Monday, September 20, 2010

Mob rule in Bexhill

It is not often I have to face a baying mob whilst planting. But I did last week in Bexhill – a small and quiet town on England’s south coast, one of those middle-middle places between the better known bohemian/down-at-hill Hastings and trendy Brighton. The town’s chief claim to fame is the De La Warr Pavilion, a superb early modernist building; it’s just had a refurb and of course it is now the surrounding landscape, including a section of seaside promenade which is getting some attention from the local council.

There has been local opposition – there probably has been a failure of community consultation (a mixed blessing at the best of time, see below), but you can’t help but feeling that there are a lot of folk here who just dislike any change - Bexhill does not feel like a go-ahead with-it kind of place. The planting in question was right behind the walkway that runs along the top of the beach – right in the teeth of salt-laden winds and spray. I’ve looked at a fair number of coastal gardens over the years, with varying aspects, and got a good feel for the tough wiry sorts of plants which survive, a lot of them Mediterranean sub-shrubs like lavenders and cistus and grasses. And I took advice from Naila Greene, a garden designer in Devon, whose garden is in a very similar location on the south coast – and is a superb mix of intermingled perennials and low-growing shrubs.

The Bexhill locals who gathered on the other side of the Harris fencing where we were setting the plants out maintained that nothing would survive here. I went out to meet “the local residents”; some of them were prepared to engage in a discussion about what would work and what wouldn’t, but one woman got into a total frenzy and started to shout at me about the whole development, with her gang adding in their halfpenny’s worth in the background.  She was just short of abusive. You end up feeling like a scapegoat for everything they don’t like about the new development, which by the way includes play areas, seating, shelters and shower points - scarily trendy stuff - replacing grass, a low wall and strips of annual bedding.

I suspect there could have been more ‘community consultation’. But this does cost a lot of money  to do properly – which means less to spend on the actual development, and you will never satisfy all ‘the community’. Besides which ‘the community’ have a variety of views, and many of these are conservative, unadventurous and driven by prejudice. I think many of us felt sympathy with the well-known garden designer at a Vista evening who declared “f*** the community”. If all landscape designers were led by ‘the community’ we would never get anywhere further than beds of petunias and grass. My own feeling is that it is important to listen to people: their ideas, experiences of the locality and fears, but at the end of the day, a landscape designer has to be allowed to be creative, without which there will be no innovation.

8 comments:

allanbecker-gardenguru said...

Your experience underscores the importance of listening only to those that hire us. Being polite to onlookers can have painful consequences.

scottweberpdx said...

That is unfortunate...I'm amazed the people were that ballsy. It's a sad truth that community involvement can sometimes lead to total mediocrity, where no one is really happy.

Anonymous said...

I am a gardener in Bexhill Noel. We run a quality service using good quality materials and over 25 years of experience, we mow a lot of lawns and we are the only people around using very good modern cylinder mowers. we are not expensive but as we are efficient and professional we are considered so. Unfortunately as you say Bexhill is not a town that is going to move forward any time soon, mainly because half the town is populated by the type of person you encountered. Lots of people move here from London suburbs having seen the place on holiday when they were younger and want it to stay the same. But also I think that the councils plans aren't the best and were definitely ill timed as they started mid summer basically closing the seafront. Hopefully the work on the seafront will end up being an improvement and create some space for the future of bexhill!

cheers chris

Anonymous said...

i heard they are knocking down a lot of the beautiful, historical, victorian features which add character to the sea front. That's why people are so mad, it's vadalism.

Noel Kingsbury said...

Apropos of the supposed demolition of Victorian features, 'Anonymous' (actually Shona according to her email), as far as I know nothing is actually being demolished. I did ask. Always helps to check your facts.

Anonymous said...

Walked along the seafront today in the sunshine and I thought the landscaping and planting looked splendid. Well done for sticking out for what you believe. The final result, one year on - after some pretty foul weather - is really attractive. I don't suppose that even the ranting woman would be able to refute that.

Anonymous said...

Walked along the seafront today in the sunshine and I thought the landscaping and planting looked splendid. Well done for sticking out for what you believe. The final result, one year on - after some pretty foul weather - is really attractive. I don't suppose that even the ranting woman would be able to refute that.

Anonymous said...

Walked along the seafront today in the sunshine and I thought the landscaping and planting looked splendid. Well done for sticking out for what you believe. The final result, one year on - after some pretty foul weather - is really attractive. I don't suppose that even the ranting woman would be able to refute that.