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. 2
March 2000 Dear
Melvyn Caplan, It
has been brought to our attention that Westminster Council is putting
pressure on some landlords to evict women from their homes in Soho.
Landlords have been told that if they refuse to carry out the
evictions, compulsory purchase orders will _be used to buy the
properties 'to ensure they are returned to residential use'. At the
same time, property developers are making enquiries about the same
premises. These
flats are already in residential use. Evicting their tenants could
make over 30 people homeless. While
there has been no complaint against any of the women targeted, the
most recent edition of the residents' community newspaper, The
Soho Clarion,
reports numerous complaints from local residents who oppose
Westminster Council granting more late night closing licences to pubs,
clubs and restaurants. We understand Westminster receives £20,000 a
year for each sex establishment licence and around £500 for each pub
and club late opening licence. Westminster
Council has been using police time and resources to collect
information about women's lives in an attempt to intimidate them. With
the excuse of looking for young girls or women who may be victims of
trafficking, officers have demanded entry into flats, searching
women's personal belongings, questioning them about their living
situation and passing on information.to the Housing Department. More
recently officers have been posted for long periods of time outside
some flats, taking people's names and addresses as they leave. Housing
officers have also pushed their way into women's flats, taking photos
and measuring rooms. All
these activities are illegal since no search warrant has been
produced, and in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention of
Human Rights regarding the right to privacy and to protection from
interference by public authorities. Article 8 states: 1.
Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family
life, his home 2. There shall be no interference by
a public authority with the exercise of Is
the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, John Stevens aware of the
illegal way his force is being used? The people targeted are acting
entirel within their legal rights, and we intend to challenge any
further attempt at eviction. At
a time when the criminal justice system has been shown to be grossly
deficient in protecting women from rape and other violence, can you
justify this outrageous misuse of police time and resources? Most of the
women who are being targeted are mothers and/or grandmothers supporting
their families. Hounding them out of their flats will make all women
more vulnerable to violence. In 1995, after Westminster carried out
evictions in Soho, two women who had been forced out and had moved to
the Midlands were murdered. ‑Soho has not forgotten this.
Westminster's pressure for evictions is already resulting in outright
brutality = a young woman was recently turned out of her flat and onto
the street by the police and bailiffs, without her possessions,
including her clothes. Westminster
Council's integrity on property dealing has been shown in the past to be
seriously deficient. How can you justify your attempts to make women
homeless while encouraging property developers and other practices which
destroy affordable residential accommodation and change the nature of
Soho against the interests of the local community? We
look forward to your reply. Yours
sincerely, Nina
Lopez-Jones |