Occupation Of 34 Broadway Market, E8 - info and updates

Excellent... demos outside town halls are really not my thing, but it does provide a nice focus for people - a way of others to show support.

++ URGENT MESSAGE TO ALL SUPPORTERS ++

Contractors from Eastern Scaffolding Limited of Southend, Essex (Tel: 01702 530360) visited the café at 34 Broadway Market this morning to measure up for erecting scaffolding to the front and rear of the property.

So we are back on full alert again as this is a clear indication that the eviction is planned for the next few days. It is expected that the scaffolders would be called in immediately after the eviction to erect full height scaffolding to allow for the demolition of the café.

34 Broadway Market

Talks with ethical funding groups are proceeding well and today we meet with architects who have offered their services free gratis. So our plans to put together a feasible package for development of the site will go ahead regardless and we then only have to convince Dr. Wratten and any other potential developers that the site will never be successfully developed for use as a theatre, bars, restaurants and luxury flats (or a tower block).

71 Broadway Market

Following the Court case on Friday, an appeal went out for financial support for Spirit. He has put in £ 1,000 towards the £ 3,000 which must be paid into Court by 4pm on Friday.

The remainder was collected over the weekend from voluntary donations from the general public at the market and 2 cheques for £ 125-00. The cash is made up from £1,300 in bank notes, with the rest in loose coinage. That will be cashed up and the payment will be made into Court tomorrow, along with a notice of explanation as to how the money was raised, a copy of which will be served on the other side.

The next batch of 100 Save the Spirit of Broadway Market T-shirts will be ready Wednesday afternoon in various sizes. To order one, please call at the café.

The property developers who still have control of these properties will shortly get the message that, when the local community unites and the objectives are clearly defined, nothing and no-one will stop us.

So a big thank you to all who took part and to the thousands who have given their support.

Please do not forget the full Council meeting on Wednesday 1st February. Motions are to be put to the Council on behalf of Broadway Market and Dalston Lane. A huge turnout is essential and the Council have made arrangements for extra seating and additional rooms to be made available to cater for the hundreds who are expected to turn out.

The tide is turning in favour of those who have had a very rough ride so far, now it is the turn of those who brought this situation about to find out what happens when their devious plans start to fall apart.

Two paintings, kindly donated by Elijah Okhann, will be raffled from the café (or outside it if we are evicted) at £ 2-00 per ticket. The draw will be at 4pm on Sunday 12th February 2006. All proceeds will go to the legal fighting fund.

Take care all.

Regards

Arthur

Cafe rataken at 4.30 am this morning.

There has been a street party/protest called at 6.00pm this evening on Broadway market

Here's the next newsletter which is at the printers now. 4,000 copies will be distributed when we have hold of them. Download here.

http://34broadwaymarket.omweb.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=61

An email I've just received from Arthur...

Governance & Resources Scrutiny Committee

Member Working Party Panel Review

Hearings 27th February, 6th March & 14th March 2006

On 20th February 2006, following a motion put before

the Full Council on 1st February, Hackney’s Overview &

Scrutiny Commission met to record its proposals for a

Review Panel to examine how the property sales

procedures adopted in 2000 had impacted on local

business and residential communities and to

investigate the role of Nelson Bakewell auctioneers in

the sales procedures.

The public review lasted, effectively, for six hours,

with much behind the scenes gathering of documents and

written submissions and responses.

This was a mammoth task in reality and there were

unlikely to be any concrete proposals coming from any

recommendations that the panel could be expected to

formulate in such a short timeframe.

The enquiry sat on 27th February and Chair James

Cannon set the remit for the 3 session debate. Week

one concentrated mainly on the cases of Spirit and

Tony from Broadway Market, both of whom gave

unscripted evidence before the panel.

Andrew Boff, Tory panel member and Councillor for

Queensbridge ward asked many sympathetic questions and

drew the expected responses, particularly from Tony

who referred to the previous administration as a bunch

of corrupt thieves.

Bill Hodgson, outgoing Labour Queensbridge Councillor,

did his best to salvage his party’s image by implying

that Tony and Spirit could have acted quicker to get

their freeholds and were up against market forces over

which the Council had little or no control.

Our fears about Tony were not realised and every

member left the first hearing in one piece and

returned on 6th March to hear evidence about Dalston

Lane.

Bill Parry-Davies, local solicitor (who has acted in

the past for both Tony and Spirit) and is Director of

OPEN-Dalston, gave evidence about how 14 properties in

Dalston Lane had been gifted to an offshore Company

(which still owns Spirit’s Broadway Market unit under

a different name) because the leaseholders who had

operated their businesses from the area for many years

were not informed in advance that Nelson Bakewell had

reached the decision to sell the units as a job lot.

The leaseholders had turned up at the auction as

individuals with well over £ 3 million to spend in

total, but were not even given the chance to pool

their resources because they never knew they might

have to, and the entire site sold for just £ 1.8

million.

Yes, if the Dubai based buyers were hell-bent on

buying the site they could certainly have outbid the

leaseholders, but at least that way the people of

Hackney would have gained some benefit from the extra

£ 1.5 million that would have raised. Instead, the

Dubia group (who operate their business from a tax

haven in the Bahamas) were allowed to rob the local

community and have since watched as mysterious fires

have forced out all but the last few remaining

leaseholders and have damaged the buildings so much

that they will now need to be demolished. This is

exactly what the owners wanted to happen and even

Councillors are now openly stating that the new owners

set the fires for this purpose.

Bill Parry-Davies also used his legal influence to

mention the OPEN-Dalston campaign and to highlight the

methods by which Hackney Council has pushed through

its plans for the Dalston Theatre site and the

underhand way that local planners have bullied

Councillors into passing demolition plans.

Then 3 leaseholders who have managed to survive in

their Dalston Lane properties told the Panel that they

had never really been offered the opportunity to buy

their business premises and were never allowed to seek

advice or group themselves together. Their evidence

was compelling and clearly shocked the Labour Panel

members who had already decided how to defend the

Council from any further damage.

Part 3 of the Inquiry was listed for hearing at 2pm on

14th March. The day before, the panel chair informed

us that thee was no time for any further verbal

submissions and that the hearing would concentrate on

past submissions and responses from the Council. If

we wanted any further evidence to be considered it

would have to be drawn up in written form and

presented to the Council’s officers within a few

hours.

With a lot of running around, we managed to get

statements drawn up and written evidence copied and

got this all to the Town Hall 15 minutes before the

deadline.

The hearing begins on the following day and we are

told that the evidence which we had submitted at the

last minute was too defamatory and ‘put the Council at

risk’. The Panel then set about reading out a list of

questions which had been raised and the brief and

irrelevant answers which had been listed on papers

handed out before the hearing began. After a protest

from one of those attending, which was given short

shrift, the assembled campaigners simultaneously stood

up and walked out of the Chamber in disgust, leaving a

shaken panel to ponder on whether their tactics may

have rather backfired.

Fearing that this was censorship rather than genuine

concern for the legal standing of the Council, e:mail

traffic became intense. At a private hearing of the

Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 15th March (which

turned to a public hearing at the insistence of

Councillor Boff) the Chair conceded that, following

legal advice, some of the withdrawn documents would be

taken into consideration and made public and that all

documents were now before the Panel.

So the Panel sat again and we waited for the

anticipated whitewash. Only to find that the Committee

had decided that they should recommend the immediate

repurchase of the Dalston Lane units by Compulsory

Purchase Orders, and that Council officers should

retain the option to repurchase Tony & Spirit’s shop.

There was intense debate over whether there should be

a recommendation to continue the inquiry as soon as

the Council reformed in May. Andrew Boff fought hard

for a commitment to do so. The 3 (Labour) against 1

(Tory) argument was not won and we now have a few days

before the final verdict is announced to persuade the

Committee to make a firm recommendation that the past

2 1/2 weeks was simply the start of a much wider

inquiry into just exactly what went on and who did

what?

Councillor Elaine Battson (Labour – Dalston) – who had

been extremely quiet to this point, and even failed to

attend when the Dalston Lane evidence was heard –

suddenly became very vociferous and repeatedly said

that the evidence before the Panel was too weak to be

seriously considered so why should there be any

further hearings?

We now have to ensure that the Met, the Public Sector

Fraud Office and the FSA properly and thoroughly

investigate the allegations, which will not go away,

and it may well be the case that this can only be

achieved by the occupation of Scotland Yard,

Wellington House and Canary Wharf! But the truth will

come out in the end - to that aim we are totally

committed – and all those who have abused their

positions to rob the local population and feather

their own nests will learn that people power is far

greater than their own influential contacts.

Unless this is achieved, there will be Nelson

Bakewell’s springing up everywhere and victims like

Tony and Spirit will dominate the world’s press for

many decades.

The Campaign against property sell-offs has achieved

many victories in a few short months. Mounting local

support, liaisons across class divides, a six thousand

signature petition, worldwide media attention and a

full public inquiry which shook the Council to its

core.

Corrupt property developers have retracted into their

shells and the flack is still falling all around them.

Their former associates in positions of power are

left wondering how much longer before the s**t really

hits the fan and we continue to fight for their

activities to be fully exposed.

This seems to be the start of something far more

powerful than any local protest has ever achieved

before, not least because there are Broadway Markets

and Dalston Lanes in every London borough and across

the Country and beyond.

So the fight goes on and the ballot box results in a

few weeks time may well give an indication as to who

exactly is winning the war.