17.4.10
After many months of planning and preparation the eco village was opened today around 12noon. Come down and visit if you can. Bring supplies as well if you can such as bedding cutlery and tools such as hammers, nail, axes and saws.
The village is in St Werburghs, 5 minutes’ walk from Stapleton Road station (2 stops from Temple Meads) at Junction 3 of the M32. There’s two entrances – one on Gatton Road if you duck the barrier, and the other on Saxon Road but for now you have to get through a hole in the fence.
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Today a group of a few dozen young eco activists gathered at 11am at the city centre outside the Hippodrome under the watchful eye of the police and moved in two groups, a cycling group and a walking group to a chosen site in Bristol to develop an eco village. They arrived at the waste ground between Saxon Road and Sims scrap yard in St Werburghs and entered the site.
The idea was inspired by the Kew Bridge Eco Village The aim is no less than to build an eco-village community based entirely on sustainable technology and construction techniques. Two of the organizers, Tim Harris and Leah Richards started planning and networking at the start of the year leading to todays action. People have come from Bristol and the local area but also places such as Glastonbury and London.
The group leafleted local residences in Saxon Road and neighbouring streets to let people know of their plans for an urban centre for alternative technology. They stated that they chose this site because it has been unused for years and is filled with hazardous rubbish and frequented by hard drug users. It is next to Sims Metal Management’s Bristol scrap yard, which has been plagued with arsonist fires of the scrap cars there.
They have already started to clean up the rubbish on the site and plan to have it removed by skip. They have set up tents and aim to establish a kitchen bender, compost loos and other structures. The claim they will use permaculture principles to develop some of the land for growing, keep the existing wildspace and construct on the hard standing.
Their plan is to operate an ambitious no drink no drugs policy on the site, with vans and amplified music also being excluded. Their aim is to demonstrate sustainable living. Their website is here and facebook site here. Local film maker Ben Edwards produced a short film related to this here
They are inviting people to come down and get involved and hope to run workshops in the future.
This derelict site already has been given full planning permission by Chancerygate (Gatton Rd Ltd) on 25th February 2009 to put up a development of 12 industrial units with car parking, landscaping and access. See here . This permission would expire on 25th February 2012 if not acted upon. There has been a certain amount of opposition from local residents regarding this plan with one of the concerns being the traffic generated by the development of industrial units and concerns for the wildlife areas of the site.