Lewes Road community garden opposes Tesco — update

Fol­low­ing a sym­pa­thet­ic court hear­ing against devel­op­ers Alburn Minos Ltd and Tesco on July 9 Lewes Road Com­mu­ni­ty Gar­den sup­port­ers are more deter­mined than ever to stay put on one of Brighton’s busiest and most pol­lut­ed roads. The gar­den is OPEN!

Lewes Road community gardenFol­low­ing a sym­pa­thet­ic court hear­ing against devel­op­ers Alburn Minos Ltd and Tesco on July 9 Lewes Road Com­mu­ni­ty Gar­den sup­port­ers are more deter­mined than ever to stay put on one of Brighton’s busiest and most pol­lut­ed roads. The gar­den is OPEN!

Alburn Minos Ltd and Tesco failed in their attempts to get £3,500 costs award­ed against two named indi­vid­u­als who have had to dis­as­so­ci­ate them­selves from the gar­den because of the legal har­rass­ment and bul­ly-boy tac­tics typ­i­cal of cor­po­ra­tions in cas­es rang­ing from ani­mal rights activists to McLi­bel.

Judge Coltart said the costs claim was not pro­por­tion­ate and award­ed the devel­op­ers £500 which was raised two days after thanks to ever grow­ing pub­lic sup­port now that Tesco is known to be involved. One anony­mous donor gave £200 at a gar­den Eco- Fayre (July 11) and num­bers sign­ing the Save LRCG peti­tion are run­ning at 40 a day.

The next step? Gar­den­ers, near­by res­i­dents and the wider com­mu­ni­ty are con­tin­u­ing to bring water and plants to the site. Art stu­dents have installed a tree sculp­ture while long time gar­den sup­port­ers are return­ing now that it is clear Tesco ain’t gonna have it their own way.

An evic­tion order is expect­ed soon with a sec­ond attempt by the devel­op­ers to take the land.

On Fri­day July 23 a ben­e­fit gig is being held at Hec­tors House pub in Grand Parade fea­tur­ing punk swing out­fit Flat Stan­ley, Ade Sings Rossel­songs and DJ Gene Defekt. £4 on the door with all the mon­ey going to a gar­den fight­ing fund.

Lewes Road Com­mu­ni­ty Gar­den was set up in May 2009 by a group from the local com­mu­ni­ty. It has pro­vid­ed a meet­ing space and green haven ever since, enjoyed by thou­sands of peo­ple, pro­vid­ing a venue for com­mu­ni­ty events and bring­ing togeth­er local res­i­dents many of whom don’t have gar­dens them­selves. There is a food waste com­post scheme, and reg­u­lar events with close to 5,000 peo­ple have signed a peti­tion of sup­port for the gar­den and against Tesco, a bet­ting shop and 7 flats planned.

The devel­op­ers are:

Alburn Minos Ltd, C/O King Loose St Johns House, 5 South Parade, Som­mer­town, Oxford, OX2 7JL

Simon Tam­plin
Tau­re­an Man­age­ment Ser­vices Ltd
Green Leaves, West­er­ham Road, Keston, KENT UNITED KINGDOM

Gilbert-Ash, Emp­son Road, Fen­gate, Peterborough,Cambridgeshire, PE1 5UP Tel: 01733 552091Fax: 01733 311355

Tesco boss: terry.leahy@uk.tesco.com
Tesco head of media: jonathan.church@uk.tesco.com

Gar­dens by the Com­mu­ni­ty For the com­mu­ni­ty!

Stop Tesco!