On Saturday night – Hallowe’en – the riot police were called to a massive illegal rave in Lambeth. Some rather ugly scenes developed and a petrol bomb was thrown.
Simon Hughes’ former Head of Office, George Turner, lives opposite the site where the rave was held and gives a firsthand account of the incident in his blog, under the headline Nightmare on Whitgift Street.
How did this happen?
Questions will need to be asked how this could be allowed to happen in the first place. Last night was not the first time the building has been used for these kinds of parties. It was previously squatted for several months. First by a group of peaceful Italians who wanted to turn it into a social centre. They were turfed out by a second group of squatters who started to hold weekend long parties. It was Lord of the Flies in a gritty urban setting.
After that the Fire Authority occupied the building permanently to prevent the building being taken over again. However, despite this people managed to get into the building and set up a sound system to start a party.
It is particularly surprising that this disaster could not have been prevented, given that whoever organised this apparently gave advanced warning of their intentions by advertising to thousands of people on facebook.
As George points out, this is the dark side of the property boom in London.
However, with London’s white hot property market, and ever rising land prices land owners have every incentive to sit on land, sometimes for many years, waiting for planning authorities to cave into their demands to build socially useless buildings and cash in.
The blight this causes to local communities was demonstrated so powerfully last night.
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5 Comments
Things happen. By Election Oldham East 3rd December, much more important what are we doing?
I agree. Oldham is more important I trust action is in hand?
What an extraordinary pair of comments. For anyone living near this riot is will have been vastly more important than a by election.
Yes,
Thanks Simon.
an illegal rave also occurred on development land on the outskirts of Bristol on Saturday night too. started at midnight and went on til midday. Police were in attendance but let them rave-on.. the only sanction they had was to confiscate equipment and vehicles, but not until the end.. apparently other crime was minimal, but some of us had a good night’s sleep last night.
The solution to the mis-use of vacant property is to introduce Land Value Taxation, probably the only way that a property owner can be encouraged to either use it or sell it, thereby discouraging the common practise of investors who put money into property instead of banks to get a better return, it would also discourage the inexorable rise and rise of property values.