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 e ...

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 ...

in Brentford on

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 River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

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 List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

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 a ...

campaign group '' The Land is Ours'' 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, formerly occupied by the Scottish Widows 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 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 ou ...

, and kitchen, mostly bender tents made from tree branches and recycled materials. Consensus decision making 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. After the village was disbanded, some of its residents joined the Hounslow Community Land Project, which squatted a derelict piece of land for six months in 2010, and Parliament Square's Democracy Village, set up in May 2010.

Community events

The ecovillage conducted a programme of events that have included arts and crafts 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-consci ...

and face-painting classes, pagan 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 aspe ...

. 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 res ...

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 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 a ...

page.

References

External links