2009 January 12
Jim Nagel
A group of protesters claimed squatters’ rights in the abandoned redbrick buildings at the Morlands site on January 5 to stop their demolition. They say they will not leave until the Southwest Regional Development Agency gives a written promise of proper public consultation.
The RDA timed its announcement for Christmas Eve, in an apparent attempt to bury the news. Demolition would begin on January 5, the agency decreed, because of “serious safety issues”. Young people had been breaking in and using the empty buildings as a clubhouse.
Protesters, however, say the redbrick buildings are sound. “I’m walking around in my socks: that’s how dangerous it is,” said Hazel Pegg, by mobile phone from inside the building with her daughter. “There was broken glass and bits, but we have cleared the immediate hazards. The roof doesn’t leak. The floor is rock-solid; you could walk an elephant on it. In my opinion, this building could be restored — as Urban Splash promised would be done in 2007.”
Urban Splash and Priority Sites are the two developers appointed by the RDA in 2006. They said work would begin in spring 2007 and business would move onto the site in 2008.
The Conservation Society committee, also meeting on January 5, was reminded by Paul Branson that Urban Splash was to turn the redbrick buildings into affordable workshops for artists and craftspeople. But Urban Splash is in economic trouble (based in Manchester, it began laying off staff in September) and now finds it more convenient to demolish than to restore, he suggested. The boarded-up terrace of houses in Beckery Road could go the same way; why has no work begun in all this time?
The meeting asked John Brunsdon as chairman to contact the Member of Parliament. John reports that the MP is already asking the public auditor to look into the RDA’s handling of the site.
The Morlands buildings are not listed and nor are they in a
conservation area, another committee member said. The old Northover Mill
Cottage (photo), however, is listed Grade II and would benefit from new buildings
next door more sympathetic than the jerrybuilt Morlands redbrick. Members of
the society have helped the Beckery Island Trust to clear brambles and
rubbish while funds are arranged to refurbish the cottage for community
use.
Inside the “Arts & Crafts Building”
—a photo tour with Stephanie Morland and Chris Black on the final day of the occupation.
(In the Picasaweb page that opens, click on thumbnail photos to see full-size with commentary.)