Shaw, 27, a freelance violin teacher 
who lives in East Oxford, said: “I’m coming from 
a privileged position, in that I’m living in affordable housing.
  “I feel like it’s my duty to be standing up for people who don’t have that.
  “It’s incredibly important these events happen 
to highlight the issue and raise awareness.”
Oxford City Council has recently begun offering 
people council homes as far away as Birmingham 
and Cardiff because of the lack of affordable housing in the city.
  It has said it wanted to build thousands more 
homes – particularly south of Grenoble Road.
  But it says it is restricted by the Oxford 
Green Belt which it wants to review.
  The number of empty homes in Oxford in 
September was 873 of which 251 were empty for six months or more.
  There are currently 3,442 households on Oxford’s housing waiting list.
  City council leader Bob Price said: “The 
occupiers are right to highlight the scandal of 
Oxford’s exorbitantly high house prices and 
private sector rents – the highest in the country 
in relation to averge salaries. But it would be a 
better use of their time and energies if they 
campaigned with the Labour Party for a radical 
new approach to housing capital funding through 
lifting the housing revenue account cap and 
increasing land availability through changes in 
the weak planning framework that the coalition has put in place.”
The event, starting on Thursday, will feature 
talks by Prof Danny Dorling, of Oxford 
University, Emeritus Professor of Geography at 
the Open University Doreen Massey and Dawn Foster, deputy features editor of
Inside Housing.
  Prof Dorling said: “Both rents and house prices 
are rising much faster than inflation in general.
  “I think it helps greatly if people research, discuss and debate this.”
  Opened in 1891, the Old Power Station was 
Oxford’s first electrical power plant.
  It was bought by Oxford University in 1971 and 
used as a research laboratory for the Department of Engineering Science.
  It was vacated in 2010.
  University spokesman Matt Pickles said: “The 
Old Power Station is not a disused building but 
it is used for storage for the university’s 
museums and has hosted art exhibitions in recent years.
  “We are in contact with the people occupying 
the building and we are working with legal 
advisers and police with the intention that the 
occupiers leave the building as soon as possible.”
Thames Valley Police spokesman Rhianne Pope said: 
“We are liaising with the university and the 
protesters in order to facilitate a peaceful protest.
  “We will continue to monitor the situation and 
deal with any issues if they arise.”


Emacs!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/private/diggers350/attachments/20141008/188cb460/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/x-ygp-stripped
Size: 213 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/private/diggers350/attachments/20141008/188cb460/attachment.bin>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/x-ygp-stripped
Size: 213 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/private/diggers350/attachments/20141008/188cb460/attachment-0001.bin>
-------------- next part --------------
+44 (0)7786 952037
http://rt.com/op-edge/authors/tony-gosling/
http://cryptome.org/2014/06/video-report-axed-2.htm
www.thisweek.org.uk
www.dialectradio.co.uk
Fear not therefore: for there is nothing covered that shall not be 
revealed; and nothing hid that shall not be made known. What I tell 
you in darkness, that speak ye in the light and what ye hear in the 
ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. Matthew 10:26-27

www.actorsandartistsfor911truth.org
www.mediafor911truth.org
www.pilotsfor911truth.org
www.mp911truth.org
www.ae911truth.org
www.rl911truth.org
www.stj911.org
www.l911t.com
www.v911t.org

More information about the Diggers350 mailing list