'Phoenix Quarter' Exhibition

The model and new artists impressions of the 'Phoenix Quarter' will be available to view in the Town Hall for two months from Wednesday 21st March. For more artists' impressions see the recent Viva Lewes issue http://www.vivalewes.com/issues/00061/index.html.

Barratt Homes - Wenban Smith

By contrast Barratts' exhibition came and went in a day with a planning application due in April! We hope that by placing artists impressions both of the 'Phoenix Quarter' and  Barratts it will be possible to get a joined up impression of the possible skyline as you drive over Phoenix Causeway into the historic core.

New Resource Section

At last night's packed Climate Concern meeting, Marina Pepper, Chair of Lewes District Council announced - 'the revolution is on'. How such a revolution will unfold, when scientific models collide, is unclear. One thing though is certain; change is in the air. Across a diverse range of challenges, regular full houses signal an energy and desire for local action and grass roots solutions.

To that end we are creating a new resource section on the site: Community Vision which we hope will help across a range of issues.

Over the coming weeks we aim to fill this section, not only with inspirational examples of what is being achieved by community action, but  also developments in sustainable practices such as building, transport, recycling, community land trusts, in fact, you name it and we will do our best to find best-case studies. We would like this to be an open ended interactive process, so if anyone knows of developments etc that would inform the shaping of Lewes into the future, let us know.

Planning Vision for North St Area - Update

In response to the challenge by six of the residents groups to the first stakeholders meeting, the District Council issued the following response:   LDC Response

The second and final stakeholders meeting took place on Wednesday 14th March. An early walkout by Residents stakeholders groups was narrowly averted - with one group withdrawing. In our view this second meeting was a marked improvement on the first with facilitators managing the context, participation and nature of the debate far better.

Lewes Matters still contends that an opportunity to consult more broadly can and should be grasped and we will continue to pursue this both with the Council and explore whether or not there is another way that a broader  more inclusive visioning process can be set up independently to assist the Council in the preparation of the Planning Vision for the North St Area.

Our aim now is to work with the Council and the other residents groups to see how our involvement in the preparation of this planning document can be extended beyond just two workshop meetings.

We brought to the meeting as an option, the model of Community Land Trusts. More about this model will soon feature in the Community Vision section, but the following word document from a research initiative by the University of Salford serves as a good introduction:  Community Land Trusts

 Angel Property and The Jam Factory - Update

On the 3rd of March we provided a link to the Jam Factory Residents Association website - which had been sent unsolicited to us - concerning a  complex dispute involving residents, Angel Property, and Southwark Council. We strongly believe that the 'portfolio' of any developer advancing proposals for such a large site, with all the attendant consequences, should be open to public scrutiny. However, we withdrew the item pending discussions with Charles Style, who felt that it was "inaccurate....and likely to prejudice the readers of your website", with a view to reinstating the original link, whilst giving the developer an opportunity to put the other side. Our discussions were overtaken by events, with a journalists' presentation at the public meeting on March 5th concerning the Jam Factory. Below are two letters received from Angel Property, which we are happy to print on full and the reinstated link to the Jam Factory Residents Association

 Angel Response to "exposé"
 Letter to Residents

Click to visit Jam Factory Residents Association web site. And click here to visit the Past Developments web site by Lewes journalist David Burke in relation to "Angel response to exposé" posted above.