Guerilla gardeners under siege in Brighton (From The Argus)
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Guerilla gardeners under siege in Brighton
11:47am Monday 7th March 2011 in News By Ben Parsons
Activists are trying to stop landowners clearing them from a "community garden" on waste ground in Brighton.
About 30 people have gathered at a site they have named The Mound, at the corner of Church Street and Portland Street in North Laine.
Security guards sent by Worthing-based landowner Hargreaves Property are understood to be trying to get onto the site.
This morning Sussex Police confirmed they were called at 8.45am by Hargreaves Property, who said they intended to clear the land.
The force said officers have attended to prevent a breach of the peace.
No arrests have been made.
The site has been vacant for 14 years.
Activists identified as a location for a new community garden after a project in Lewes Road was reclaimed by developers.
Comments(37)
harrysgrand
says...
12:37pm Mon 7 Mar 11
SimonS
says...
12:42pm Mon 7 Mar 11
(* Assuming that's what they were doing, not just squatting there)
Warren C
says...
12:55pm Mon 7 Mar 11
dhamallamafarmer
says...
1:03pm Mon 7 Mar 11
Warren C wrote:Yeah, lock up the do-gooders who think that they can spend their time and effort, risking arrest and abuse just so that they can make a point about urban decay and the lack of community spirit in towns and cities across the country. They should all stay quiet at home and accept whatever their 'betters' tell them.
How dare these people try and make a derelict pile of rubble into a garden. Who do they think they are? Let's hope they get rid of these bloody do-gooders who want to make the centre of town more attractive and put up some lovely barbed wire and more fences. Then leave it empty for another 14 years.
JHunty
says...
1:04pm Mon 7 Mar 11
No youre not. Nothing wrong with genuine protests but time and time again what we see in Brighton is small groups of people wrapped up in their own self interest trying to impose their extremist views on the majority.
yeah_whatever
says...
1:04pm Mon 7 Mar 11
I wonder if the landowners have a reason for wanting it left looking like a small piece of wasteland or whether they just don't want these "guerilla gardeners" showing them up by doing something constructive
(i should add that i can see this land from my office window and saw all the "action" this morning and to be perfectly honest, these guys have made it look much tidier than it has been) i fail to see what harm they are doing...
JHunty
says...
1:09pm Mon 7 Mar 11
rolivan
says...
1:21pm Mon 7 Mar 11
rolivan
says...
1:21pm Mon 7 Mar 11
chipmunk77
says...
1:26pm Mon 7 Mar 11
You obviously haven't lived here very long, THEY (the developers) have done MUCH MUCH more to improve the area than these "gardeners" ever will.
These "gardeners" are just trespassers, who broke into a secured property.
They are grinding their own silly political axe as usual, surprised they haven't got an anti-supermarket banner there too.
RoddyG
says...
1:37pm Mon 7 Mar 11
Oops, just remembered her main family home is still in Brussels!
quedula
says...
1:48pm Mon 7 Mar 11
Morpheus
says...
2:44pm Mon 7 Mar 11
Verushka26
says...
3:32pm Mon 7 Mar 11
General Dreedle
says...
3:42pm Mon 7 Mar 11
JHunty wrote:Doesn't that just say it all! A bunch of lazy dole-ites too stoned to realise their unwashed pants are on fire. If they have time to spend turning wasteland into a 'garden', that let's face it isn't going to win any design awards, then why have they not got time to look for work and stop living off our backs on benefit payments. Answer, they aren't interested in work or making a proper contribution to the community. As other posts point out they could volunteer to the council to look after real gardens as part of the Big Society. These type of deadbeat losers will never achieve anything in their lives. All they know how to do is grow their hait long, layabout and complain about how crap life is. Ironic that many of them are middle class university educated snobs that think they are owed something better but aren't prepared to work for it.
The harm they are doing is as has been pointed out its not their land, they have not moved when they have been asked to move on and if you ever went to the laughably named community garden on Lewes road you would know that a) it was a mess and b) it was a haven for the usual drug and drink drop out types who think stealing someone elses property is a sound basis for an alternative life style. Id remind you that the Lewes Road garden ended with the gardeners having to be rescued by the fire services because they were too tired after a nights "protesting" to realise the building they were in was on fire.
chipmunk77
says...
5:09pm Mon 7 Mar 11
Verushka26 wrote:Residents association backing?
From their press releases, it sounds like the gardeners want to do a meanwhile lease with the developer, whereby the site can be used as a community growing space until the developer is actually ready to build on it, which I'm totally for. And since they have Residents' Association backing them, I think it's probably more a case of the North Lanes neighbourhood wanting to make practical use of a disused eye-sore, rather than a place for people to just sit around and get drunk. I hope the developers reach an agreement with them.
I live in the area, nobody asked my opinion, or that of anyone I know.
These people simply BROKE IN to the site, it has been securely fenced for years with a 2 metre high metal fence, and its hardly an eyesore as you can't see through the fence unless you put your eye to the fence panel joins!
You seriously think they want to grow anything there, it's a contaminated former car workshop and scaffolders yard.
I dare them to eat anything they "grow" there!
As an aside, Verushka, do you HONESTLY think it's right to break into and occupy someones property just because they aren't using it?
I most certainly don't!
Perhaps they should come occupy your living room, garden, car etc when you are away on holiday or at work, that would seem to be acceptable in your eyes.
Please feel free to post your address.
Gaz the great
says...
5:29pm Mon 7 Mar 11
floyda
says...
5:44pm Mon 7 Mar 11
But maybe I'll buy large amounts of land.
General Dreedle
says...
6:21pm Mon 7 Mar 11
Verushka26 wrote:People didn't sit around and get drunk in it as it was fenced off but you can bet your life they will do when its a p*ss artist's garden. And what relevance is it what the North Laine's Residents Asscociation wants to do with a site that doesn't belong to them? Are you one of those 'all property is theft / capatalism is terrible whiners?' If you are perhaps you should reflect on the fact that capatilism has allowed you to own a computer and have access to the internet and no doubt housed you in relative comfort in one of the richest countries in the world. By the way I have the backing of your neighbours to take over your kitchen for cooking up Crack. I assume this is ok with you, or are there double standards at work here?
From their press releases, it sounds like the gardeners want to do a meanwhile lease with the developer, whereby the site can be used as a community growing space until the developer is actually ready to build on it, which I'm totally for. And since they have Residents' Association backing them, I think it's probably more a case of the North Lanes neighbourhood wanting to make practical use of a disused eye-sore, rather than a place for people to just sit around and get drunk. I hope the developers reach an agreement with them.
abookbyitscover
says...
6:35pm Mon 7 Mar 11
Suxinthecity
says...
7:10pm Mon 7 Mar 11
GRANDAD
says...
8:26pm Mon 7 Mar 11
"all the assumptions that some of them so boldly make"
"stop reading the Daily Mail...it kills brain cells...and hope, like most news"
"assume you have it all worked out"
Contradictions come from all viewpoints, doesn't mean any or all of them are correct
PorkBoat
says...
10:55pm Mon 7 Mar 11
abookbyitscover
says...
10:57pm Mon 7 Mar 11
GRANDAD
says...
11:52pm Mon 7 Mar 11
abookbyitscover wrote:Negative, maybe.
I wasn't sure quite where such negative and racist views could have come from. My apologies. What a world.
Racist, where in the above postings?.
abookbyitscover
says...
10:16am Tue 8 Mar 11
Therefor comments such as, quote
"These type of deadbeat losers will never achieve anything in their lives. All they know how to do is grow their hait long, layabout and complain about how crap life is", when applied to a certain group of individuals who have already been judged as a "bunch of lazy dole-ites too stoned to realise their unwashed pants are on fire" constitutes racism. As these views would seem to be prejudiced - being biased or having a belief or attitude formed beforehand. I thought this was really sad.
Again though....it seems you are not willing to engage in an open discussion of any value other than to try and assert yourself over me, I submit. I shall return to work and continue to support a system of misappropriation that only sees us living in material comfort because most of the world lives in extreme poverty, in environments that are becoming degraded by our environmental 'offsetting'. The societies in which this activity is ongoing are becoming more unequal and fragmented....much like our own. I would be be happy to discuss this with anyone should they wish and can bring more than enough social and environmental research evidence to back up any of my claims. This is something I feel we should all be able and willing to do. At least this way discussions can be factually based rather than on hearsay and assumptions. We need dialogue, something that is clearly not happening here. Perhaps though I'm wrong, perhaps I shouldn't question the imperfect nature of the world, perhaps I should ignore the huge developments made by all those who have lived before us, all those people who were brave enough to challenge ideology, all those who went against the status quo, against the dominant forces to bring us liberty and freedoms we very much take for granted. Going against the grain is how the world becomes a better place. Its integral to our development, along with all our efforts. We are all in this together. If it were not for the passion and determination of the 'outsider' to bring about change, then perhaps we wouldn't be sharing our views so openly. If we are going to post lets try and to be more open about why we feel the way we do. So many opportunities are missed in this world due to our inability to communicate what is really going on. All the best to everyone.
GRANDAD
says...
10:48am Tue 8 Mar 11
Thanks for the explanation and there was no intention to assert myself over you so apologies if thats how it came across.
I was originally pointing out that you were the one using stereotypical judgements referring to Daily Mail readers, especially as under the definition you give above you are using a racist comment.
I personally don't believe you or the comment are racist by any defintion or intended to be but hope you'd give the benefit of the doubt to others (including Mail readers) who happen to disagree with you and treat the "unwashed/layabout" comments as abuse and ignore them.
abookbyitscover
says...
11:50am Tue 8 Mar 11
Ashles
says...
2:52pm Tue 8 Mar 11
Race is not an accurate term when applied to people who simply dress or have their hair cut a certain way which is what some people are judging on here.
It is not in any way a defining characterictic of 'race'. As you cannot define the protesters/gardeners
/whatever you call them as a certain race, prejudice against them simply is not racist. Doesn't make it right of course, but it isn't racist and you distract from your own points by bringing racism unecessarily into the discussion.
I also have no wish to cast abuse at the garedners - but cannot understand why their desire to 'change things' is not channelled into any activity that might actually have some effect on something.
Teaching people "how to grow food" in almost certainly polluted land doesn't seem a particularly productive use of time.
abookbyitscover
says...
6:37pm Tue 8 Mar 11
General Dreedle
says...
6:58pm Tue 8 Mar 11
Ashles wrote:Thank you Ashles. I agree my invective may have been silly and over the top but it is in no way racist. I object to lazy people who don't want to work but to live off benefits, particularly those that have had the benefit of a good education who use silly projects like this an excuse not to work. It is about atitude not about race. If you want to do something worthwhile, raise some money for sick kids who need expensive operations. Growing
abookbyitscover - sorry no, your attempt to redefine the word 'racism' is just simply incorrect. Race is not an accurate term when applied to people who simply dress or have their hair cut a certain way which is what some people are judging on here. It is not in any way a defining characterictic of 'race'. As you cannot define the protesters/gardeners /whatever you call them as a certain race, prejudice against them simply is not racist. Doesn't make it right of course, but it isn't racist and you distract from your own points by bringing racism unecessarily into the discussion. I also have no wish to cast abuse at the garedners - but cannot understand why their desire to 'change things' is not channelled into any activity that might actually have some effect on something. Teaching people "how to grow food" in almost certainly polluted land doesn't seem a particularly productive use of time.
veg on contaminated land whilst trespassing is ridiculous and just an excuse to protest against the capitalist society that has raised us well and supports those of us that don't want to work. Check out the young asylum seekers who come to this country desperate for a good education and a thirst for knowledge who are prepared to study and work hard, not live off benefits. They can't understand why british nationals slag off their own country and don't want to work. More of them please. Perhaps the trespassers could swap places with them and put up with what they have had to deal with for a while. The racist comment is the usual ad hominem attack of the left on anyone that disagrees with them.
smileygardener
says...
10:06am Wed 9 Mar 11
As a gardener I would like to clarify a few points beyond the wise words of Veraushka26, Suxinthecity and abookbyitscover. The garden is a DRY space, i.e. there is a policy of no drugs or alcohol allowed on site and it is a FAMILY FRIENDLY SPACE.
Furthermore many, if not most, of the gardeners have full time jobs and come across the plethora of society, from all walks of life, incomes, class and political conviction. Committing our time to the garden comes ON TOP OF OUR JOBS and as thus we sacrifice things such as sleep, time with our friends and the time you may spend reading the Daily Mail.
As for those on benefits such safety nets are in place within society and it is foolish to doubt that most of those who receive this support are in desperate need of it.
Most of all WHY NOT USE THIS SPACE?? ALthough it may be private property it has been intentionally left vacant and unsightly for nearly 20 years purely on the basis of its potential to turn a profit when IN THE MEANWHILE IT COULD BE USED AS A COMMUNITY SPACE. Indeed to this end the gardeners have suggested a Meanwhile Lease as a way of formalising this arrangement (you would know this if you read The Mound's website). The misuse of the space by developers is a malfunction of the incentives and regulation in place within our current capitalist system. Not all capitalist systems are the homogeneous, and in this respect at the very least ours in not functioning properly. Capitalism must be regulated and moulded to suit the needs of society - not the other way around.
If in any doubt about this come and visit; come talk to the gardeners.
If you think that breaking petty laws such as trespassing is a reason to not visit I would merely point out that everything Hitler did was 'legal' and most of the things the civil-rights movement does were 'illegal'. Go figure!
Ashles
says...
11:43am Wed 9 Mar 11
Secutity words:
grow-away
GRANDAD
says...
8:59pm Wed 9 Mar 11
Nice and fair comments about the site but why spoil and cheapen your post by saying "everything Hitler did was" legal".
I appreciate the quotation marks signify "legal" under the Nazi regime but surely you also recognise the basis of the Nuremburg trials and it is insulting to many millions who suffered under the Nazi regime to apply even ironic references to their acts as legal.
You also suffer from that strange Argus posters disease of writing on the Argus website assuming they are all readers of the Daily Mail. Why?
madridred
says...
12:39pm Thu 10 Mar 11
-whatever" views and actions they are immediately branded a Daily Mail reader?
Not all liberals/greens/what
chamacallems are greasy, unwashed stinking hippies, and likewise - not everyone who disagrees with them is a right-wing, capitalist Daily Mail reader! Get a grip ffs!
For what it's worth, I believe it is wrong to trespass on this land; it belongs to someone else and is not yours to do with as you wish. While I agree it is a good idea to have some kind of community garden in the area, this is not the way of going about it.
If you really want to make a difference, why not make contact with the owners of the property and try and work something out together? If planning permission for other types of developments have been turned down, then if you present this to them as a viable option (perhaps with the sale of produce with a proportion of profits going to the owners and some to charity and upkeep of the property?) then a solution may be reached that can please both parties.
Alternatively, what about offering to buy or rent the property from the owners? If this is REALLY about making the space more pleasant for the residents and the community, and not about mindless squatting and protesting, you shouldn't have a problem with it... right?
Eric the Eel
says...
11:24pm Sat 12 Mar 11
madridred wrote:yeah, you ever hear of that kevin costner movie 'dances with wolves'? i'll give you punches with faces
Why is it, that if someone disagrees with "liberal/green/lefty
-whatever" views and actions they are immediately branded a Daily Mail reader?
Not all liberals/greens/what
chamacallems are greasy, unwashed stinking hippies, and likewise - not everyone who disagrees with them is a right-wing, capitalist Daily Mail reader! Get a grip ffs!
For what it's worth, I believe it is wrong to trespass on this land; it belongs to someone else and is not yours to do with as you wish. While I agree it is a good idea to have some kind of community garden in the area, this is not the way of going about it.
If you really want to make a difference, why not make contact with the owners of the property and try and work something out together? If planning permission for other types of developments have been turned down, then if you present this to them as a viable option (perhaps with the sale of produce with a proportion of profits going to the owners and some to charity and upkeep of the property?) then a solution may be reached that can please both parties.
Alternatively, what about offering to buy or rent the property from the owners? If this is REALLY about making the space more pleasant for the residents and the community, and not about mindless squatting and protesting, you shouldn't have a problem with it... right?
Ballroom Blitz says...
12:16pm Mon 7 Mar 11
It is not a 'community garden' It is someone else's land.
You see what has happened here.
When the landowners of the Lewes Rd community garden allowed the so called 'guerilla gardeners' to stay on their land for a limited time, they were well and truly kicked in the nadgers by the mindless idiots who 'took over' the space when the original gardeners left as per the agreement.
Now no-one will allow anyone to occupy undeveloped ground, because they know that same thing will happen again, and cost the developers a load of money to get them moved.
The inevitable will happen here, as it did at Lewes Rd. They WILL be moved. It will just take time and cost money.
But of course the people illegally occupying the land don't care about that, as none of them work and contribute in tax revenue, and consequently have no sense of real 'community' at all.