How change starts ... with a single flowerbed
The sky threatened rain and a south-westerly wind blasted off the seafront as two dozen people hacked through weeds and retrieved sackloads of litter. We joined them to talk about urban revival
By Rebecca Maer
It’s just a flowerbed.
Dozens of people walk past it daily, probably barely noticing it, near the Crown and Anchor pub, just off Eastbourne seafront.
Somebody once planted it with graceful palm trees and colourful blooms, the whole bordered by an attractive low wall.
It also, until recently, featured weeds, encroaching ivy, hundreds of plastic wrappers stuck among the foliage, dozens of bottle tops and a few syringes.
Starting somewhere, somehow to change things is the thinking behind the Friends of Outer Devonshire Ward.
These are residents who have come together to address the problems of this deprived area just east of the town centre.
How do you start to tidy an area?
According to the Broken Windows Theory, visible mess and low-level chaos can lead to more serious crimes and people feel they can behave how they want, with no penalties. It was used as a successful starting point in cleaning up New York in the 1980s and 1990s.
On a recent Saturday, the sky threatened rain and a south-westerly wind blasted off the seafront as people waded among the plants to hack through weeds and pick up the human detritus among the leaves.
Shouts of “Needle!” alerted someone wearing specially designed gloves and with a sealed ‘sharps’ box to safely remove drug paraphernalia.
Two dozen volunteers gave up their afternoon to focus on clearing one large flowerbed next to the Eastbourne Pottery Studio. Sack upon sack of litter and weeds mounted up.
The Friends were joined by members of King's Church, which runs the Love Eastbourne project which is based on acts of kindness, and two councillors for the Devonshire ward.
Fighting to shake off deprivation
This area is deemed to be more deprived than most neighbourhoods in England: it is ranked 391 out of 33,755 neighbourhoods on the Government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation. It is the fourth most deprived council ward in East Sussex, behind three areas of Hastings.
The index takes into account factors including income, employment, education, health and crime.
“Deprivation refers to people’s unmet needs, a lack of access to opportunities and resources which we might expect in our society,” is the stated definition.
It is an area with many HMOs (House in Multiple Occupation) among the mix of 19th century cream-fronted buildings and more modern blocks of flats.
'Encourage people to love where they live'
Volunteers from the Friends’ Gardening Club have been itching to get started and gather enough support to make a difference.
Nadine Piper, who runs her own cleaning business, oversees the gardening club project She has lived in the area since moving four years ago from Kent.
She said: “We love it here, although it was not as rundown as this when we came. With more people coming into the community, there are not enough bins.
“You have to encourage people to love where they live. If you see rubbish, some people will throw more rubbish away.”
Kay Skinner, who has lived in the area for ten years, told the group how grateful she was for their support after frustration at getting the project started.
“I am really bowled over by the number of people here,” she told the volunteers, as they took a break to collect hot drinks from the back of a car. “It really warms my heart and restores my faith in humanity.”
She told Eastbourne Reporter: “There is a sense of community here. But when HMOs started to multiply, we seemed to be drowned out. We didn’t feel listened to.”
Cameron Sparshott, director of Quill Property Services, brought his two children aged five and seven along to help.
“It’s important they see what a team of people can do.”
He said he tries to support his tenants with their wellbeing, access to phones and admin tasks. However, he added: “Many of them need more support for their health, mental health and so on.”
Many hands make light work
The Love Eastbourne project of King's Church came along with people who also gave their time to help out.
Project lead Andy Thornett, who has lived in the area for 13 years, also said he had seen the area decline. He said of the gardening session: “It’s a demonstration of practical kindness to the area.”
And two of the ward’s borough councillors got stuck in to help. Council leader Stephen Holt, muffled against the wind, waded onto the raised bed to pick up a sackful of litter.
He said: “I wanted to come down and show my support for a couple of hours. It’s about residents getting together and the council supporting it.”
Christina Ewbank, also a ward councillor, said: “It’s important to show this area of town that we care about it and want it to be as lovely as anywhere else in Eastbourne. An area with litter attracts more litter.”
Spring planting is already being planned, notably herbs which residents will be able to pick and use.
As the afternoon wore on, one volunteer quoted the late tennis player Arthur Ashe talking about how individuals can take small steps to make a difference: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
A flowerbed is as good a place to start as any.
:: Rebecca Maer is a qualified journalist with 30 years’ experience in the UK and overseas as a news reporter, feature writer, columnist and business editor at organisations including the Press Association and The Observer. She started the Eastbourne Reporter in 2022 to revive genuine journalism in the town
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