The Mound as it was a week ago: a wild green space in the heart of the city
Yesterday morning at 5am bailiffs and “construction” workers employed by Hargreaves snuck into the Mound. At about 7.30am they were first noticed by neighbours and supporters who began calling and emailing us to give us the news that they had taken possession. By 9 o clock the garden had been completely demolished but Hargreaves spent the next 5 hours obliterating all traces of it; they even completely levelled the mound in the middle of the garden with a JCB digger, despite being warned by gardeners that chunks of asbestos were likely present inside of it – during our initial clear up in January we found asbestos in the ground, all of which we safely disposed of, but we cannot account for what was inside the mound. Of course, our warnings were ignored, like all the letters we sent to Hargreaves asking for their permission to garden there.
A group of us had spent the night networking and sharing knowledge at Grow Heathrow, a project in Sipson which was once a market garden and is now a flourishing community growing project and Transition Town which was squatted over a year ago in protest against the proposed Heathrow third runway expansion. It is an incredibly successful and inspiring project, with the full support of the local community behind it – perhaps something like what the Mound could have been if we’d had a bit more time. We believe Hargreaves were aware of our visit and had timed the demolition in order to catch us unawares – which they did.
However, it was not the fact that we were absent from Brighton that rendered us unprepared, it was because we had (naively) recently become optimistic about the future of the garden and had dropped our guard. Six weeks on from our court case, we didn’t really understand why we had not already been evicted. Speculation within the garden was rife: perhaps they had decided it was not worth their while to spend money on a costly eviction, given that they have no plans for the land and we were not doing any harm: in fact, most people agree we were doing a lot of good.
The mistake that was perhaps our ultimate undoing was not realising how low Hargreaves would stoop to turf us out and reclaim their wasted piece of land. Richard Andrew, Managing Director of Hargreaves and the man responsible for co-ordinating the eviction and subsequent demolition, came into the garden with his children on Sunday, two days before he destroyed it. He spent about ten minutes there, answering his childrens’ questions about what was growing in the beds and then spending time at our wildlife observation area, which had recently seen small creatures like birds and newts slowly return to the space. Then he left and the speculation began about what had motivated his visit.
Belligerent bailiffs cover their shame with smiles (click to enlarge)
The vast majority of the people we spoke to thought it was a positive sign. Perhaps Mr Andrew was softening up? Maybe he had heard about the good work we were doing there and had come to see for himself, perhaps as a precursor to changing his mind and offering us the Meanwhile Lease we so desperately wanted? The alternative was too awful to consider: that this was a man who was so cynical and entrenched in his selfishness that he would use his children as a shield to allow him to gain access to a space that would not normally welcome him, perhaps gloating in the knowledge that he would soon wreak a terrible revenge on those who had been so presumptuous as to turn a derelict piece of land he owned into an urban oasis. I can’t help wondering if he went home on Tuesday evening and told his two lovely children that he had just ordered and observed the demolition of the garden he had shown them?
Those of us who care about our neighbours even though we might not even know them cannot really conceive of what it must be like to be driven by greed rather than by goodness and compassion and the desire to make our local communities better. We’ll never truly understand what goes on in the minds of people for whom love of money and power comes before their own loved ones. It’s very disturbing when you think about it… but then again, it’s not – it’s normal behaviour in a system which values profit over people. I don’t blame Richard Andrew for what he did. He is simply a product of the capitalist system like every other millionaire property developer. He was born into this system as we all were, a cog slightly larger than most but still just an insignificant little cog in a stupid machine than is rumbling inexorably on, perpetrating the destruction of our planet.
Protesters outside the Mound on Tuesday (click to enlarge)
All the gardeners and the free people of Brighton are deeply saddened by the loss of the Mound, as is the community of Brighton’s North Laine, hundreds of people who passed through the garden during it’s short life and left feeling a renewed sense of joy and hope that perhaps on this small plot of land at least we could reverse the trend towards apathy and disempowerment that weighs heavy on so many hearts in our society.
Lots of people from all walks of life came together and gave a huge amount of their time and energy to the Mound project. We don’t feel like our energy was wasted. The project has been a huge success. The bonds that formed in the garden will not easily be broken. The true legacy of the Mound is the friendships that were cultivated there, not the flowers and vegetables. Those relationships were not demolished as Richard Andrew looked on with satisfaction and joked as the diggers turned over the earth and buried our plants forever.
The aftermath: all that remains of the garden is churned earth
One final thought: In destroying their garden so coldly and absolutely, perhaps all Richard Andrew has succeeded in doing is to radicalise a group of peaceful gardeners – to galvanise and focus them on the great challenges that are to come. Be in no doubt, there are challenges coming. The days of flying asparagus from Peru and broccoli from Kenya are numbered. Community food growing projects are the future and if the success of the Mound has brought this city one step closer towards making that a reality then the Mound gardeners can feel justifiably very proud of themselves.
This is not the end of the Mound. This is just the beginning. Watch this space for the next instalment.
Gary Gardener
Please add your comments below or get in touch via our contact form. Feel free to email Richard Andrew at Hargreaves to let him know your thoughts but please keep it clean 
If you want to get involved with the next phase of the Mound project then come along to one of our meetings. You’re most welcome. You will have a lot of fun.
