Millwall and West Ham United shake hands at The Den, September 2011. Photo BillyBatty
The National Union of Journalists is holding a “Local News Matters” week from 24 March to 1 April, highlighting local news as “an essential component of society, democracy and citizenship”. As part of the campaign, the union is looking for examples of where coverage of local news has made a real difference. It won’t have to look far.
Less than five miles from the union’s King’s Cross headquarters lies Millwall Football Club, which has just managed to stall a compulsory purchase order from the local council on its land – thanks not to a local newspaper but, in part, to dedicated sports writers and fans writing for the local fanzine.
The story goes back to 2004, when the hidden figures behind offshore developer Renewal started stealth-purchasing land in Bermondsey. Fast forward to February 2017 and the shifty dealings of a Labour council seemingly subservient to private property developers have come to national prominence thanks to the concerted efforts of the Millwall Football Club, Association of Millwall Supporters Group, Cold Blow Lane fanzine and a sports writer for the Guardian, among others.
At the heart of the plan was a Compulsory Purchase Order to secure the land on which Millwall Football Club and its Community Trust currently sit, in addition to other businesses and homes in the area. Millwall FC was firmly opposed to the plan.
The companies and organisations involved in the attempted land grab have now been revealed to have conflicts of interest – and that includes Lewisham council. With the mayor having to resign his position as a trustee of one of the organisations, the situation became toxic. As Workers went to press, the entire scheme has been put on hold.
The council didn’t like the objections of Millwall and its supporters, but on this occasion people did care enough. As the story gained national attention through the sports pages thanks to local resident and Guardian (and also former When Saturday Comes) journalist Barney Ronay, the crushing sense of inevitability has given way to a belief that this secretive land grab can be defeated.
• A longer version of this article is on the web at Millwall land grab exposed.