Black groups told to move out of premises
BY Trudy Simpson
Black community organisations claim they are suffering ‘the backlash’ from allegations of corruption made by the London Evening Standard newspaper
against Ken Livingstone’s senior adviser, Lee Jasper.
A London Development Agency (LDA) commissioned audit cleared senior advisor Lee Jasper of allegations in the Evening Standard that he used his influence to help organisations run by his friends and associates get LDA funding.
Now, seven organisations in the LDA-owned Offley Works building in Offley Road, Brixton, south London, have been asked to leave the building. They shared space formerly leased to one of the named organisations in the articles, Brixton Base.
A January 25 email from the LDA’s property department told the organisations that the LDA would ‘require full vacant possession’ of the building by Feb 25. The LDA told The Voice it plans to redevelop the site and that this has nothing to do with the Evening Standard articles, which questioned the work Brixton Base has been doing with LDA grant money.
An LDA spokesperson told The Voice: “Brixton Base has always known that its occupation was to end in February 2008 and this has not changed. Their sub-occupiers have also known that this was when their contract ended. These remaining groups all moved into the property without LDA knowledge. The LDA has never contracted with any of the remaining groups and has no formal relationship to any of these other groups.”
But the organisations involved said their eviction will break more than 1,000 young hearts, because without the space the organisations will close, leaving these young people with no services.
“Hundreds of young people will go back to the streets. We are caught up in the cross-fire of all this, and at the end of the day the young people will suffer,” said Shanice Duffus, founder of dance and music youth organisation, Starlight Music Academy and chair of a steering committee, comprised of the affected Offley Works organisations.
Asher Senator, founder of Cove 7 Training, a music studio and youth work centre in the same building, agreed.
“Last year, more than 200 young people, some of them from hardcore gangs, gained self respect and a positive outlook in this studio,” he said.
Duffus and others are now calling on London’s Mayor, the public and MPs for help. They are planning to host a debate on February 11 at 6pm at the Offley Works building, where they hope the public can question London’s mayoral candidates, Lee Jasper, and the Evening Standard reporter Andrew Gilligan, on issues raised.
.Licking it off I presume.Can u see Jaspers getting down to it
.I do love it when our rulers get ridiculed.From what Ive heard people say to me theres a god chance Ken could lose the coming election.
