SQUATTERS have been ejected after occupying an empty primary school.
The group seized control of the vacant Bishop Bilsborrow RC Primary School in Moss Side three weeks ago.
The collective of squatters, artists and activists have been sleeping and partying inside the Edwardian building, transforming the walls with a riot of colourful murals.
They were ordered out by an eviction notice issued at Manchester County Court.
Around 15 protesters appeared in court, arguing there was no date set for demolishing the building which has been empty since September.
But lawyers for Manchester council and Salford Catholic Diocese argued the occupation posed a risk to the building and to the squatters themselves.
Squatter Iggy, originally from Barrow-in-Furness, said: "We've not caused any problems.
"We've opened the doors to anyone who wants to come in and have a look. There is no date for the school to come down. We don't see what harm it will do."
The squatters agreed to obey the eviction order with minimum fuss, vowing to bag and recycle their rubbish.
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Squatters thrown out of city school
November 18, 2009
Squatter Iggy outside the Bishop Bilsborrow RC Primary School in Moss Side.
Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
Mrs Jammy, Sitting on the settee (18/11/2009 at 16:17)
The Man, Sat on a chair (18/11/2009 at 16:54)
The Silky Blue Moon. Anything that is possible no matter how unlikely, happens all the time, Manchester (18/11/2009 at 16:59)
Chris Shelmerdine , Hulme. (18/11/2009 at 17:14)
its the same gang from hulme again that chained themselfs to poles in the Airport two years ago.and they plan to disrupt the new educational building that the council are going to build on stretford rd called manchester polytechnic..
johnn (18/11/2009 at 19:31)
Expert on building BMX jumps are you Chris? Know what constitutes safety in respect of jump building do you?
They weren't built by the council, they were built by local BMXers wit a hand from some JCB drivers. They've been used plenty of times since, I know because I've taken people there to ride. Maybe they're not used as much as they might because the council promised 'virgin clay' to build them with then skimped and delivered clay with loads of bricks and rubble mixed in. It wasn't the builders who wanted them in Hulme Park either it was the council. You'll have noticed Chris, that the land where the old jumps were is still stood empty, so they could have been there all along.
johnno johnno (18/11/2009 at 19:35)
Danny Cheetham (18/11/2009 at 19:50)
People judge far too easily.
johnno johnno (18/11/2009 at 20:56)
real ist (18/11/2009 at 23:28)
real ist (18/11/2009 at 23:39)
Alex (19/11/2009 at 01:11)
Laura Norder, Didsbury (19/11/2009 at 11:00)
MancLadUK, Manchester (19/11/2009 at 13:09)
Is it due to come down? If so, what's the problem?
Chris Shelmerdine , Hulme. (19/11/2009 at 13:39)
Read my post proper please..
that's when the residents in hulme built their own bmx park, the council bulldozed it and built a safer one, they never used the safer one since.
john freedom (19/11/2009 at 14:12)
mister Gamberro (19/11/2009 at 15:12)
As for the church well.. what do you expect? Charity begins at home... they'd rather sell the school and spend it on more gold candle holders and lawyers to silence abused choir boys.
Ich bein ein Berliner (19/11/2009 at 17:02)
"The most empty homes in the UK are in Birmingham (17,490), Liverpool (15,692) and Manchester (14,017). North West England has the most empty homes (135,106), which is close to 5% of its housing. There are currently thousands of empty homes in London, where house prices have traditionally been higher as a percentage of the average wage than elsewhere in the UK."
--
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/186-million-empty-houses.php
"U.S. cenus: 18.6 Million Empty Houses in America. The census also lists the total number of homeless in America as 759,101, so there are 24 empty houses for every homeless person in America. What a shocking misallocation of resources, materials and energy." If ONLY four people lived in one abandoned building in America, then 74,400,000 people would have homes- well more than the entire UK population of 60,000.
p.s. IGGY IGGY IGGY! oi oi oi :o)
citycentre, manchester (19/11/2009 at 17:12)
Depends on what measure of homelessnes you are using. If you refer to people with no access to physical shelter it is more the result of an inabilty on the part of the person to cope with the complexities of modern life. Simply "giving" that person an empty home would be of little help with thier problems.
Angus McPhee (21/11/2009 at 11:56)
But lawyers for Manchester council and Salford Catholic Diocese argued the occupation posed a risk to the building and to the squatters themselves."
Safe for kids a month and a half ago, a risk to squatters now?
Either something has happened in between ( something that wouldn't have happened if the building was occupied)
or
Someone's fibbing.
Ich bein ein Berliner (21/11/2009 at 15:46)
but i do believe there should be a more leniant system, perhaps a scheme where derelict or truely abandoned houses like those of katrina can be made rehabitatble by volunteers whom wish to live in them, or make them community centres... granted, autonomous groups don't wish to be governed by a legal system which restricts them, and owners don't wish to give them away but also apparently don't wish to fix them up!
either way, it's a problem that should recieve more attention and be addressed. i think the system should favour squatters who care for and safeguard these buildings before they are uninhabitable, as opposed to owners who abandon or smackheads and arsonists who just let the buildings fall beyond repair. many squatters recieve a stigma which is wholly undeserved, especially down here in london.
Catherine Manchester (21/11/2009 at 17:17)
Someone mentioned those people have an "inability to deal with the complexities of modern life" . What an unfair comment!! Not everyone is as lucky as to have a high income position, and the rest should know better than judge in this way! At the end of it even for people who are more part of the system and less of artistic nature i.e have a normal office job and an average income - speaking for myself, it is even impossible for a lot of people like me to figure out a rent and deposit when prices for housing are so outragous!!! So lets not blame just the people for having an inability to deal with modern life, modern life is not doing us any favors!!!
Why not share if its spare?!!
Catherine Manchester (21/11/2009 at 17:27)
I am also very dissapointed to read o the comment above "shows inabilty on the part of the person to cope with the complexities of modern life. Simply "giving" that person an empty home would be of little help with thier problems"
I completely disagree! Firstly having lack of housing is a main problem for any person and it does not indicate that these people have much more serious issues - it is tragic to stamp independent people as drug addicts or useless people if thats what you mean!!! Also let me say that even for normal people who get an average income is not that easy to pay rent + deposit in order to even find a house!! So are we not all have some problems living with the complexities of modern life?!! Modern life dont seem to be doing anyone any favors!!
Share if you can spare :)
Ich bein ein Berliner (22/11/2009 at 10:36)
citycentre, manchester (23/11/2009 at 09:17)
I didn't mean to blame anyone, it was just an observation that modern life is complex, and for various reasons many people, possibly for a short period, possibly longer, find it too difficult to deal with a find themself in this unfortunate position.
I did not mean to say it was their fault, or that they should not recieve help to stabilise and move forward; just that simply saying that the number of empty homes and the number of homeless people is comparable means there need not be a problem.
To quote from the Shelter website
"A number of different personal and social factors can contribute towards people becoming homeless. These may include one or more of the following:
individual factors including drug and alcohol misuse, lack of qualifications, lack of social support, debts - especially mortgage or rent arrears, poor physical and mental health, relationship breakdown, and getting involved in crime at an early age
family background including family breakdown and disputes, sexual and physical abuse in childhood or adolescence, having parents with drug or alcohol problems, and previous experience of family homelessness
an institutional background including having been in care, the armed forces, or in prison.
Tackling these problems is a complex business and normally requires support from public bodies, friends and family, combined with a lot of hard work from the individual or family in trouble. Public support might include intervention, advice, counselling, training or provision of alternative accommodation by a local authority where appropriate."
The important thing, in my view, is that sufficient support for these wider issues is available, allowing as many people as possible to take part in society, if that is waht they choose.
I have commented on several occasions on the problems casued to everyone by the foolish attachment we have to the rising cost of housing in this county.
Rupert (24/11/2009 at 01:22)