Great to see you have squatted some land. Squatting is an exciting and traditional way of winning accommodation. The shortage of housing can be addressed by squatting vacant homes.
It would be a shame if a housing association got the land off you - why not keep it as a community garden?

Some of them are owned by the RSL's - Housing Associations.

I bet they're a lot warmer too ;)

Solidarity!

....growing up in birmingham and experiencing various bouts of homelessness as a child it's great to see people taking action into their own hands and challenging the buy up of land, backhanded deals and lack of available housing for those who need it most.

as someone who also grew up on an estate surrounded by union jacks and st george flags in the windows of some of the not so friendly neighbours i lived with - i do hope i'm mistaken in clocking a st george flag in the far right (where else) corner of the 1st photo....

...it's really important that any messages about homelessness and housing shortage don't get used by the likes of the bnp to further harass and intimidate people of colour. there's plenty of rhetoric around about whose fault it is that there's no housing, we all know that it's due to the land owning, land speculating system we are living in and not 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation migrants (i'm a housing advisor, if you ain't a uk citizen you're as fucked as the white working classes in this country - it is one struggle).

so solidarity to the brummia activists - but please, if i'm not mistaken, do something about the flag - it might just send out the wrong message

this is just great, and i bet there is a very nice community spirit, and councils should give land back to the people, brillant

Well that's not all, Lines was once convicted for battering a next door neighbour on the head with a wooden plank.

 http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=14533860%26method=full%26siteid=50002-name_page.html

'A leading Midland councillor fighting the scourge of neighbours from hell
was once convicted of battering the man next door with a wooden plank.

John Lines, 59, is the new Conservative head of housing at Birmingham City
Council.

A vital part of his £42,000-a-year job is tackling anti-social behaviour by
council tenants who can make the lives of neighbours a misery.

But back in May 1983, Coun Lines was convicted of assaulting a businessman
in a row over a greenhouse.

The then fledgling councillor was fined £200 by Birmingham magistrates,
who were told how he hit his elderly neighbour's son-in-law Thomas Denny
across the back with a stick.


He followed up the attack by holding Mr Denny by the throat on the ground.

The court heard how his victim suffered a bruised shoulder, headaches and
dizziness for a week after the attack.

Coun Lines was also bound over in the sum of £100 to keep the peace for a
year.

Married Mr Lines became a councillor for Bartley Green in 1982 - and has
cut a colourful and controversial figure ever since.

He was nominated for mayor in 2000 but was rejected by Labour and Liberal
Democrats for being too right-wing for multi-cultural Birmingham.

But he was made cabinet member for housing when the Tories and Lib Dems took
control of the city council after 20 years of Labour rule at the local
elections in June.

Bragging that the council would issue so many Anti-Social Behaviour Orders
"they would be like confetti", he said recently: "People have a right to
be protected from the harassment of neighbours from hell.

"We will work together to ensure that the high level of anti-social
behaviour in Birmingham becomes a thing of the past."

Last night his victim admitted he was amazed that his attacker had been
given responsibility for tackling anti-social behaviour in the city.'

Nasty piece of work...

He's also had a history of massaging the homeless figures in Birmingham.

 http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/mail/news/tm_objectid=16295560%26method=full%26siteid=50002-name_page.html


'BIRMINGHAM MPs demanded the resignation of a Birmingham cabinet member, as
they launched an unprecedented attack on the local authority in the House
of Commons.

Coun John Lines, the Cabinet Member for Housing, was accused of "hiding" the
problem of homelessness in the city.

Northfield MP Richard Burden (Lab Northfield) challenged him to prove
claims he was simply complying with Government policy - or stand down from
his £42,247 cabinet job.

He was speaking in a Commons debate, accompanied by fellow Labour MPs Steve
McCabe (Hall Green), Lynne Jones (Selly Oak) and Gisela Stuart (Edgbaston).

Labour MPs claim tenants who are forced to leave their homes for legitimate
reasons are being denied help from the council - unless they fight the
eviction in court.


But Coun Lines (Con, Bartley Green) insists the authority is complying with
advice issued by the Government.'

If you're incensed about this corruption and Lines' aggressive threats then you can contact him here:

320 Adams Hill
Woodgate
Birmingham
B32 3PD

0121 422 6321

0121 303 2130 (Group Office)

0121 303 4049 (Council Office)

 John.Lines@birmingham.gov.uk

Back in March of this year, Cllr. John Lines referred to Asylum Seekers as 'scumbags'. He was later cleared and apologised for his comment.

 http://www.birminghampost.net/news/politics-news/2008/03/07/councillor-john-lines-cleared-over-scumbags-comment-65233-20576090/

'A senior Birmingham politician who referred to asylum seekers as "scumbags" has been cleared of bringing the city council into disrepute.

Local government watchdog, the Standards Board for England, ruled that cabinet housing member John Lines had not broken a code of conduct which requires councillors to treat people with respect at all times when he gave an outspoken interview to a magazine.

Coun Lines (Con Bartley Green) told the Defence Management Journal it was wrong that asylum seekers were given preferential treatment when applying for council housing, while former members of the armed forces returning from Iraq had to go to the bottom of the queue.

He was quoted in the magazine as saying: "We do not afford them (Ghurkhas) citizenship. We pay them a pension to go back to Nepal.

"Yet some scallywag, some scumbag can jump on the back of a lorry, come over under the tunnel and never expect to work a day in his (expletive) life. And if he’s been here for a time waiting for a decision, we give him automatic British citizenship. The world’s gone (expletive) mad."

The Standards Board decided Coun Lines had a right to freedome of speech and a right to be abusive, as long as he stayed within the law.

Standards Board head of referrals Kathy Farrand said concerns about Coun Lines’ behaviour were acknowledged. However, she said the local government code of conduct was "never intended to prevent members from being free to be highly critical on issues of concern to them".

Ms Farrand added: "Members have a right to freedom of speech in a democratic society and can express their views, within the law, as forcibly as they see fit."

She said freedom of speech did extend to abuse and that previous cases considered by the board’s ajudication panel and by the High Court indicated that conduct would have to be "quite extreme" before a failure to comply with the code of conduct would be found.

No action will be taken against Coun Lines and the matter will not be referred to Birmingham City Council’s standards committee for further investigation.

A formal complaint to the Standards Board about Coun Lines’was submitted by former Labour city councillor Dennis Minnis.

Mr Minnis, who runs a project to assist refugees in Handsworth, described Coun Lines’ comments as "brutally offensive" and said they contrasted with assurances by Tory leader Daivd Cameron that his party had shifted away from right-wing beliefs about immigration.

Mr Minnis said: "This sort of thing will tarnish the reputation of Birmingham. The comments were acting against equalities, reinforced stereotypes and could damage community relations."

After the complaint to the Standards Board was submitted, Coun Lines apologised at a full council meeting for his remarks.

He said he had committed the "henious crime" of becoming emotional when being interviewed by the defence magazine and he now regretted having referred to asylum seekers as scumbags.

But he maintained his belief that it was wrong for asylum seekers to be given priority on the housing waiting list while soldiers returning home from Iraq as "heroes" had to wait in line with drug addicts for accommodation.'

Thanks Viral for pointing out your feelings about the flag. Some of us did have similar concerns but it got overlooked with everything else going on. Cheers for your comment we will be taking the flag down ASAP. :0)

Thanks no lines for your info about John Lines. Anyone with any more info please send your comments in!

And fuck the BNP.

I think you're being over;y cautious. No-one's going to associate you with that bunch of fascists given what you're doing at the site. Besides, it's way past time that symbol was taken back from them.

I see from the Stirrer's report on Justice not Crisis that two of the organisers of the protest camp have direct links with the RSL Optima Housing. One of whom is on the board of Optima.

 http://www.thestirrer.co.uk/justice-not-crisis-the-full-story-0411081.html

They also appear to have links with Labour Councillors who support the campaign:

 http://justicenotcrisis.wordpress.com/campaign-supporters/

When searching Indymedia UK, two articles come up about Optima complaining about a 100% hike in service charges and another pointing out some kind of collusion with birmingham city council and Optima destroying 'our gorgeous public open space on bell barn road'. They also demolished the local shops, youth club, and local pub. I bet there's CCTV all over the estate too.

Optima Housing Association 100% Service Charge Increase:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2005/09/322393.html

Birmingham City Council Dictatorship:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2005/06/313937.html

It would seem that RSL's like Optima aren't a model of redevelopment, neither are they a model of affordable, secure and publicly accountable social housing. Their 'redevelopment' of Lee Bank also includes some empty yuppie appartments and a hotel.

....give it to who?

fuck all nationalistic symbols...
burn all flags.....

steve - are you going to take to the streets to give the bnp a loud unwelcome when they mobilise in birmingham in a couple of weeks - or do you reckon we can just take them back too?

i'm sick of white activists asking me (cos i is brown) - how we might get more black and asian people mobilised and working with radical groups/squatters etc - while others decide it's being "cautious" to take down a symbol that for most black and asian people in birmingham is synonymous with the national front, bnp and combat 18....

when we've put an end to racist scapegoating, racially motivated hate crimes (many that forced people to leave their homes and join the homeless waiting lists, islamaphobia etc etc - then we can have a debate about flags...

Keep up the protest and good luck, but sell the land on the cheap to a housing association, you got to be joking.

Housing Associations are today's Rachman landlords, accountable to no one, least of all their tenants.

Take a look at the activities of Pavilion/First Wessex

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/11/412178.html?c=on

or watch The Generation Game by Mike Lane.

Keep on the land until forced off by the Courts.

Occupy empty houses, especially if they belong to Rachman housing associations.

Turn the occupied land into a community garden.

But please, do not demand it is sold to housing associations.

I have been talking to many of the former council and now Optima tenants at the protest and they feel they have much more say over what goes on in the estate than they ever did whilst under the council. Repairs get done ASAP, there is loads of consultation (that is listened to) and cos the office is on the estate, they can easily go to "remind" the management that it is meant to be a "resident-run" organisation. They say its not perfect but its far far better.

I also spoke with a friend of mine, who is not involved in the protest, she moved to the estate after being a council tenant for years elsewhere, and she also confirmed that it is so much better than when she was with the Council.

Perhaps its due to some of the residents being organised from the start and being able to demand a reasonable structure for the Optima board? (I can't remember the figures but it seems there is a much higher proportion of residents on the board than on other housing association boards).

Feelings from most people at the protest are that IDEALLY they would have liked to stay with the Council IF their housing had been properly maintained and upgraded, and they had had a real say and control over their estate. But no-one feels that they could have the freedom they have now, under the way Birmingham City Council is organised and structured.

I have found the group to be very open to discussion. After discussions the campaign leaflet was adapted to include demands for more council housing to be built and for existing council housing to be properly maintained.


Here's to a lot more discussion...

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/11/412797.html

'P4P are more concerned with money than housing those in need they are the biggest UK housing association and have the highest paid chief executives in the housing sector (Director salary: £258k in 2007). Housing associations were set up to fill the gap left by Thatcher’s destruction of social housing provision. They cannot legally make profits, but make up for this with fat bonus checks for the fat cats. That’s taxpayer’s money going to fund extravagant lifestyles'

For update on this campaign and details of new site go to www.justicenotcrisis.wordpress.com

I understand the organisers of this protest voted for the stock transfer of council housing and this protest is asking for the council to sell off land to Housing Associations rather than building more affordable and secure council housing.

Consequently this isn't a bandwagon I'd recommend anyone jumps on.

I wonder if you'll meet the same Bailiffs that Optima employ to evict their tenants when they get into arrears?