News / Housing
Protesters hail victory in council house sale
Activists who occupied a council house in Avonmouth are claiming victory in their attempts to block its sale to a private buyer.
Campaigners gained entry into the house on the eve of a controversial auction where 14 other properties went under the hammer a month ago.
Last week they said they would not leave until the council’s contract to sell the home had been voided. John Langley, one of a handful of people to have occupied the building on Richmond Terrace over the past month, said on Thursday the council’s deal to sell the property has now fallen through.
The city council are yet to confirm whether the sale of the house has been cancelled. However, new mayor Marvin Rees has promised to halt all future sales of run-down council homes, pending a review into the practice which is commonplace across the country.
Protesters at this house in Avonmouth are being evicted today. They say they won’t budge – and have done this. pic.twitter.com/J1eYSZ8hAU
— Andrew Plant (@BeebJournalist) May 27, 2016
Langley said: “We had two objectives. One was to get a homeless man housed. That has been achieved. The other was to stop the sale of another council house. We’ve succeeded in that too.
“The council made a mistake and now they’ve put that right. We’ve all got to work together to address this housing crisis.
“We can hopefully do that now with a new mayor in office who has his finger on the pulse.”
A spokesperson at the city council said: “We are in the process of reviewing the situation at the property and have no further comment to make at this time.”
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