Talk:St Agnes Place

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I think it is true that many of the families from the time when the eviction notice was first obtained 2003 in the street were in fact offered rehousing and accepted. I would like to hear from them...

Other families held out until later but where also rehoused. The people who were not offered rehousing were those who had squatted the houses made empty as families were rehooused (in the main) If any one could confirm or detial this...

I left St Agnes Place around 1995. Szczels 15:22, 14 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think that's more or less right, although there were people who were not rehoused who'd lived there since the 80's and 90's right up until the eviction. I was there for only three or so months before the final eviction and wrote the section on the legal case. It'd be good to get this page expanded - I know nothing about what happened there in the 80's and 90's. Alex

More photos on commons: [1] Secretlondon 03:16, 22 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Black Information Link claims that the residents were given a lease from 1984 to 2000. Secretlondon 03:27, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In the 80's many houses had short stay agreements with the council whereby they'd arrange housing benefit to be spent on maintaining the property. Alex10101000 05:43, 11 November 2007 (UTC) Well some of these agreements were with Housing Association like SLFHA, which had some money to allow for essential repairs. This happened to the house I live in from 1981 to 1995. We had our roof repaired, windows mended, a tie to hold bowing walls in, and it was rewired. Basically making it safe. Szczels (talk) 12:32, 31 March 2010 (UTC) There was not an agreement with Lambeth council to spend housing benefit on maintenance!St Agnes Place Housing Co-op (of which I still have my £1 share) collected from each member £2 per week for works to be done on the houses that needed repairs.Housing Association money didn't figure until early 1990's.In the 1980's the majority of residents were working or studying,few were on benefits. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Botticellireject (talk • contribs) 19:55, 1 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I left St Agnes around summer 1985 when I got married: up to that time I spent around 10 years there: I moved in immediately after the failed Demolition attempt by Gorst Demolition + (let it be remembered) police escort. This was stopped around 11 am because the good folks in Lambeth Law centre went to the High Court in the Strand and obtained an injunction. I was not there but around 11 am with some houses damaged the demolition crew were presented with a High Court injunction telling them to stop - presumably on safety grounds, since some brave people sat on roofs to prevent a ball and chain demolition crane attacking their houses. it was that serious. Made the front page of the Sunday Times (does anyone have the reference ?). The resultant publicity resulted in "egg on their faces" for Lambeth Council and directly led to the resignation of the Lambeth Council leader.

I moved from Thorne Road, where a number of houses were squatted, also in Lambeth if I remember rightly.

I was working as a carpenter and builder (having failed a degree at Keele in 1981)and I led repair efforts to a number of homes to make them habitable. To my own home I cast a concrete verandah at the back. A few doors down I completely re-roofed a house. There was tons of building materials to be had almost for free around the area , because Councils had closed so many complete streets that were either being demolished or were waiting demolition and re-development. Thus you could get hundreds of planks - I did not "batten" the roof of the previously mentioned house, I just planked it because so many planks could be had,and laid slate tiles on top. Again tiles could be collected for free from demolition areas. Because some houses had been damaged there was scaffolding up, which had just been left . . so it was easy to re-roof that house, the scaffolding was already there !

I was involved with the levy of 50p per person per week to establish a building fund. Interestingly some of those on benefits paid faithfully, one or two on a wage were, shall we say, erratic payers . . .

I had realised that it was very cheap and easy to make a house perfectly habitable. Two reels of 2.5 mm cable and you could establish two ring mains + suitable plug sockets per room. ditto for the lighting circuits.

In general the sash windows were in and glass was there, had the Council wrecked some of these it would have been more time consuming. Note: not difficult as one of the first carpentry jobs I ever did was to repair sash windows on a building site that was part of the Charrington Street complex, also a very large squat, near to Kings Cross.

Lambeth Council in its eagerness to defend the policy of "clearing" homes, and thus keeping them empty for months and years, had cut a hole in the first floors of many unoccupied houses, roughly a metre and a half square. I realised that by using "scrap" joists from demolition sites nearby, that it was possible to insert a length of joist on its side, then twist it vertical, and with a good overlap, maybe a metre each side, nail it to the existing stubs. Do three or four and you had sound joists - very easy then to re-plank the floor, plasterboard the underneath and there was no longer a hole.

With ring mains and lighting circuits in, floors all sorted, water and gas on, and you had a perfectly habitable home. Usually people who were already staying in other houses would move in and thus start a new home.

The houses were pretty much identical and well built. Each entrance had a brick arch finished with a stone keystone with a carving on it. Going up two or thee steps led you onto the ground floor with two rooms. Staircase straight ahead led to first floor, with two bedrooms, and staircase to 2nd floor, two bedrooms. On the ground floor, several houses cut through the stud partition to open up the two rooms and make a kitchen (rear) and lounge. there were stairs to a basement - we had the back room as bathroom and the front basement room as a bedroom.

So these houses were bigger than they looked, and very suitable for multi occupancy.

The street kept together with "street meetings" and occasionally designated persons would meet a Lambeth Councillor or two. After a while we obtained a licence to be there and so the pressure came off somewhat and the street became a licensed squat.

Some houses were never repaired: there was one that was in pretty good nick, but we had become a fairly stable community and since,after a while, there were few incomers there was no real pressure to expand.

Many inhabitants were working, in fact those on benefits were probably a minority, perhaps 2 or 3 single mums, but it did not matter, most of us were mates, and I remember that time as a period of real community - go across the street, knock on the door and either enter to chat and have a cuppa, or go down the road to the local pub.

I was working as a carpenter and small builder, there was qualified young architect, someone working in film editing, and there was strong community of people from Australia and New Zealand, who were over here to work for as long as the urge took them. The Aussies had one house. A New Zealand girl was in my house for a time, and her sister lived a couple of doors away.

We didn't realise it, but happy times. I still miss the friendships.

Main Staysail (talk) 23:16, 9 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

FACEBOOK ANYONE ?

What about a Facebook page for former residents ? have started one but don't really know what I'm doing, anyone like to help ? ? Main Staysail (talk) 02:25, 10 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What?[edit]

  • I think the line saying they were not parasites should be rewritten or dropped, leaving only that they paid their bills. Also needs spaces and better grammar. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.156.208.3 (talk) 04:32, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • Absolutely right and removed. The line merely suggested they might be parasites, SqueakBox 04:36, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Importance[edit]

The point needs to be made that this was one of the main squats in South London both in terms of size and endurance. Unfotunately the St Agnes web page and another on its history are no longer functioning so this wikipedia page is more important than when it was first made.Szczels (talk) 12:37, 31 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Has anyone got a date for the failed eviction by Gorst & Co in 1977 ? ? ? Because if so it should be possible to find the Sunday Times for the weekend following - it was a main story - and it was that publicity that 1. stopped further demolition i.e secured the safety of the street and 2. led directly to the leader of Lambeth Council resigning.

This is a vital part of St Agnes Place history

Can High Court Injunctions be searched ? there must be an archive Main Staysail (talk) 20:14, 10 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Citation needed[edit]

I was the person who lived in St Agnes for 18 years and was not offered ANY housing,I was on Lambeth's housing list for all of these years,I had letters from MP and my GP supporting my claim for housing.I applied independently to housing Associations and eventually was housed in 1995.In 1996 a letter arrived for me at St Agnes from Lambeth offering me housing. What a laugh. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Botticellireject (talk • contribs) 19:48, 1 November 2010 (UTC) ...."and some were threatened with 30 years of Council Tax bills."(Why?all long-term residents paid Council Tax-I still have my payment book!) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Botticellireject (talk • contribs) 20:03, 1 November 2010 (UTC) "What a laugh" - HI Steve, this is Chris W, hope all well with you ! Main Staysail (talk) 01:53, 10 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Early History?[edit]

There was an earlier history that needs reclaiming on this page. Built for the servants of Buckingham Palace in the later C19th. In multiple occupancy and at some stages poor enough to burn their own banisters in winter etc. Ian Sherman did research at one point. Szczels (talk) 15:20, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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