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URGENT – PLEASE ACT NOW TO STOP CHARITIES AND SMALL BUSINESSES BEING EVICTED OVER CHRISTMAS

Guy’ and Thomas’ Foundation (GSTF) have reneged on promises that, if their proposed office development was delayed, they would negotiate to extend the contract. As a result, tenants of Old Paradise Yard have to vacate over Christmas and face a financial, practical and emotional abyss.

GSTF extended the lease of the adjacent organisation that supports their office development. It looks like they are punishing Old Paradise Yard tenants for exercising their democratic right to object.

Please click here for an email to send to GSTF - it will only take you 3 minutes - to ask them to keep their promises and cease the evictions.

Click here for a ready-to-send email
Please do it now - you can read the rest of the petition later!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Lambeth Council recently approved an oversized and unnecessary office development that will trash irreplaceable public resources, green spaces, heritage buildings and a unique creative enclave… while releasing a tsunami of CO2 into the atmosphere.

In doing so, Lambeth ignored many written objections from local residents, small businesses and community groups, objections from several respected national and international organisations concerned with heritage and the environment, and all 37,000+ (at the time of Lambeth’s meeting) signatories of our petition.

But this is too big a decision for Lambeth, so it went to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. He too has chosen to put profit before people and the planet. Now, we're relying on the Secretary of State, Michael Gove.

We’re fed up with greedy developers vandalising public spaces and our heritage, with profits destined for a tax haven. Please help us fight for a more sustainable alternative. It’s time to put people and the planet before profits. Enough Is Enough!

Please, if you can, contribute to our fighting fund:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/save-waterloo-paradise
No amount is too small and anything is gratefully received and will be put to good use.

Why does this matter? It will destroy irreplaceable public resources

London's Waterloo can be a hectic place: it has the UK’s largest rail station with 100 million commuters a year, Europe’s largest arts centre with 30 million visitors a year, the HQ of Europe’s largest company, one of the UK’s major hospitals… and, amidst this dense bustle, Archbishop’s Park and Old Paradise Yard: quiet green oases.

Archbishop’s Park is a vital resource for local residents, most of whom don’t have their own outdoor space, as well as staff and visitors at St Thomas’ hospital. Lambeth Council calls it a “a ‘green lung’ for those who live and work in this busy part of central London” and recognises its “importance not just for wildlife, but also for people living in both Lambeth and London to enjoy access to nature”. Part of the Park’s appeal is its remarkable feeling of openness. As The Kinks sang “As long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset I am in paradise”.

Old Paradise Yard is a unique and characterful enclave which houses small businesses in the creative, arts & crafts, design and technology sectors, partly housed in historic Victorian school buildings, the oldest remaining in Lambeth.

You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone

The proposed huge tower blocks would loom over Archbishop’s Park, blotting out views of the sky and creating a hemmed-in feeling. And the developers would bulldoze Old Paradise Yard. These beautiful and irreplaceable public resources, and their positive contribution to the physical and especially mental wellbeing of so many people, would be degraded or destroyed forever.

The solution

It doesn’t have to be that way. According to planning requirements (at least ten of which were ignored by Lambeth) the offices should not be so dense and tall. They should step back from Archbishop’s Park and preserve Old Paradise Yard and its historic school buildings. This, together with re-purposing existing buildings wherever possible rather than just demolishing and rebuilding, would significantly reduce the environmental impact.

And a more sustainable design already exists: Lambeth Council’s own Planning Department produced it in a January 2022 report! Why did Lambeth ignore it? They haven’t explained...

Some things you can do right now to make a difference:

1. Sign this petition!
2. Send this ready-to-go email to the Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation:
   Click here for a ready-to-send email
   Feel free to put it in your own words.
3. Keep an eye on our website: 
   https://www.savewaterlooparadise.com/
   and come along, if you can, to the Open Day at Old Paradise Yard that we’ll publicise there.
4. If you have time or skills that you are able to offer to support our campaign, please email us at:
   savewaterlooparadise@gmail.com
5. Tell your friends and contacts! Please help us spread the message far and wide:
   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/save_wateloo_paradise/?hl=fr
   Twitter: https://twitter.com/savewaterloo_
   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085893805161

THANK YOU!