Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Squatters in old library win stay of execution
ACTIVISTS who are squatting in a historic building in the centre of a Gloucestershire town have been granted an adjournment in the case to evict them.
Stroud in Internationalist Solidarity Together for Earth Repairs (SISTER) occupied the empty Old County Library in Lansdown in August.
The church closed to the public at the start of the year and Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) has a lease for the building.
But the group, which is made up of teachers, parents and children, decided to occupy the building.
Since then, they have run 25 educational events such as film screenings, political workshops and talks along with a donation-based community cafe.
On Monday morning, GCC served the group with court papers with less than two clear days’ notice before the hearing, which was due on Wednesday at 12.45pm.
This gave the group little time to prepare for court.
The group claims this was deliberately manufactured by GCC which had received the court papers on Thursday, October 12.
It claims the authority waited four days to deliver them.
A Gloucester County Court judge adjourned the case for a minimum of two weeks to give SISTER adequate time to prepare a defence.
This decision was cheered by residents who braved the weather to support the group.
“SISTER has been providing a vital third space for our community to come together and learn, especially across generations,” one resident said.
“These spaces seem so rare these days, especially in comparison to the number of empty buildings, and are really needed.”
This sentiment is shared by more than 130 people who have signed an open letter of support.
The group says it is using a building that might otherwise remain closed and dormant, filling it with life and putting it back into the service of the town.
It maintains that empty buildings are unjustifiable in a cost-of-living crisis, a housing and rental crisis, energy crisis, climate and ecological crisis.
SISTER says it has not given up on negotiations with GCC and has been actively trying to follow up initial invites to dialogue from council officers.
But SISTER says GCC has never made good on these offers, with their emails and messages being ignored for nearly two months now.
GCC says the group is illegally occupying the building and should leave immediately.
Once members are gone, it will offer the building to community organisations via a transparent bidding process.
A spokesperson said: “This group has continued to occupy the building so we have served notice to evict them. This informs them that they are illegally occupying this building and should leave immediately.
“Once we have secured vacant possession of the building, it will be offered to community organisations to use via a transparent bid application and assessment process, up until our lease runs out in 2027.”