For 5 months on this derelict site the occupiers were busy creating the Wandsworth Eco-village, London's first Permaculture Visitors' Centre, a vibrant and exciting community under development, until the landowners evicted them in October 1996, bulldozing everthing - gardens and buildings etc. The owners application for planning permission for a large supermarket has been turned down following a Public Inquiry and the future of the site remains uncertain.
At the assembly point in a South Park, Fulham, protesters fill bags with earth containing plant and tree seeds
to attempt to renew growth on the currently empty site.
When the march reached Gargoyle Wharf, the bags packed with earth and seeds were
thrown over the high fence onto the site.
Not everyone managed to get all of their earth and seeds over the fence! |
The site was surrounded by Police, and inside were a number of Security Guards and more Police. At the main gate we stopped and peered through. It looked incredibly bleak and empty - flatttened derelict ground where seven months ago had been a thriving and growing community, with gardens, houses, tents and other structures, people cooking, kids playing... | |
Following a public meeting in March 97, local residents, particularly from the flats opposite, have formed the Gargoyle Wharf Community Action Group which supported the occupation. They want to see the land used for the benefit of the local community rather than simply to make large profits for the landowners. | |
After the march there was a fair in York Gardens organized by Pure Genius and the Gargoyle Wharf Community Action Group with displays of press coverage of 'Pure Genius', music, games, food, drink and talk. |