A Far Pavilion For Lewes (from The Argus)

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A far pavilion for Lewes

By Sarah Lewis

Ex-Railyards by the side of the busy A26 may seem an unlikely place for a tranquil nature reserve but they are home to some of the most diverse wildlife in Sussex. The area is cared for by dedicated locals but a desperate lack of funding threatens a beacon of environmental education for the whole community. SARAH LEWIS investigates the planned Linklater Pavilion.

Dr John Parry bangs his fist on a bench in frustration.

"Why should it be the bullies who get the money just because they shout the loudest, when the people who are civilised and polite like us don't get anything at all?"

John, an environmental education researcher, is talking about the difficulties of getting funding for the planned Linklater Pavilion Centre For Environmental Change in Lewes.

It is to be sited at the end of Railway Lane, just past the famous Snowdrop Inn, and will be what John refers to as a "muster station" for people to learn about, record and discuss the changing environment.

He says: "If scientists are right, if we are headed to what they say, we have to get our heads around it at a local level. We need the Government and policy - but we need local action.

We need places where people can gather to study and prepare for the emergency that is going to hit us."

John has been involved with the land between the A26 and the railway line - known as the Railway Land - for some 20 years and is the founder trustee and chairman of the Lewes Railway Land Wildlife Trust.

The land has a long and intricate history. Abandoned as a railway sidings midway through the 20th Century, the place was left to fall into disarray. An area which once saw nearly 10,000 wagons pass through every week found itself nicknamed the Bone Yard by local children.

In 1987, it was earmarked for development. Peter Linklater, then chair of the Friends Of Lewes Civic Society, led a public inquiry into the decision to build an enormous concrete car park on the site. As a result of that inquiry, the decision was overturned and in 1995, after years of further campaigning, the area was designated a Local Nature Reserve. Today it contains enough wildlife to qualify as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The Linklater Pavilion, named after Peter, who died in 1995, will be a community centre for environmental education and change. The hexagonal building will be built using sustainable materials and to withstand floods. A cooling tower will stop the building getting too hot in the summers and the designers hope it will heat up in winter using only the body heat of people inside.

The space will allow the Railway Land Trust to continue and expand the work they do, not only preserving and researching the land and providing invaluable habitats for everdwindling wildlife populations, but helping to engage local young people with their environment. It will continue working on its Nature Corridors For All project, linking learning-disabled adults from East Sussex with those from Normandy through a knowledge and love of the natural environment.

Lewes District Council has already granted full planning permission and, once the pavilion is built, a carefully structured business plan will allow it to run itself and have enough left over to donate £3,000 a year to charity. The problem, however, is getting it built.

Delays have seen the building costs spiral by half a million pounds. The first plan, in 1997, would have cost £250,000, but the floods of 2000 meant the designs had to be changed and the building raised on stilts.

Then, in 2003, the Lewes sewage systems were renewed and the building had to be repositioned again, setting the project back by a further two years. The cost of it now stands at £750,000 and it is predicted to rise by £4,000 a month as inflation pressures rise and the Olympic preparations drain the South East of labourers.

Despite a Government which talks of its commitment to climate change, there are no avenues available for community projects such as this.

On the one hand, funders demand projects be opened up to as wide a group of people as possible, yet Revenue and Excise insists the project must be very local, otherwise they do not qualify for VAT relief. Some funders insist they must be the sole sponsor and others will only give limited amounts of money.

John says: "There is a team of 20 of us working on this project. We are not stupid and yet it really is like walking through syrup. Everybody thinks the project is a great thing but we are scrabbling around for this money. I was invited to a ministerial seminar on green spaces and buildings and a senior person from the Number 10 Policy Unit told me about a funding stream that was available.

"When I investigated, it turned out the maximum per project was £5,000.

Yet, we have had to take on a VAT expert because we might have to pay £90,000 in tax - that will sink us. The number of hoops we have to jump through is ridiculous."

So far the Trust has managed to raise an impressive £500,000. The Mettyear Charitable Trust has donated £250,000, Viridor Credits has pledged £150,000, local people have raised £60,000 and various loans and donations have trickled in - but they are still left with a quarter of a million pound deficit.

John says: "We have to start building by July or that is it. Our costs are rising so much we have decided if we haven't laid the foundations by the summer we have to halt the project, losing £80,000 we have already spent.

"When you think of the millions spent on all sorts of silly things and we're scrambling around for quarter of a million, it is very sad. If we were a church and needed a new roof, we would get the money. They have a body of history and heritage but we are trying to build for the future - that heritage isn't there yet."

After nearly ten years John says he is "nicely tired" with the whole thing, yet his passion, enthusiasm and, perhaps most importantly, his patience, is clear. He talks about the popularity of the area and the life which comes from "several heartbeats"

- from the Heart Of Reeds land sculpture created by Lewes artist Chris Drury, to the sound of the woodpecker who lives in a patch called Chilly Brook, to the thundering trains which hurtle past every so often and the constant, quiet drone of traffic on the A26.

"And in amongst it all are these wildlife habitats. It really is amazing.

I am just so deeply grateful to people such as Peter Mettyear from The Mettyear Charitable Trust who have the courage to see this vision and back it. We don't fit all the obvious funding criteria but we are making a safe place we can gather and prepare in a communal way. We are making a stake in the future."

Find out more about the Lewes Railway Land Trust at www.railwaylandproject.org

4:31pm Monday 18th February 2008

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