See the article at The Guardian site

The response from Meanwhile Space & the DTA

What local people have achieved on Lewes Road is truly fantastic (Seeds of Doubt, 28 July), but let us not forget that although the space may not be available anymore, the project will
continue through the friendships that have been formed, as Ron
Evans highlighted.

In meanwhile uses, we talk of impermanence being a good thing. Nobody asks whether
putting your energy into a festival is worth it because you will have to pack

up and put everything away again at the end of it. It is the enjoyment you have
while it lasts, making the most of the time you have, coming together in a
space to make something brilliant and worthwhile happen while nothing else is.

We need the coalition government to continue to support the Meanwhile Project to
make ‘meanwhile’ more commonplace, so landowners are under pressure

not to leave their sites to collect fridges and cause blight and communities
know how to get things happening. The model leases for land produced for
the Meanwhile Project enable food growing, selling and play spaces by increasing
the confidence of both parties so that everyone benefits. The project gets to
use the space while something else is waiting to happen and the owner gets
their property back when they need it.

It is true that there are complications that can arise with using land (like the
newts!) but these are not barriers to activity: merely issues to be aware of

and navigate if necessary. This can only be done by the meanwhile
community coming together to share information and ways around potential pitfalls.

Yes, it is sad the garden will have to go when it means so much to so many, but it
is the nature of cities to change and evolve over time and the owner had always

planned to develop on the land when it was bought. It is a shame the finale of
such positive activity and energy has to be a protest. Now that the group have
a precedent for transforming a space, other pieces of land may become available
and with careful planning the hard work can be transported to other sites as
the meanwhile time comes to an end, as the growing skips on Argent's Kings
Cross development prove.

In the experience of the Meanwhile Project, no one minds if something is
temporary, as long as expectations are clear and an onward plan is

formed. The location may change but the impacts will live on.

Yours sincerely,

Emily Berwyn, Meanwhile Space CIC & Jess Steele, Development Trusts Association