From 2017 to today, a period of fake council-led “change,” North Kensington has endured ongoing gentrification and the erosion of community assets for learning, sports, creativity, mutual support, socialising, organising, health, and the other things that make life liveable. Even as the Mayor of London’s office announces funding for the preservation of community spaces, Kensington & Chelsea Council is intent on reducing our assets to a bare minimum.* In this context, it is particularly bad news that Joe Batty of Kensington & Chelsea Social Council (KCSC) is leaving us.

Joe arrived soon after the fire, working as KCSC’s Community Organiser at to help devastated local people respond and rebuild. For eight years he diligently sought to democratise the area while the local authority, behind a mask of “change,” pulled in the opposite direction. He supported us in our attempts at organising, pushing back against unaccountable power and vested interests, always with the aim of bringing about tangible, lasting justice for the horror and cruelty inflicted.

Changing Priorities

The funders of KCSC’s Organiser role, Tudor Trust, implemented a radically new set of priorities last year, so when their latest payment expired, so did Joe’s role. I met with the funders to suggest they find a way to extend Joe’s run in North Ken, but they were not for turning. There are long odds against securing community development funding in 2025. Social justice is no longer the thing to fund, especially in potentially restless communities like North Kensington.

Community organising is hard graft, requiring a commitment to struggling for small victories and just policies that create a better world. The Labour Party disbanded its own Community Organising Unit and chose war abroad with austerity and authoritarianism at home. As I type this, the government is deconstructing Grenfell Tower following a corrupt decision by a corrupt Deputy PM.

Add to this mix the carpetbaggers who implanted themselves to divide the community and our milquetoast media and you see a stark contrast in somebody like Joe Batty, who always sought victories for our community; supporting, empowering and educating local people.

Contrast

Joe’s skill is that he can work simultaneously within and against the system; chairing meetings with the council or the gentrifiers, amplifying our voices. He bridged the usual gap between them and us in a way that made them uptight, but they couldn’t quite push back because Joe’s reasonableness had exposed their unreasonableness.

The number of North Kensington hardship cases is rising exponentially. Supply cannot meet demand for support and RBKC is looking at swingeing cuts next year. In these conditions that we need people of the calibre of Joe Batty, or the staff of Migrants Organise (who moved east a few years ago). No virtue signalling, just serious work to uplift communities.

No doubt Joe is leaving with a bitter taste of frustration that more could not be achieved for the community. More buildings saved, more democratic processes embedded in the council and more hope among our communities. But he played an intricate and skillful role that constantly exposed those in power as the phoneys they are.

In working with (and against) RBKC’s “change” strategies during multiple community consultations, Joe was aware of how retraumatising these experiences could be for local people. Where RBKC was ambivalent, Joe was sensitive; where they were late to meetings, surly, and reluctant to make changes, Joe was professional, inclusive and pluralistic, pushing things forward, making progress and always willing to challenge the powerful. Joe never overstepped or understepped the mark; he knew the entrenched issues of iniquity, racism and poverty; he knew who he was in this community and he knew the historical moment we all faced.

Solidarity

In their community consultations, RBKC behaved as if they were in competition with residents and sought the best financial deal for themselves and the elite they serve; considering us a threat rather than a resource or partner. In some cases, Joe secured changes to council policy through public engagement. This required assiduous work on his part. That the council doesn’t implement its own policies is a reflection of their dogged determination to not change, not any failure on the part of Joe and his colleagues. It is now up to others to follow through.

In an unfortunate twist and ill-fitting end to his stint in North Kensington, Joe dislocated a kneecap so couldn’t be in Ladbroke Grove for his send off this week. I like to think this was an act of solidarity on his part for some fellow freedom fighters, but maybe not…

You can read Joe’s reflections on his time in North Kensington here.

YNWA, Joe Batty, you’ll be a big loss.

 

by Tom Charles

@urbandandyLDN

@tomhcharles

 

 

*RFM, KTS and the asset sweat of NK,

Lost:

Grenfell Tower

Dale Youth Gym

Grenfell Nursery

GT Community Rooms

GT Playground

Westway Information Centre (now a Pret and a Prep)

Ilys Booker

College – saved

Library – saved

Canalside House…..?

Gained:

The Men’s Shed

(Westway Trust / BBC provided the replacements for Dale Youth and the community rooms, but on land already earmarked for the benefit of the community, compensation for the dark, polluting presence of the Westway. For some reason, RBKC wasn’t expected to provide these replacements. Ilys Booker and Grenfell Nursery merged, two becoming one).