After a public outcry, the Londonderry Corporation granted "temporary" rentals to the new occupants and charged rent. This agreement was supposed to last six months, after which the families were to be housed in proper houses in Derry City. The quality of the accommodation was poor, and over time conditions in the tin huts deteriorated due to lack of repairs and became hazardous and prone to fires, leading to a sustained campaign for rehousing. The promised rehousing never occurred due[3][4] to discrimination, as the residents of Springtown Camp were over 90% Catholic and Nationalist, though the camp also had some working-class Protestant residents.[5] They again refused to re-house the people of the camp, recognising that moving many Catholic Nationalists to different areas of Derry would jeopardise their grip on power.
Children grew up, married, and were obliged to live with parents, resulting in over-crowding. The Corporation resisted the residents' campaign for years but after a "silent" protest march by the residents from the camp to Derry's Guildhall was televised and broadcast to many homes throughout Ireland, pressure was mounting on the Londonderry Corporation to act.[6] However the residents' protest gained so much support that the Londonderry Corporation was forced to move on the rehousing of the people. Eventually all the residents were rehoused and on 11 October 1967 the last two families were finally housed to make way for the Springtown industrial estate.[1][4]
Springtown Camp, intended to provide temporary housing for the people for a maximum of six months, was in existence for period of over 21 years. The camp residents claim that their march from Springtown Camp to Derry's Guildhall on Tuesday 28 January, 1964, was the first Northern Irish civil rights march in the 1960s and was a precursor to the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) march in Duke Street, Derry, where the marchers were beaten by the Royal Ulster Constabulary with batons.[7] This march led to worldwide condemnation of the RUC and led to other Civil Rights Marches throughout Northern Ireland which was the start of the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland which lasted over 30 years.
The Derry Journal, in a two-page article in their 25 January 2019 edition on the 55th anniversary of the Springtown Camp silent protest march of Tuesday 28 January 1964, quoted founder-member of NICRA Fionnbarra O'Dochartaigh confirming that that march was the first march in the civil rights campaign in Derry.[4] He further confirmed it was the spark that led to the formation of the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC).
