Open letter from St Anne's Diggers, Lewes

By Raviliouse | Tuesday, June 28, 2011, 15:51

From: St Anne's Diggers, St Anne's School site, Rotten Row, Lewes.

St Anne's, Rotten Row, Lewes

To: Becky Shaw, Chief Exec ESCC, County Hall, Lewes. CC/ various

Date: Tuesday 28th June

Dear Becky Shaw,

Without prejudice:

In the last two months since we occupied St Anne's we have transformed what was a litter-filled wasteland strewn with fly tipping and overcome with weeds, into a vibrant common space for change.

In this time we have engaged with, among others, local homeless people, pensioners, school children, twenty somethings and older teens, the vulnerable, former St Anne's pupils, community leaders, families and tourists.

We are committed to holding and stewarding this space and growing this burgeoning community resource until the wider community has had an opportunity to get involved in a sustainable solution for the future uses of the site.

We understand however that the council is being advised to waste thousands of pounds in public funds on expensive eviction plans which may not be guaranteed success.

We urge the council to consider mediation before going any further down that road. Mediation would be without prejudice which, we are given to believe means there is nothing legally binding. It could provide an opportunity to explore common ground, thereby germinating the seeds of a painless and prudent resolution.

It is evident that both the council and St Anne's Diggers are committed to exciting and innovative possible uses for the site. It is also clear that using public funds to destroy an existing positive community resource simply on legal advice is profligate.

That we can agree broadly on these two key points suggests to us that mediation has the potential to move us forward.

Here at St Anne's we meet many community groups, their leaders and our councillors. We are convinced, from our conversations, that there are ways of co-operating that will ensure St Anne's continues to be cared for and ultimately best serves the community of Lewes and the county of Sussex

as a whole.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Saint Anne's Diggers

My diary: I stayed the night at St Anne's, Lewes

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Comments

Dear Ms Pepper

Thank you for your email to Becky Shaw, Chief Executive. She has asked me to respond.

As you know, we are committed to work with the local community to identify interim uses for St Anne's old school site; indeed I have given my personal assurance publically, and repeatedly, on this point. Furthermore, I have written to local community groups for their views on which local organisations should be invited to an open public meeting to discuss ideas as well as seeking any initial ideas they themselves may have. The County Council is keen to progress this and we are ready for a public meeting within seven days of you vacating the site. I urge you to leave, and end the illegal occupation, in line with the decision of the court as soon as possible. The sooner that happens, the sooner we can progress the discussions with the local community. Your continued occupation is holding up what can be a real opportunity to put the site to some imaginative interim uses.

There are very real health and safety concerns over asbestos in the building and over the safety of the site. As you have said, you have built defences including tree houses, tunnels and compost barricades, and these now represent additional hazards. If we are forced to evict because of your choice not to vacate, you and the other protestors will have caused significant cost falling on all of us as council tax payers and a waste of precious resources that otherwise would have been devoted to vital services.

Mediation is completely inappropriate as the case has already been considered by the court, which has considered all the relevant arguments and decided in our favour and an eviction order is in place.

Once again, I urge you to leave the site so that we can work with the whole community to put the site to some interim community uses.

Yours sincerely

Sean Nolan
Director of Corporate Resources

By ESCCcomms at 09:50 on 01/07/11
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It is a campaign to keep options open at the site: and - hopefully - prevent ESCC from selling it for development without consultation. There is a lot of good work being done there (including the planting!)

By Raviliouse at 20:14 on 28/06/11
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What exactly are they doing at St Anne's? Is it a veg plot?

By herbie15 at 18:09 on 28/06/11
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