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| Skateboarders form village green preservation society for Southbank | Skateboarders form village green preservation society for Southbank |
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| The soothing thwack of leather on willow seldom echoes around the brutal bulk of the Southbank Centre, nor, to be honest, are ponds, ancient taverns or ribbon-streamed maypoles much in evidence on this particular stretch of the Thames. | The soothing thwack of leather on willow seldom echoes around the brutal bulk of the Southbank Centre, nor, to be honest, are ponds, ancient taverns or ribbon-streamed maypoles much in evidence on this particular stretch of the Thames. |
| Instead, the graffiti-washed walls resound with the rattling of tiny wheels, the frequent crack of wood – and, occasionally, elbow – on concrete. But, unlikely as it may seem, the dark and skateboarder-haunted undercroft of the central London arts complex could one day join the ranks of Britain's village greens. | Instead, the graffiti-washed walls resound with the rattling of tiny wheels, the frequent crack of wood – and, occasionally, elbow – on concrete. But, unlikely as it may seem, the dark and skateboarder-haunted undercroft of the central London arts complex could one day join the ranks of Britain's village greens. |
| Aghast at plans to redevelop the site into retail units to help fund the refurbishment of the centre's Festival Wing, the skateboarding community is trying to have the undercroft declared a village green. | Aghast at plans to redevelop the site into retail units to help fund the refurbishment of the centre's Festival Wing, the skateboarding community is trying to have the undercroft declared a village green. |
| On Wednesday, lawyers acting for the Long Live Southbank campaign lodged an application with Lambeth Council to have the space registered and protected as a community space under laws designed to protect village greens. | On Wednesday, lawyers acting for the Long Live Southbank campaign lodged an application with Lambeth Council to have the space registered and protected as a community space under laws designed to protect village greens. |
| They are confident that the undercroft meets the appropriate criteria under the Commons Act 2006 – namely that it is a place where "a significant number of the inhabitants of any locality, or of any neighbourhood within a locality, have indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years". | They are confident that the undercroft meets the appropriate criteria under the Commons Act 2006 – namely that it is a place where "a significant number of the inhabitants of any locality, or of any neighbourhood within a locality, have indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years". |
| Simon Ricketts, a partner at SJ Berwin, the law firm representing the campaign, concedes that the lower deck of the Southbank Centre may not strictly resemble the idyll imagined by The Kinks in their sardonic ode to Middle England, The Village Green Preservation Society. But he is adamant it deserves to be preserved. "While everyone's first reaction, perhaps, is that this is unusual, when you think about this facility and the sort of role it plays locally … this is in my view exactly what the legislation is there to protect," he said. | Simon Ricketts, a partner at SJ Berwin, the law firm representing the campaign, concedes that the lower deck of the Southbank Centre may not strictly resemble the idyll imagined by The Kinks in their sardonic ode to Middle England, The Village Green Preservation Society. But he is adamant it deserves to be preserved. "While everyone's first reaction, perhaps, is that this is unusual, when you think about this facility and the sort of role it plays locally … this is in my view exactly what the legislation is there to protect," he said. |
| Ricketts pointed out that the court of appeal recently confirmed that a beach in Newhaven could be listed as a village green under the same legislation, despite objections from the port's owners. | Ricketts pointed out that the court of appeal recently confirmed that a beach in Newhaven could be listed as a village green under the same legislation, despite objections from the port's owners. |
| "The cases have said it's irrelevant as to whether the land has the feel of what traditionally might be said to be a village green," he said. | "The cases have said it's irrelevant as to whether the land has the feel of what traditionally might be said to be a village green," he said. |
| Henry Edwards-Woods, 25, a skateboard film-maker and spokesman for the campaign, feels the proposed designation is perfectly fitting. It was at the undercroft that he was first inducted into the mysteries of skateboarding as a teenage novice. | Henry Edwards-Woods, 25, a skateboard film-maker and spokesman for the campaign, feels the proposed designation is perfectly fitting. It was at the undercroft that he was first inducted into the mysteries of skateboarding as a teenage novice. |
| "People would come from as far away as Watford and Staines because it was London's local spot," he said. "It was there that I'd see the older guys and the professionals and the aspiring professional all rubbing shoulders with the likes of a young skate rat like me. | "People would come from as far away as Watford and Staines because it was London's local spot," he said. "It was there that I'd see the older guys and the professionals and the aspiring professional all rubbing shoulders with the likes of a young skate rat like me. |
| "It was all about the folklore and the history and you got told stories about so-and-so doing this trick here in 1991. It was like an old fashioned village with all its history." | "It was all about the folklore and the history and you got told stories about so-and-so doing this trick here in 1991. It was like an old fashioned village with all its history." |
| Although the Southbank has offered to build a skate park beneath nearby Hungerford bridge if the site is redeveloped, Edwards-Woods feels they don't appreciate what makes the undercroft sacred to skateboarders. "The floor has got this magic quality: a compromise between rough and smooth that you can feel through your board but at the same time it's just super smooth," he said. "Physically, it couldn't have been more perfect with the banks and the stairs and the ledges. And it's the fact that we're just under the belly of the beast. The whole point of skateboarding is populating spaces and using them in a way they weren't intended for and being expressive." | Although the Southbank has offered to build a skate park beneath nearby Hungerford bridge if the site is redeveloped, Edwards-Woods feels they don't appreciate what makes the undercroft sacred to skateboarders. "The floor has got this magic quality: a compromise between rough and smooth that you can feel through your board but at the same time it's just super smooth," he said. "Physically, it couldn't have been more perfect with the banks and the stairs and the ledges. And it's the fact that we're just under the belly of the beast. The whole point of skateboarding is populating spaces and using them in a way they weren't intended for and being expressive." |
| Iain Borden, professor of architecture and urban culture at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, may be twice the age of Edwards-Woods but he shares the same reverence for the site. As a teenager, he would catch the coach from Oxford to London just to ride around the undercroft, which he describes as "probably the most continuously skateboarded place in the world", with a history stretching back four decades. | Iain Borden, professor of architecture and urban culture at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, may be twice the age of Edwards-Woods but he shares the same reverence for the site. As a teenager, he would catch the coach from Oxford to London just to ride around the undercroft, which he describes as "probably the most continuously skateboarded place in the world", with a history stretching back four decades. |
| To this day he remains in its thrall as both an academic and a skateboarder. | To this day he remains in its thrall as both an academic and a skateboarder. |
| "It's unique as a piece of amazing modern architecture and it's unique in the history of skateboarding," he said. | "It's unique as a piece of amazing modern architecture and it's unique in the history of skateboarding," he said. |
| "You've got this extraordinary meeting of a very strange brutal concrete architecture and these energetic youthful bodies flying around underneath it: it's this meeting of dark concrete, very strange textures and acoustics and these splashes of bodily colour and energy and adrenaline and the noise of the skateboards." | "You've got this extraordinary meeting of a very strange brutal concrete architecture and these energetic youthful bodies flying around underneath it: it's this meeting of dark concrete, very strange textures and acoustics and these splashes of bodily colour and energy and adrenaline and the noise of the skateboards." |
| The Southbank says it is aware of the village green application and will be taking time to consider it. But it also stresses the necessity of raising money to help preserve its cultural assets. "We stand by our offer of an alternative permanent skate space 120 metres upriver, which has been used by skaters in the past," said a spokeswoman. "The existing undercroft skate area is indispensible to our ability to build and fund a new national literature centre, education centre, dedicated family children's space and orchestral rehearsal space as part of the Festival Wing, which will include refurbishment of the 1960s buildings." | The Southbank says it is aware of the village green application and will be taking time to consider it. But it also stresses the necessity of raising money to help preserve its cultural assets. "We stand by our offer of an alternative permanent skate space 120 metres upriver, which has been used by skaters in the past," said a spokeswoman. "The existing undercroft skate area is indispensible to our ability to build and fund a new national literature centre, education centre, dedicated family children's space and orchestral rehearsal space as part of the Festival Wing, which will include refurbishment of the 1960s buildings." |
| To his mind, the undercroft is every bit as important a cultural centre as the buildings that surround it. "In a way, the architecture is made up as much now by the skateboarding as it is by the concrete," he said. "It's almost impossible to replicate that, so no matter how wonderful they might make the Hungerford bridge alternative, it's never going replicate this unique collision of concrete, sound, skateboards, youth and architecture." | To his mind, the undercroft is every bit as important a cultural centre as the buildings that surround it. "In a way, the architecture is made up as much now by the skateboarding as it is by the concrete," he said. "It's almost impossible to replicate that, so no matter how wonderful they might make the Hungerford bridge alternative, it's never going replicate this unique collision of concrete, sound, skateboards, youth and architecture." |
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