About the camp
Camp Bling tower Visitor centre and communal Background: Camp Bling was a non-symbolic* direct action protest camp first set up on 23rd September 2005 to stop a highly controversial dual carriageway scheme proposed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The campaign against the road began in the spring of 2001, with local people rapidly escalating tactics since then with various forms of direct action (see http://www.savepriorypark.org/ and http://www.ppps.org.uk/ for local campaign group info and the full case against the scheme), then a subsequent and continuous occupation of the route of the road for nearly four years. (1) Preliminary investigations by the Museum of London late in 2003 unearthed an East Saxon princely burial on the proposed route (see 'The bling' page). Archaeologists put the find on a par with the Sutton Hoo ship burial discovered in Suffolk in 1939. The name of the camp acknowledged the significance of the find made in the heart of our town.
Original scheme put forward by Southend Borough Council shown above Latest situation/timing (30/05/09): Members of Camp Bling met representatives from Southend Borough Council on Thursday 30th April 2009, with a view to discuss the contents of the letter below, in order to ascertain if all the outstanding campaign objectives had been met. The outcome of the meeting was an agreement that in light of the road widening cancellation, Camp Bling will be cleared and restored to its former condition - at no cost to the local taxpayer - by 1st August 2009. Southend-on-Sea Borough Council From Councillor : Anna Waite Thursday 16th April 2009 OPEN LETTER TO MR QURESHI OF PARKLIFE Dear Mr Qureshi, It was brought to my attention last week that Parklife recently issued a press release which states- 'Mr Qureshi issued a direct challenge to the councillor responsible for transport and planning, stating, ‘Cllr Anna Waite can resolve the situation here and now by publicly announcing that the road widening is no more. Road building should have no place as part of a sane and connected planning response to the unfolding climate catastrophe that we are beginning to witness.' I am therefore responding to this statement. In respect of your first request for an announcement re the widening of Priory Crescent, I can, and have previously said, that the proposal to widen Priory Crescent - which has never included taking land from Priory Park* - is not going ahead. To be absolutely clear on this, the earlier scheme has been split into two - Prittlebrook Entrance and Cuckoo Corner. We are proceeding with Cuckoo Corner. When, and if, the Prittlebrook Business Park goes ahead, it may be preferable to consolidate its current three entrances into a modified single junction. Whilst we now have funding in place to improve traffic flows at Cuckoo Corner, as yet there are no firm proposals. However, I am hopeful that a roundabout can be retained and therefore there may be an extra west travelling slip lane at the roundabout, and/or a widened approach adjacent to the roundabout. This will not encroach into the park. I have pledged to turn the burial site into a commemorative garden for the Saxon King and can assure you that the outstanding archaeological works will happen as soon as possible once the site is vacated, so as to enable the landscaping to occur. In respect of the second request re Road Building, I clearly cannot promise that no new roads will ever be built in Southend. For example, if the Prittlebrook Business Park were to come forward, there would be a need for roads within the site. That said, road building is only one element of our strategy to improve access and congestion. We have successfully bid for SERT funding and are currently consulting on this. Likewise we have been awarded Cycling Town Status and considerable funding to roll out cycling facilities. In the forthcoming year I am looking to improve yet more footpaths and safety initiatives to aid walking. We are hoping to improve train and bus use through a number of schemes. We are also in the very early stages of looking at alternatively-fuelled vehicles, and incentives for employees to use alternatives to their cars. We are also looking carefully at planning applications and briefs to ensure that they are as sustainable as possible and our new Design and Townscape Guide has raised the build levels. Given this considerable and genuine commitment to solving our congestion by a holistic and as sustainable an approach as possible, even if a new road was deemed essential, it would accommodate public transport, cycling, walking and where appropriate, SERT. I trust this gives you the assurances you seek and that you will now vacate the site of the Saxon King Burial Chamber. Should you have any queries I suggest that you contact me to arrange a meeting and I will be happy to meet with you. Yours Sincerely, Cllr A Waite, Executive Cllr for Planning and Transport, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council *Note that original plans tabled in 2001 did include taking land from Priory Park for the road widening. Subsequent revisions have also included various impacts such as tree removal, relocation of utilities/footpaths, etc. within the park.
Revised scheme announced on 20/06/07 shown above Changing context (three years into the occupation):   Tower by moonlight The road by twighlight The global situation changed dramatically since the protest site was first set up specifically to stop the road - both in terms of the overall environmental impacts and accelerating pace (see 'Vids', 'Blogs', 'Tipping points' and 'Links' pages).    World oil production (Hubbert peak) Polar bear Amazon clearcutting The camp therefore decided to take a dramatic new turn to discuss critical issues such as consumer culture, peak oil production, mass extinction, and the fundamental need for lifestyle change during the coming crash, as western society overshoots the ecological limits of the earth - using the camp as an established and trusted platform within the local community in order to do so. Our aim was to be explicitly and overtly counter-cultural; to challenge the prevailing acquisitional, aspirational, disconnected, materialistic paradigm. To that end we hold the following beliefs in common:
Communal living at Camp Bling:   Communal kitchen Wood burner   Bling dwellings |
NOTES:
* By 'non-symbolic' we mean this was a protest which physically stopped the road from being built by its very permanent presence on the route. We did symbolic stuff too, like demonstrations and wearing fancy dress outfits (occasionally!), but realised that this would not be enough by itself.
(1) Inspiration for the camp came especially from Richard Watson of Greenpeace, the Seeds for Change Oxford training coop http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/ and a visit to the Nine Ladies protest site in Derbyshire during the Earth First! 2005 summer gathering.
We also looked a lot at Kate Evans fantastic book 'Copse' for ideas on how to climb trees!!
This list is not exhaustive so thank you if you played a part too.
