Serpents in the Garden

Some shady "Security" firm visited the Lewes Road Community Garden in the early hours of this morning, padlocking it in an attempt to keep residents out of the beautiful green space they have created on this derelict petrol station site.

Happily, residents have now gained access again, and my fellow Green councillors in St Peter's & North Laine ward are working with the group to try and negotiate an agreement with the landowners while the future of the site is decided.

The Community Garden group have also set up a petition, seeking support for the continuation of this excellent project:

"On Tuesday 9th June a security agency locked up the garden and declared the site protected. We plead and ask for your support to keep our garden open to the community, who have taken care of the space, keeping it safe, secure and creating an example of what the community can do when we pull together.

"We have repaired the fence, beautified the site and created a space that people use to come together in a way we have never done before; learning from one another, sharing experiences and forming friendships with our neighbours.

"A derelict site for years, has now been transformed by the local community voluntarily and positively to create a free space that we can all enjoy.

"Please sign our petition to keep the garden actively alive!"

I hope this project continues unmolested - this is a wonderful use of an empty site, and even after only 6 weeks the benefits to the community have been tangible. Good luck to the residents in their negotiations with the landlords.

The ongoing saga of Anston House

In a few weeks' time it will be two years since developers bulldozed protected trees on the notorious Anston House site, sparking local outrage.


In October 2007, I presented a petition to the council signed by hundreds of residents, which resulted in the eventual prosecution and fining of the developer earlier this year - the first time Brighton & Hove City Council has taken legal action on the illegal felling of trees covered by Tree Protection Orders.

Conveniently enough, the developer declared himself bankrupt a few days before the case came to the Crown Court (hmm), thus escaping the maximum fine of £20,000 per tree. And now council officers are having difficulty in tracking him down in order to re-serve a Section 215 notice requiring him to tidy the land...

Several residents have contacted me over recent months asking when action is going to be taken to clear the site, and I met with Planning Enforcement officers last week for an update. It seems the s215 notice they served earlier in the year was not officially registered as having been received, so unfortunately the only option is to re-serve it, by hand to the registered company offices.

Once the s215 has been re-served, the landowner will have 8 weeks to clear the site, removing all the rubble, building materials, parked up vehicles etc. If no action is taken by the landowner by the end of this period, the council will employ contractors to clear the site, placing a charge on the land.

I'm disappointed that it's taking so long to get somewhere with this: the site is in a truly shocking state. I'll be asking for an update from officers later in the week to get confirmation of the revised timescales for action on this.


In the current economic climate, in my opinion it's highly unlikely that anything will be built on the site anytime soon... Perhaps we should take a leaf out of the Lewes Road community gardeners' book once the land has been cleared?

From Petrol to Petunias

Another beautiful day today. This afternoon I wandered over to the Lewes Road Community Garden, where a group of local horticulturalists have transformed a derelict petrol station site into a blossoming green space for the enjoyment of all.

I know this site well, having spent two happy years living around the corner on Caledonian Road in my students days. Needless to say my housemates and I were frequent late-night shoppers at the old Esso garage, which closed several years ago.

Since then, the plot has remained undeveloped; so I was thrilled when I learnt that neighbouring residents had come together to beautify the land, and to create a community garden.

In a city hemmed-in by the sea and the South Downs, and where more than 50% of residents live in flats (as opposed to houses with gardens), I find my thoughts turn increasingly to common land and open space, and so I decided to check it out for myself.


Although the site is still fenced in, the gates were wide open this afternoon, and quite a few people were either working or relaxing in the garden.

My sincere thanks go to Anoushka, who warmly welcomed me to the garden, and told me a little bit about its journey from Fossil Fuel Dereliction to Community Resource.

The site has been empty for five years, so I was unsurprised to hear that the managing agents acquiesced when residents made their initial approach to take on the land on an ad-hoc basis. While this is very positive, on the flip-side the gardeners have also had to defuse local criticism that they're "hippies" and/or (*ahem*) "gypsies" who want to "steal" the land (hmm).

Happily, many of the original objectors are now actively supporting the Lewes Road Community Garden, and even bringing cuttings and seedlings to the site - because, according to Anoushka, "we just went and spoke to them, and they realised we were alright".

As a former petrol station, the site is classed as contaminated land, so there are stringent regulations regarding its development; the longer it "lies fallow", the fewer the groundworks and excavation required in order to make the site conditions acceptable for new development.

So it's pretty much a win-win situation: the landlords can point to responsible community engagement and a cleaner site for prospective developers, and in the meantime, local residents can enjoy a beautiful garden, made by the community for the community.

From a Green point of view, there's a wonderful sense of natural justice in seeing a former fossil fuel site transformed into an urban oasis :)


Great stuff from the Lewes Road residents. Is this something we could adapt for the Anston House site?

The 99p Exhibition: you do not have to make work about money, but you have to make work without money

From eco-art to cheapo art: Mr K & I also checked out the 99p Exhibition while we were in town yesterday. It's part of the Brighton University end of year shows, featuring work from first year Critical Fine Art Practice students.

Fittingly for an exhibition of work made from materials costing no more than 99p (see rules to the left), these enterprising first years have negotiated a free short-term lease on the old Music Library, which has been empty for several years.

This is a wonderful space: I think I enjoyed being inside this stately and dilapidated building as much as I enjoyed the work on display.







Jeffrey Cervantes: Three Falling





Carianne Whitworth: Fabrication


Well done to all the students whose work is featured in the 99p Exhibition - there are some excellent pieces, and the spirit of the project is very in keeping with the times - yo, the zeitgeist!

Congratulations are in order too for bringing the old Music Library back into use, albeit temporarily. Empty property is one of my personal bugbears, and there's lots of it in Brighton.

Happily, there's also a long and illustrious history of squatting in Brighton. Local hero Harry Cowley commandeered empty houses for servicemen returning from both World Wars, and now groups like Slack Space Brighton are working across the city to identify empty property which could be used for short-term creative projects.

The shortage of affordable workspace is a real problem for the creative industries in Brighton & Hove, a sector which employs around 10% of the city's workforce, and which generates millions annually for the local economy.

Brighton has about 20 organisations of various sizes offering space to artists (the largest being the 55 studio Phoenix Arts Association, of which I'm one of the Trustees), but there is nowhere near enough cheap studio space to satisfy the growing demand.

Earlier this year, the Guardian ran a story on a growing movement of artists transforming empty high street shops into galleries and studios. At the same time, Brighton & Hove council officers were working on trying to come up with practical solutions to meet the city's need for more affordable creative workspace, including looking at models used by artist-led projects in London.

But is the political will there to actually do anything to bring empty property back into use in Brighton & Hove? Green councillors called on the Tory Administration in February to produce an audit of empty property across the city: the Tories rejected it out of hand.

We'll keep calling for action on disused buildings in Brighton & Hove, but it the meantime it seems that direct action may be the most effective solution to the problem of buildings being left to rot while so many people are crying out for space in which to produce work. Go first year students and Slack Space Brighton!