City council closes regular 'service depots' at one of London's biggest encampments

Isha Bhargava · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 22, 2025 10:48 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

London is ending regular nutrient and h2o distribution, garbage pickup and portal washroom work astatine a riverside parkland that's go location to much than 3 twelve people.

City council voted 9-6 Tuesday successful a heated debate, some wrong assembly and from the nationalist gallery, to adjacent what's called a service depot astatine Watson Park, and alternatively determination to mobile transportation of basal goods.

"No way! It's basic quality rights, they're not going to beryllium capable to spell to the bath and beryllium fed. These are their basal needs," yelled 1 pistillate from the gallery, who was yet escorted retired of assembly chambers after repeated warnings from Mayor Josh Morgan to halt disrupting the meeting. 

Watson Park, located crossed the Thames River connected Wellington Road South, has 36 radical surviving their permanently, according to the city. Earlier this month, determination was a propane vessel detonation successful the encampment that firefighters called suspicious. 

It's one, successful a bid of information concerns, that Coun. Hadleigh McAlister, whose ward covers the park, said prompted him to telephone connected assembly to marque changes. Nearby homeowners person besides expressed their concerns with the encampments arsenic it's go a much imperishable fixture successful the neighbourhood. 

"There person been violations of protocols and we request to bring Watson Park backmost into compliance successful the involvement of nationalist safety," McAlister said astatine council.

"There has been a proliferation of tents and structures, good successful excess of what we presently allow, and the caller fires rise superior questions astir the level of occurrence information being exercised successful the encampment itself. The detonation of the propane vessel astatine the encampment was a superior incidental and we cannot disregard it."

The city's rules accidental that tents indispensable beryllium astatine least 100 metres distant from backstage property, determination beryllium nary unfastened fires, unit oregon quality trafficking.  

City unit have now been directed to ace down and relocate those who interruption these rules. As for the work depots, they were already set to upwind down on April 30, aft 2 years of operations. Tuesday's determination sees the closure moving up by 1 week. 

Any other money, oregon resources saved by closing the imperishable depot, volition spell toward helping radical find shelter, McAlister said.  

'We mightiness beryllium making a atrocious occupation worse' 

The determination was met with opposition, with immoderate successful the gallery, including immoderate radical who unrecorded successful the Watson Park encampment, saying that removing the service depot violates quality rights. 

"This is inhumane," said Tanja Zientara, a precocious schoolhouse teacher who volunteers helping radical successful encampments. "Our hearts melt for these radical who are suffering, can you ideate surviving extracurricular for the full wintertime not being capable to devour oregon shower, you might lose your mind."

Some councillors said determination shouldn't beryllium a spread betwixt the closure of the imperishable work depot and the commencement up of the mobile unit, 1 that volition proceed to supply indispensable services to people, not lone astatine Watson Park, but astatine different metropolis encampments.

"We mightiness beryllium making a atrocious occupation worse. We mightiness beryllium putting radical who are successful danger, successful greater danger. We whitethorn beryllium subjecting our adjacent neighbourhoods to the types of complaints that I'm definite we each get successful presumption of radical prowling astir and looking for things, truthful I deliberation this is simply a atrocious idea," said Coun. Sam Trosow. 

The portable washrooms, portion of the work depot, volition beryllium removed erstwhile the work ends. Although determination volition beryllium nationalist washrooms astatine 4 parks adjacent Watson Park, they won't unfastened until aboriginal May, said Craig Cooper, the city's manager of lodging stableness services. 

City unit estimation determination are about 63 encampments throughout the city.