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Documentary film makers The Rainbow Collective have made a new campaign film for us which shows what we will continue to fight for under the new ownership of the Earls Court Masterplan. We thank The Rainbow Collective for their time and support in making this film.
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With the announcement that APG & Delancey are buying Capco’s share in their joint venture with Transport for London, has come the wonderful news that the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates have been saved from demolition! We salute the residents and wish them well to enjoy their homes in peace and happiness.  Save Earl's Court campaigners have unveiled their own "blue plaque" for composer William Hurlstone who was born in Empress Place. They played his music and heard about his life. His home and the rest of the square is to be demolished by the joint venture between Transport for London and Capco.   Thank you to all who attended our celebration of 7 years campaigning. We premiered our new campaign film, had a photo exhibition of our various events and protests through the years and of course enjoyed one of our scrumptious campaign cakes. 7 years not out!
 You can watch Giba's broadcast here: https://youtu.be/YNCdV-2VjqI
42 year old Brazilian volleyball superstar Gilberto Amauri de Godoy Filho aka Giba has come out of retirement to sign for leading English team IBB Polonia London. Giba played in the top of the table Volleyball England Super League clash against Sheffield Hallam on April 14 at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. IBB Polonia won 3-1. Before the match, he was filmed by the Save Earl’s Court campaign making a passionate plea to Londoners and Mayor Khan to help bring back volleyball to Earls Court. Londoners were promised an Olympic Legacy at Earl’s Court, instead the iconic venue has been demolished for luxury flats and works by the joint venture between Capital & Counties Properties Plc and Transport for London on the site has stalled. Mayor Khan is Chair of Transport for London. All that remains is a wasteland. Giba said: “Hello everyone I’m Giba, I’m a volleyball player from Brazil. I have three Olympic medals. Gold in 2004, silver in 2008 and here in London, in 2012 where I played my last match, I leave the national team. But the more important thing, I am here now to ask for you guys here in London, the court where I played, Earl’s Court, does not exist anymore and the land is empty. In this place we can do many kind of great things for volleyball – beach volleyball, indoor volleyball and now we have also this snow volleyball! OK? We can arrange! And I am here to give my support to volleyball coming back to London. I am here in London this week to play with IBB Polonia volleyball and show how much the people here in England love volleyball. Please, Mayor, give back our court and I give all the support for the local people to help them! Help them to take back our place, our home, our volleyball home here in London!”  Save Earl's Court and Save Earl's Court Supporters Club have called for a peaceful protest, supported by the Radical Housing Network, to take place on Wednesday 27th February 2019 outside Kensington Town Hall from 6:30pm.
Capital and Counties Properties Plc (Capco) (a partnership between Transport for London and global private equity investors) has demolished the Earl’s Court Exhibition Centres and intends to build luxury flats on 22 acres of what was publicly owned land, with not one Council or social rent home to be built on the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea side. Planning permission for the development has been granted by RBKC. After Grenfell, RBKC promised to listen to local residents - we are demanding that they do that and build a range of green, low rise, high-density housing options including council housing; green space; community infrastructure and the world’s greenest venue on the site. And put the site to use by the local community while its future is decided. We will not accept a few token social homes that may be offered to keep us quiet: the development needs to genuinely fulfil local needs.  Representatives from the Save Earl's Court campaign and Save Earl's Court Supporters Club were at City Hall on the 23rd of January, 2019. They were participating in the Examination in Public for the Draft London Plan on Opportunity Areas. The Earls Court Masterplan relates to the Earl's Court and West Kensington Opportunity Area. The Examination in Public process is led by planning inspectors appointed by the Secretary of State. We raised issues such as lack of resident engagement in the planning process - described as a "democratic chasm" by our campaign; housing that genuinely meets community need; the devastating impact the demolition of the Earls Court Exhibition Centres has had on businesses; lack of social infrastructure; meanwhile (temporary) use of the Earls Court Masterplan land which lies empty; and a review mechanism to assess failing Masterplans.
On the 9th of November, 2018 Save Earl's Court campaigners went live on Twitter for the first time from a secret location in Earl's Court. In these videos, through the window, you can observe a guerilla projection "Mayor Khan, listen to us."
Our campaign has been supported by gamers, trekkies, film and comic fans and we thank them.
 Guerilla projectionists have targeted Mayor Khan with a series of messages and demands shone on to the Earls Court Masterplan where the iconic Earls Court Exhibition Centre once stood.
Using evocative images and phrases, they called on Sadiq Khan to listen to the community and to intervene in the future of the faltering joint venture between Transport for London and Capital & Counties Properties Plc (Capco). Capco have recently disclosed that they are in talks with the Hong Kong billionaire owner of CK Asset Holdings about a deal to sell on the Earls Court Masterplan with no community input as to its future. “Bring back the beating heart of Earl’s Court for a green and transparent future” was the main refrain - demanding that “the world’s greenest venue” and “homes for all” be built on the site of the former iconic exhibition centre. They also demanded action on air quality: “This is a wasteland, pollution is killing us”, provision of green space for children and redress for the broken promises of the non-existent Earl’s Court “Olympic Legacy.” In what the activists called an alternative “Sound and Light Show” in a swipe at the loss of the global music venue - with only the noise of traffic, rain and tube trains to accompany them - S.O.S messages along with black and white film clips featuring Earl’s Court’s past as a double Olympic venue flickered through the pouring rain. The Guerilla projectionists did not use green light in order to avoid any chance of confusing the train drivers who drive across the site on the District Line and Overground services. We want a future here that can be enjoyed by the Earl’s Court and wider community regardless of income. We call on Mayor Khan to intervene in the Earls Court Masterplan so homes and employment can be generated on this complex site, at its centre a replacement mixed use green Exhibition/Multi-purpose Centre to help promote London in a post-Brexit world. Mayor Khan must listen. He has an opportunity to ditch the current Earl’s Court Masterplan and create a green and sustainable future for all of us.  With rumours of a revised Earls Court Masterplan being submitted in Spring 2019 by developer Capital and Counties Properties Plc (Capco), with no community input, on the 28th of August 2018, Deputy Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, Kim Taylor-Smith, met with representatives from the Earl’s Court Area Action Group, Save Earl’s Court Campaigners and Save Earl’s Court Supporters Club to discuss their plans for the world's greenest venue and a range of green housing options on the site of the former Earl's Court Exhibition Centre.
Artist Duggie Fields and a member of the RMT Union’s National Executive Committee also attended. The CEO of the Association of Event Organisers could not attend but sent a message expressing his members’ interest in exploring the opportunities that a new venue would offer. After 5 years of campaigning, Kim Taylor-Smith’s visit to Earl’s Court was the first ever meeting between campaigners and a senior member of the Council. This is a testament to the Save Earl’s Court campaign’s staying power and increasing awareness that short, medium and long-term solutions have to be found for this site. Listening to some of the imaginative and socially inclusive ideas put forward by the group, Kim Taylor-Smith said that ‘meanwhile’ uses for the site should be explored. ECAAG calls on Mayor Khan to intervene in the Earl’s Court West Kensington Opportunity Area so homes and employment can be generated on this complex site, at its centre a replacement mixed use green Exhibition/Multi-purpose Centre to help promote London in a post-Brexit world. |
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