Battersea Power Station Community Group
Battersea Power Station Community Group
Frequently asked questions
In November 1983 local people formed the Battersea Power Station Community Group to ensure that their views were represented and to make sure that local people benefited from any new use in terms of jobs and facilities and that traffic to and from the building was not to the detriment of the area.Since then the community group has met every month and has been extremely active in criticising the proposals that have been put forward, and in promoting more viable alternative uses for the building.
New plans
The Battersea Power Station Community Group also has a plan developed from discussions through open community planning forum meetings.
This Peoples' Plan would see the Power Station developed with a mixture or sports, entertainments, arts and commerce.
The central block of the building beneath the 4 chimneys would house a multi-purpose centre comprising 3 main halls which would be available for a range of entertainment, spectator events and leisure activities, as well as exhibition/conference related facilities. Above this would be gallery, exhibition space and studios around a central courtyard.
On either side of the central block are the turbine halls and control rooms. Hall "A" would become a shopping and leisure mall with cafes, bars and ice-skating rink. Linked with this mall would be studio/workshop units for small businesses and a museum of industry centred around the wonderful Art Deco control room. On the eastern side Hall "B" would house a sports centre with swimming pool and ball games courts and the control room block would become light industrial units
Landscaping proposals include public gardens, riverside piazza and a watersports lake in the old coal bunkers. The jetty would be adapted for passenger boats on the River Thames.
As Broome has proposed development on 11 acres of disused railway land to the south of the Power Station we have included this in the plans to provide low-rise affordable family housing .If properly buffered a quiet residential environment can be created.
It is envisaged that the plan would be carried out by a community controlled development company through a mix of private, public and charitable finance.
Direct action
It has been left to the Battersea Power Station Community Group to keep the fate of the building in the public eye. To gain the attention of the press, we have resorted to well tried methods of direct action:
We also lobby those organisations responsible for safeguarding the Power Station through petitions and correspondence and we publish a quarterly bulletin with news of the latest developments.
- Dodging security guards at night in order to place giant banners high on the walls warning of the danger to the building;
- Holding demonstrations at the locked gates which then have "mysteriously" opened, allowing hundreds of people to "trespass" within the building to see for themselves the extent of the destruction;
- Preparing a spoof plan to turn the council leaders house into a mini theme park and demonstrating at the gates of his home;
- Intervening in debates at the Town Hall whenever the Power Station is discussed by the council.
