Kew Bridge Ecovillage was an

ecovillage An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural envi ...

and

social centre Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

land overlooking the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

at the north end of

Kew Bridge Kew Bridge is a wide-span bridge over the Tideway (upper estuary of the Thames) linking the London Boroughs of Richmond upon Thames and Hounslow. The present bridge, which was opened in 1903 as King Edward VII Bridge by King Edward VII and Quee ...

in west

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Activists Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

inspired by the

land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use ...

campaign group ''

The Land is Ours The Land is Ours is a British land rights campaign advocating access to the land, its resources, and the planning processes set up in 1995 by George Monbiot and others. History Their first campaign was the occupation of the disused Wisley Airfi ...

'' occupied the long derelict site on 6 June 2009. The Royal Botanic Gardens, the world's largest collection of living plants and pioneer of horticultural preservation, face the ecovillage site on the opposite side of the river. The community was reported as saying it wishes to demonstrate the practicality of

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

principles, living in simple bender structures, growing its own

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

and

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

its waste. On 27 May 2010 police evicted the ecovillage inhabitants.

The site

The approximately one-acre

brownfield site In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

, formerly occupied by the

Scottish Widows Scottish Widows is a life insurance and pensions company located in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. Its product range includes life assurance and pensions. The company has been providing financial services to the ...

insurance company, is reported to have been vacant for more than 20 years. As of the 17th of February 2010 the current owners, the

property development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

company St George, have been given planning permission by Hounslow Council for 164 flats, a business centre, gym and pub. St George PLC were granted a possession order for the land in Brentford County Court on 7 May 2010.

The residents

In December 2009 the ecovillage had 32 permanent residents. Structures included a shower,

compost toilet A composting toilet is a type of dry toilet that treats human waste by a biological process called composting. This process leads to the decomposition of organic matter and turns human waste into compost-like material. Composting is carried out b ...

, and kitchen, mostly bender tents made from tree branches and recycled materials.

Consensus decision making Consensus decision-making or consensus process (often abbreviated to ''consensus'') are group decision-making processes in which participants develop and decide on proposals with the aim, or requirement, of acceptance by all. The focus on es ...

was the basis for community organisation, informed by an intention to live a more simple and

eco-friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...

existence. Food supply was augmented by regular trips to local grocery bins and skips, some residents describing themselves as freegans. The community included some previously homeless people; others left houses and jobs in order to apply on a daily basis principles of

anti-consumerism Anti-consumerism is a sociopolitical ideology that is opposed to consumerism, the continual buying and consuming of material possessions. Anti-consumerism is concerned with the private actions of business corporations in pursuit of financial and ...

. After the village was disbanded, some of its residents joined the

Hounslow Community Land Project Hounslow Community Land Project was a community garden and sports area on a derelict piece of land on Hanworth Road, Hounslow, west London. The site, owned by Transport for London, had been occupied by a group of land rights activists who have se ...

, which squatted a derelict piece of land for six months in 2010, and Parliament Square's

Democracy Village Parliament Square is a square at the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its west, and it cont ...

, set up in May 2010.

Community events

The ecovillage conducted a programme of events that have included

arts and crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

workshops, film shows,

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

and face-painting classes,

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

festivals, live poetry and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

. It also commenced an annual seed swap. Kew Gardens itself (''see above'') houses one of the world's largest

seedbank A seed bank (also seed banks or seeds bank) stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease resi ...

Documentary film

Documentary filmmaker Dean Puckett, a resident of the Kew Bridge Ecovillage from its inception, documented the daily lives of its inhabitants of the village as it evolved over the year of its life. The film, ''Grasp the Nettle'', was released in 2013 after showing at documentary festivals around the world such as

DOK Leipzig DOK Leipzig is a documentary film festival that takes place every year in Leipzig, Germany. It is an international film festival for documentary and animated film founded in 1955 under the name "1st All-German Leipzig Festival of Cultural and Doc ...

and London's Open City Docs Fest. In 2014 Puckett put the film up online for free viewing on his

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

page.

References

External links