Save Waterloo's Paradise!
Save Waterloo's Paradise is raising money for Waterloo Community Development Group
Story
We urgently need your help to fight a miscarriage of justice - with strong echoes of the Post Office Horizon scandal - that’s happening right now!
The £1bn GSTTF fund has reneged on past assurances and is evicting about 30 small businesses and charities right now as punishment for their campaign to soften the most damaging aspects of their oversized and unnecessary office development.
A senior GSTTF official admitted on a call that the evictions are punishment for exercising our democratic rights. But, just like the Post Office in the Horizon scandal, GSTTF and its Chair have been waging a campaign of misinformation, and pressurising politicians and the press/media to silence us.
PLEASE HELP US MAKE SURE THEY CAN’T GET AWAY WITH IT!
The sudden and unexpected evictions are causing huge financial and emotional distress to these organisations, some of which may be forced to fold. We’d like GSTTF to stop the punishment evictions but, with less than two weeks until eviction date, we’ve been forced to engage solicitors to fight back and demand fair compensation.
PLEASE DONATE NOW: ANY ANOUNT GRATEFULLY RECEIVED. WITH YOUR HELP, WE CAN EXPOSE THE TRUTH AND GET JUSTICE.
Enough Is Enough!
Lambeth Council recently approved an oversized and unnecessary office development that will trash irreplaceable public resources, green spaces, heritage buildings and a unique creative enclave… while releasing a tsunami of CO2 into the atmosphere.
In doing so, Lambeth ignored many written objections from local residents, small businesses and community groups, objections from several respected national and international organisations concerned with heritage and the environment, and all 37,000+ (at the time of Lambeth’s meeting) signatories of our petition.
But this is too big a decision for Lambeth, and now it goes to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and possibly the Secretary of State, Michael Gove.
We’re fed up with greedy developers vandalising public spaces and our heritage, with profits destined for a tax haven. Please help us fight for a more sustainable alternative. It’s time to put people and the planet before profits. Enough Is Enough!
Why does this matter? It will destroy irreplaceable public resources
London's Waterloo can be a hectic place: it has the UK’s largest rail station with 100 million commuters a year, Europe’s largest arts centre with 30 million visitors a year, the HQ of Europe’s largest company, one of the UK’s major hospitals… and, amidst this dense bustle, Archbishop’s Park and Old Paradise Yard: quiet green oases.
Archbishop’s Park is a vital resource for local residents, most of whom don’t have their own outdoor space, as well as staff and visitors at St Thomas’ hospital. Lambeth Council calls it a “a ‘green lung’ for those who live and work in this busy part of central London” and recognises its “importance not just for wildlife, but also for people living in both Lambeth and across London to enjoy access to nature”. Part of the Park’s appeal is its remarkable feeling of openness. As The Kinks sang “As long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset I am in paradise”.
Old Paradise Yard is a unique and characterful enclave which houses small businesses in the creative, arts & crafts, design and technology sectors, partly housed in historic Victorian school buildings, the oldest remaining in Lambeth.
You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
The proposed huge tower blocks would loom over Archbishop’s Park, blotting out views of the sky and creating a hemmed-in feeling. And the developers would bulldoze Old Paradise Yard. These beautiful and irreplaceable public resources, and their positive contribution to the physical and mental wellbeing of so many people, would be degraded or destroyed forever.
The solution
It doesn’t have to be that way. According to planning requirements (at least ten of which were ignored by Lambeth) the offices should not be so dense and tall. They should step back from Archbishops Park and
preserve Old Paradise Yard and its historic school buildings. This, together with re-purposing existing buildings wherever possible rather than just demolishing and rebuilding, would significantly reduce the environmental impact.
And a more sustainable design already exists: Lambeth Council’s own Planning Department produced it in a January 2022 report! Why did Lambeth ignore it? They haven’t explained...
Some things you can do right now to make a difference
- Sign our petition:
https://www.change.org/p/save-waterloo-paradise - Send this ready-to-go email to the Mayor of London:
https://www.savewaterlooparadise.com/write-to-the-mayor.
Feel free to put it in your own words. - Keep an eye on our website:
https://www.savewaterlooparadise.com/
and come along, if you can, to the Open Day at Old Paradise Yard that we’ll publicise there. - If you can, make a donation, however small: it all helps. Please be sure to select the Gift Aid option if relevant to you. Also, if you have time or skills that you are able to offer, please email us:
savewaterlooparadise@gmail.com - Tell your friends and contacts! Please help us spread the message far and wide:
https://www.instagram.com/save_wateloo_paradise/?hl=fr
https://twitter.com/savewaterloo_
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085893805161
THANK YOU!
We are grateful for the support of WCDG (Waterloo Community Development Group) for their logistical support for our fundraising: we could not do this without their help. If, when this campaign is completed, there are any residual funds remaining, they will be donated to WCDG so they can carry on helping other community campaigns in a similar way.