Court Case Victory for the Red Factory, Bristol

April 29, 2008

Port­land Square squat gets reprieve in Bris­tol Coun­ty Court

Bris­tol squat­ters were in Greyfri­ars court this morn­ing to oppose the grant­i­ng of an Inter­im Poses­sion Order (IPO) against the occu­piers of the Red Fac­to­ry squat in Port­land Square. If grant­ed, res­i­dents would have had to leave with­in 24 hours or face crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings. Own­ers Askon estates, a large multi­na­tion­al based in Dublin with inter­ests in the Mid­dle East, failed to name a date when they knew the build­ing had been squat­ted. They are required to do this under the pro­vi­sions of the 1997 Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Act (CJA) — an infa­mous piece of leg­is­la­tion bought in the last gasp of Major’s Con­ser­v­a­tive gov­ern­ment..

The Red Fac­to­ry is a large squat at the junc­tion of Cave Street and Port­land Square in St. Pauls, Bris­tol. Occu­pied in the mid­dle of Jan­u­ary 2008 by a pio­neer­ing group of squat­ters who braved pigeon dust, damp and absence of all ser­vices, it has become home to a dozen home­less peo­ple and holds reg­u­lar com­mu­ni­ty events includ­ing a cin­e­ma. The build­ing has been tidied up, paint­ed and made hab­it­able by peo­ple who would oth­er­wise have been sleep­ing on Bris­tol’s streets.

With a con­tro­ver­sial open door pol­i­cy the Red Fac­to­ry has been, at times, a dif­fi­cult squat to run but has tak­en into account the con­cerns of neigh­bours includ­ing the Peri­on Cen­tre next door.

The Red Fac­to­ry col­lec­tive are com­mit­ted to run­ning the build­ing as a com­mu­ni­ty enter­prise as rec­om­mend­ed in the St. Pauls neigh­bour­hood plan. They have con­tact­ed Askon to see if they can secure the build­ing for com­mu­ni­ty use and have made a sub­stan­tial finan­cial offer .

If Askon had won today’s case the build­ing would become emp­ty and lain derelict, as it has for more than twen­ty years. Despite tak­ing own­er­ship around the year 2000 Askon have done next to noth­ing with the build­ing. With the onset of the cur­rent prop­er­ty price crash it seems unlike­ly they could sell it quick­ly, par­tic­u­lar­ly because the build­ing is grade two list­ed and would need up to £1m to restore.

Bris­tol Hous­ing Action Move­ment is mak­ing an appeal for suport for the Red Fac­to­ry, both finan­cial­ly and in any prac­ti­cal way pos­si­ble. We believe the squat­ters may face anoth­er court case, and wel­come any sup­port. Con­tact Ben from Bham on 07833 100399 or by email at housingaction@yahoo.co.uk

The Pier­ian Cen­tre :
http://www.pierian-centre.com/
A space for con­fer­ences, meet­ings and cel­e­bra­tions of all shapes and sizes.
Locat­ed in Grade 1‑listed Port­land Square, the Cen­tre is an oasis of calm right in the heart of Bris­tol. With­in easy reach of the M32, the City Cen­tre and Tem­ple Meads rail­way sta­tion, we have ample park­ing right here in the Square. You can book a room for your own event — and also browse the range of open events and activ­i­ties on offer.

Askon Estates (UK) Lim­it­ed
http://www.alacrastore.com/storecontent/experian/03489912
http://www.yourlocalpages.co.uk/business/legislative-bo…-ltd/
16 St Stephens Street
Bris­tol
Avon
BS1 1JR
Tel : 0117–925-4570
Fax : 0117–922-6816

Revived in 1984, Bris­tol Hous­ing Action (BHAM) is a non-heirar­chi­cal col­lec­tive of sqat­ters and their sup­port­ers. We help pro­vide hous­ing and oth­er sup­port for home­less peo­ple.

http://www.squatbristol.org.uk/

We are com­mit­ted to the open­ing of com­mu­ni­ty spaces and to sol­i­dar­i­ty with exist­ing social centres.We cam­paign against the pri­vati­sa­tion of pub­lic land and hous­ing and for the defence of pub­lic space.