Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Easter Resurrection for Squatted Tourist Info Centre in Hebden Bridge

A.Local | 14.04.2004 12:12 | Free Spaces

POSH FLATS AND FISH SHOP PLANS GET BATTERING FROM LOCALS. WE NEED COMMUNITY SPACES AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING, NOT MORE PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT, SAY HEBDEN RESIDENTS.
Local residents who took over a former Council building in West Yorkshire for five days over Easter have declared the occupation a resounding success. The residents occupied the former Tourist Information Centre in the Pennine town of Hebden Bridge.

The building has been handed to a developer by Calderdale Council.
The occupiers said they wanted to highlight the threat the former
textile community is under from unsustainable development and soaring
house prices. They opened a Free Shop, called “Freesources”, offering
tea, food, clothes, books and toys for free, stating “we believe that
without profit, there is plenty for all.” They also gave out “tourist
information” such as “don’t fly anywhere – it’s destroying the
planet! Take the train instead.”

“At first we wondered if we would run out of free things”, said an
organiser. “Instead, everyone who came down brought something to
donate or share – there was a continuous supply of cake. Hundreds of
locals were so happy to have this community space back again, even
for a few days – they came in and arranged events like storytelling,
and an acoustic music night. Surprisingly, considering we emphasised
that everything was free and donations weren’t really required, we
have made a small surplus! This will be donated to a local charity.
Which all goes to show that Hebden Bridge both needs a community
drop-in space and can support one. People have been asking a lot of
questions that need immediate answers, such as – why don’t we have a
drop-in place like this in the community? What other buildings
currently owned by the council are under threat of a quiet sale?”

“It was brilliant to be able to spend all day in a child-friendly
space, without feeling you had to keep purchasing things”, said
Shona, mother of Jacob, age 14 months.

A source close to the Calderdale Council explained that the original
Hebden Council bought the building in 1972 for £6,000 – before that
it had been a doctor’s surgery and chemist’s. When the Hebden Council
disbanded in 1974 the building passed into the custodianship of the
Calderdale Council, who used 100% grant money – 75% from the
Countryside Commission – to convert the building for public use.

For around 30 years it served as a tourist information centre. The
centre was transferred to a new building last year, resulting in the
loss of two exhibition spaces, meeting room and a convenient central
location . The old building was handed over recently.

Susan Quick of Enabling Theatre said she had asked for the use of
part of the building for use by her group, as had a local cycle shop.
She said the Council told her there were problems with disabled
access into the building.
“That is rubbish,” said Susan, who is disabled herself and lives in
Hebden Bridge “How could Calderdale Council have even considered
trading this public building, which is three stories and has 11 rooms
of varying sizes as well as kitchen, bathrooms, and storage space?
The new place is not much more than a tourist information counter
plus an unchanging display aimed at children only. Despite what the
Council says, the original building could have been converted to have
appropriate disabled access. I am disabled and refuse to be used as
an excuse for public buildings being given away. It’s outrageous this
is to become more expensive flats and a restaurant.” The restaurant
is rumoured to be fish chain Harry Ramsden’s, although it is unclear
whether planning permission has cleared or not.

The locals opened the building to the public on the morning of
Thursday April 8. Jim Brown, the centre’s new owner, well-known in
Hebden for turning a series of buildings into upmarket apartments,
attempted to have them removed by the police. However the police
acknowledged that the locals were legally “squatting” the building,
and Brown’s representatives left amicably after boarding up a window.
“This conveniently supplied us with a dark room to show films during
the daytime!” said an occupier.

The occupiers opened a “Comment Book” for visitors to the centre to
express their opinions about the People’s Information Centre and free
shop, and the occupation of the building.
Comments came from dozens of callers – including local people and
visitors from across Britain.
They included:
· What a great idea. This is just what Hebden Bridge needs.
Sara.
· I wish you the very best of luck in your entirely
commendable endeavours to put some common sense back into the
ridiculous plans which threaten to destroy Hebden Bridge.
Issy.
· Best of luck. About time someone resisted the developers.
Elaine.
· Inspiring and stimulating. We need lots more of this. John.
· I’m going back to Bedford near Milton Keynes where I hope to
take your inspiration and put it into practical use. Rod.
· Very good idea. Wish it wasn’t just temporary. Laura.
· There should be more of this community spirit, temporary
recycling of abandoned space instead of waste and
profiteering. It’s fantastic! Kevin.
· Great! Reminded me of the squatting scene in the 1970s. Good
on ya. Maggi.

You can find photos of our great weekend at  http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/

A.Local

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech