Fighting social housing stigma: meet Dave
Meet Dave, the social housing resident taking care of the east London canals, so they can be enjoyed by all, both now and in the future.
From mutton to music management, Dave’s early job roles gave little inkling of what he was to eventually become – an award-winning environmental champion doing his bit to tackle the climate crisis.
A countryman at heart, Dave’s passion for music set the stage for a decade-spanning career in the record business.
Arriving in London from Somerset in 1983, Dave moved into a social rented home in Brixton and earned his stripes promoting shows at the Half Moon music venue. From an initial two nights per week, Dave grew the venue into an established stop on the circuit for new acts. With zero funding from the venue, budgets were tight, but that didn’t stop Dave from growing the venue’s viability and name.
Dave went on to become a partner in a highly respected independent record label, growing the outfit from two people in a bedroom to a workforce of 20 staff with a turnover of £2.5m. During this time, he assisted artists in recording and producing albums and nurtured the careers of up-and-coming bands including The Lemonheads, Teenage Fan Club and Pulp.
After over three decades in the music industry, Dave felt his priorities in life shifting in a different direction. Recently settled in Stepney Green, he found himself in pursuit of a new goal – cleaning and greening the Regent’s canal from Limehouse Basin to Mile End.
Dave said:
“After spending years running around in the music business, it felt like time to do something different. My personal circumstances changed and so did my outlook on life: some things are worth more than chasing money. Walking around my local area, I’d notice how messy the nearby patch of canal was and felt compelled to do something about it.”
Dave joined forces with qualified waterway instructor, Molly Gadenz. What began as two people picking up rubbish, quickly became a community of like-minded volunteers mobilised by a shared love of wildlife and their local area.
“We started with litter picking and progressed from there. Someone from Thames 21 charity cycled passed us one time and asked what we were doing. They put us in touch with their colleagues and soon we were attending training sessions on how to lead waterway and towpath events.”
Through clean-up and improvement events for volunteers, the Lower Regents Coalition (LRC) have been instrumental in transforming this previously unloved stretch of the Regent’s canal into a thriving urban oasis and haven for nature.
Donning waders to plant bulbs and pull trollies filled with bags of rubbish, Dave’s band of volunteers have removed over 7,000 bags and 10 tonnes of rubbish from in and around the canal, created more than 400m2 of wildflower meadows with over 20 varieties of plants, and installed 700m2 of floating ecosystems and aquatic planting.
From biodiversity loss to the climate crisis, rewilding offers hope in the face of some of today’s biggest global issues. As well as creating shelter and forage for different wildlife species, the floating structures filter the water of excess nutrients and pollutants, all whilst creating a more attractive area for locals and visitors.
In the years since, Dave and the LRC have triggered a ‘blue planet effect’ amongst local people. The community have rallied around the local gem, with growing numbers taking action to fight the rising problem of plastic pollution.
When the Canal + River Trust drained 900m of the canal in 2016, Dave lobbied for permission to remove the plastic inside, and the LRC’s volunteer base went from 100 to 900 in a matter of days. Almost eight tonnes of rubbish were removed from the area, alongside five guns, several swords and an unexploded WW2 grenade.
Dave’s efforts were recognised in 2018 when the lower end of the canal received its first Green Flag award, a prestigious prize for quality parks and green spaces, which the coalition have retained every year since.
Dave said:
“As a group, we have lots to be thankful for in getting us to this point – most especially all the incredible volunteers that have got stuck in at our events large and small. Our volunteers motivate us to keep going and doing what we do.”
The future of the coalition is set to be even greener, as Dave has set his sights on attracting the endangered water vole to the canal. He’s also working to keep a piece of local history alive by looking after the largest Victorian ragged school, the Grade II listed Ragged School Museum. Opened by Dr Barnardo in 1877, the school served some of the poorest children in the Victorian East End – and now lends itself as a space for photoshoots, filming and fashion design.
Dave is also a member of his social landlord’s Resident Services Board (RSB), a formal committee of L&Q’s group board that is made up of residents. The RSB are equal peers of our other group board members and skilled partners with the authority to make an impact.
“I don’t have a history of working in housing – my knowledge comes from my experience of living in a social rented home. It’s been an exciting project to be part of and it’s encouraging to see that the executive team and board listen to our opinions and take us seriously”, said Dave.