This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University.The thesis discusses the mediating role of socioeconomic
factors in risk debates through an examination
of the decontamination and demolition of Fulham Power
Station in 1983-1984.
The power station was built between the wars by and for
the people of Fulham. Located on the Thames in the
neighbourhood of Sands End, it generated electricity and
provided employment until 1978, when it was sold to a
property development company.
During the decontamination, a quantity of asbestos was
released into the environment. A protest group was
formed to secure better standards of work at the site.
The group never had more than a dozen active members.
All the members were middle-class.
At the time of the decontamination and demolition, Sands
End was a poor neighbourhood. A majority of the local
population faced many 'social' as well as environmental
hazards. Amongst these were sub-standard housing,
unemployment, under-employment, low wages, inadequate
work and educational skills and crime.
The thesis discusses whether the neighbourhood's socioeconomic
problems had any bearing on the character and
dynamics of the power station debate. It suggests that
the social geography and economic status of Sands End
had two major effects on the debate. Firstly,
gentrification provided the neighbourhood with a (small)
middle-class constituency receptive to issues of
environmental risk, such as the long-term health
implications of airborne asbestos dust. Secondly, the
neighbourhood's pressing social and economic problems
mitigated against a wider involvement in the campaign.
Most residents were too preoccupied with meeting their
social and economic needs to become actively involved.
The thesis also suggests that the population's
experience of Fulham Power Station as a source of
'convenient' electrical power, employment and civic
pride may have made it difficult for those native to
Sands End to accept the activists' construction of the power station as a source of danger.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC
