Wansteadium

The new sign outside the former Fat Biscuit/ Mario’s Shake Shack. 

Squatters have moved into the former Barclays bank on Wanstead High Street. The police have been, as have representatives of Sainsbury’s. But the squatters do not – yet – have to move out. Why?

Sainsbury’s now owns the site and is considering its options for opening a shop there. It has instructed its lawyers to try to get the property empty as soon as it can, but these things can take time.

Traditionally squatting is not a crime. It has often in the past been regarded as a part of political protest, sometimes against landlords who allow property to stand empty. After WWII, many servicemen and their families squatted in empty houses simply because they did not have anywhere else to live. If people live in properties for up to 12 years, even as squatters, they can then claim that the property should become theirs. Owners would need to obtain court orders to have squatters evicted – defying a court order is a crime.

In the 1970s, legal protection was introduced for people who were squatting in properties. It became a criminal offence to use force against them or even to enter a property where they were living. This was in part to stop intimidation and violence by rogue landlords. The notice that the new occupants of the former Barclays have put on the door (pictured above) is what’s known as a “Section 6 warning” and serves as a reminder that the law protects squatters as well as landlords.

In 2012 the law was changed again to make a distinction between residential and non-residential property – to squat in someone’s house or flat now is a crime, but not an empty office space. The government issues this advice:

A non-residential property is any building or land that isn’t designed to be lived in.

Simply being on another person’s non-residential property without their permission isn’t usually a crime. The police can take action if squatters commit other crimes when entering or staying in a property.

Crimes include:
* causing damage when entering the property
* causing damage while in the property
* not leaving when they’re told to by a court
* stealing from the property
* using utilities like electricity or gas without permission
*fly-tipping
*not obeying a noise abatement notice

One of the squatters told the Wanstead Guardian that the 20 occupants of the building met during the Occupy protest at St Paul’s in 2011 and have since squatted at several properties in East London. She said:

“We are just a bunch of young creative people looking to make a political statement about the right to occupy unused buildings… There is a massive housing crisis with more and more people being made homeless all the time, so it seems a bit hypocritical to say 20 people can’t find a home in an empty building.”

The tenant of a flat above the premises, identified as Jamshed, told the paper that he was concerned for the safety of his family. “Some of them seem friendly, but they refuse to say who they are so we can’t trust they have good intentions,” he told the paper.

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s told Wansteadium that the firm had instructed its lawyers to apply for a court order so that the squatters could be evicted as soon as possible.

UPDATED: The former Barclays bank on Wanstead High Street appears to have acquired squatters. Sainsbury’s, which now owns the building, has told Wansteadium it is sending bailiffs to the site as soon possible.

An upstairs window at the building is open but it’s not clear how the building was entered. Police attended the scene, and according to one eye-witness, debated with the people inside and shook hands with them. One eye-witness said: “The police have been called twice and there is nothing they can do. The squatters are in now – got dropped off in a van with all their goods. They are all hanging outside the bank as they don’t have a garden.”

Squatting in non-residential property in England is not normally a crime in itself, though causing damage or using electricity in the building could lead to police action.

The former bank has been empty since July 2014, and is currently waiting for Sainsbury’s to decide what it is going to do with the site. The supermarket is reviewing its plans “and looking at a number of options for a store on the site”, a spokesman confirmed today.

A couple of Wanstead food-obsessives are starting a weekly opportunity for people to buy from local farmers and foodmakers.

Vaia Ikonomou and Alex Wing are launching the Wanstead Food Assembly next week – a weekly event when people can pick up the food they have ordered online from local producers.

The products on offer through the scheme include Leyton-roasted coffee from Curved Brick Roasters, honey produced just three miles from Wanstead, and other goods from slightly further afield, including NW1-based soft drinks from Nix and Kix, grass-fed meats from Marsh Produce and Brick House Farm, and meal kits from Wapping-based A Very Nice Idea.  Other goods include spray-free tomatoes and peppers, seasonal veg from Brockman’s Farm in Kent and British quinoa and roasted pulses.

On average, they say, food bought from a supermarket has travelled 600 miles before it is bought – but with the food assembly the average distance will be 28 miles.

Vaia says: “The food assembly is aimed at people who would normally online shop for all their groceries once a week – it’s not designed to replace our greengrocers. Hopefully this means people move away from Ocado and begin to buy locally.”

Launched in the UK in July 2014, The Food Assembly is the UK branch of a European network that began in France three years ago.  It won the “best food initiative” category in the BBC Food and Farming awards.

The Wanstead Assembly launches on Tuesday 21 June at 6.30pm. The venue is The Manor House, High Street Wanstead. Locals can meet farmers, foodmakers and their neighbours, taste local food samples and see where their food comes from. New members can sign up at:https://thefoodassembly.com/en

 

McDonalds has told Wansteadium it has no plans to open a takeaway in Wanstead “now, or in the near future”.

Sainsbury’s earlier told Wansteadium that it was reviewing its options for the conversion of the former Barclays Bank site after it found the necessary construction work would be more extensive than it originally thought.

The supermarket said it was still developing its plans for Wanstead. Rumours had been circulating that the site had been sold to the burger chain, but this is now clearly off the menu.

 

Updated 1.50pm

Sainsbury’s has decided “not to proceed” with its plan to open a branch in Wanstead, a source has told Wansteadium, though the supermarket says it is continuing to consider future options for the site.

The supermarket chain had been expected to open a branch in the former Barclays bank on Wanstead High Street by Christmas last year. However it discovered that the necessary construction work would be more extensive than it first thought.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We are continuing to develop our plans for a new convenience store in Wanstead.”

The spokesperson added that, following the assessment of the site, the company is reviewing its plans and considering a number of future options for a store on the site.

The statement may go some way to end rumours which are circulating that the property has been bought by McDonalds. We have contacted McDonalds for comment.

If the rumours were true, however, the burger chain would have to apply to Redbridge for “change of use” permission – and this is not automatically granted. In 2012 an application to convert the Wanstead Domestic Appliances shop into a takeaway was rejected by the council which said the conversion would “contribute to the further decline in the attractiveness and function of this area as a shopping centre”. Parents of children at Wanstead Church School also opposed the change.

The factors the council would take into account, if an application was made, would include the proximity to other takeaways, the overall number on the high street, and the general character of the area.