Latest news with #CarolineLucas
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Millionaire property developer is being prosecuted over 'wanton vandalism' of Victorian pub after his gang of workers smashed up historic tiles
A millionaire property developer accused of the 'wanton vandalism' of an historic Victorian pub is being prosecuted by council bosses. Charlie Southall, 46, bought the 150-year-old Montreal Arms in Brighton 'on a whim' after it closed during lockdown. He then hired a team of workers who took a pneumatic drill to the historic glazed green tiles of the locally listed pub. Residents were furious and confronted the property developer in the street, demanding he stop vandalising the historic pub. Police were called and the council issued an emergency stop order to prevent him further damaging the heritage tiles. Residents branded Mr Southall a 'vandal' after the incident in 2022 and Green MP Caroline Lucas called on the council to take action. Council bosses ordered the developer to replace the green glazed tiles in 2023 and restore the damage to the pub. But after a series of appeals and planning applications by Mr Southall, no work has been carried out. Now the council has announced it has launched legal proceedings against the developer for failing to restore the pub to its former glory. Cllr Tim Rowkins of Brighton & Hove City Council said: 'I can now confirm that the council has filed a summons with the court to prosecute the owner for the failure to comply with the enforcement notice relating to the reinstatement of the tiles. 'The next step will be for the court to issue the summons and fix a date for the first hearing.' The pub was built during a boom period of Victoria construction in Brighton in the 1870s and was the centre of a bustling community. The tiles date from around 1927 when work was carried out following the merger of the Portsmouth United brewery and Brighton's Rock brewery. Mr Southall, who also runs Dragonfly Digital Video Services, bought the pub for around £425,000 following its closure during the Covid lockdown. Nine days after collecting the keys, he decided to offer it for use as a free co-living space for refugee women and children fleeing the war in Ukraine. But when the property developer asked the local community to crowdfund a £85,000 renovation residents began to question his motives. In a heated exchanged during a public meeting, residents accused him of offering the property as accommodation for refugees in order to push through a change of use with city planners. Days later Mr Southall and a team of builders arrived outside the pub with a drill and proceeded to remove the glazed tiles from the exterior. Horrified residents gathered in the street and tried to stop the builders removing any more tiles In just over six hours, the team drilled off around one third of the listed green tiles before the council ordered issued an emergency stop order. Resident Harry Magee said: 'The tiles are called green faize tiles. They reflect different colours from different angles and are made of lead dyes. Each one will be handmade.' Accusing him of 'wanton vandalism', resident James Elliott said: 'He turned up with some guys armed with an almighty drill and proceeded to ruin a pub that has stood here for 150 years. He's an absolute disgrace and he's behaved like a spoilt child.' In a statement at the time Mr Southall, of Brighton, said: 'The new property owner has exactly the same permitted development rights as any other property owner in the area, and it is entirely lawful for external features to be altered or removed. This is a privately owned property.' The pub has now been put up for sale for £425,000 by Mr Southall and the estate agents are holding an open day next week. Mr Southall bought the pub for £420,000 in 2022 but has recently valued the pub at £150,000 in his own company accounts. Brighton and Hove City Council say responsibility for restoring the tiles would then fall on the new owner, who would be prosecuted if they failed to carry out the work.
The Guardian
27-03-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘A symbol of hope': environmentalists choose their favourite invertebrates
Invertebrates are hugely important for ecosystems and the general health of our planet and there is a dizzying array of beautiful examples, from fluffy bees to glow-in-the-dark woodlice. But which do you prefer? We asked the great and good on the UK conservation scene to name their favourite invertebrate: Steve Reed, UK environment secretary Red admirals are such a beautiful sight on a sunny day in the garden. Sadly we are seeing far fewer butterflies and insects, which is why this government is committed to banning bee-killing pesticides. Caroline Lucas, former Green leader and MP My vote goes to the common green grasshopper, because I like the vividness of its green body but mostly because the familiar 'churring' sound they make as they rub their legs against their wings is a sure sign that summer is on its way. The word 'stridulation' is a cool one, too – the name of the grasshopper's song. Nadia Shaikh, co-director of the Right to Roam campaign I nominate the green tiger beetle, Cicindela campestris. First, they are so strikingly beautiful: the body of the beetle is iridescent forest green with cream smudges. They also have long shiny legs, which are a sort of aubergine bronze colour. What is perhaps even more worthy of nomination is how they hunt: you'll find green tiger beetles on bare sandy soil looking for other insects, which they will catch in their very large jaws. It's spectacular to watch them running at great speeds along the ground after they've spotted something to eat. They are relatively easy to spot and endlessly exciting to watch dart around on their long legs. Sadiq Khan, mayor of London The relationship between Londoners and oysters goes beyond the card for catching the tube. Oysters once kept the working class of London fed, with Victorians eating hundreds of millions a year. They also have an inspiring future, as I saw when I visited New York and the Billion Oyster Project, which is using their natural filter feeding to clean the harbour – an idea with exciting potential for London's waterways. Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts The humble bumblebee wins out for me for several reasons, not least because they are beautiful and fluffy insects whose appearance effortlessly symbolises the hope of spring and vibrancy of summer. But they're not just here to look nice. They play a vital role as ambassadors for the important ecosystem services that nature provides and humanity replies upon – in this case, pollination. For many children, especially in urban areas, bumblebees are one of the first connections they make to nature and the beginnings of an awareness of the importance of nature for our survival. And I love that everyone can experience them, whether in towns, cities, the coast or the countryside. Whenever I see one, to me they also symbolise the huge threats to nature we're facing. The loss of habitat and overuse of pesticides continues to be incredibly damaging to bees. Now that the government has promised to ban one group of these toxic pesticides – neonicotinoids – I'm looking forward to seeing bumblebees this year as a symbol of a hope after a hard-fought and recently won campaign, but also a reminder of how much more we have to do. Mary Creagh, UK environment minister The ladybird is a the best sort of superbug – chomping through the aphids on my fruit trees and inspiring generations of children through poetry. My only grumble is that they love having their babies in my bathroom, which can lead to some close encounters in spring! Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England The small tortoiseshell. Their orange, black and white wings, fringed with blue dots, bring a bright splash of exotic colour to spring and summer. They are sadly no longer common, with numbers now at an all-time low. Guy Shrubsole, author and nature campaigner I think I'd have to go with the blue ground beetle, an icon of Britain's temperate rainforests and devourer of slugs. I've only seen this species once, on a moonless night around midnight, in a damp and dripping Atlantic oakwood on the banks of the River Dart. They're surprisingly large, iridescent indigo-blue and scuttle up and down tree trunks in search of their prey. Beccy Speight, chief executive of the RSPB In the cloud forests of Saint Helena, a UK Overseas Territory in the middle of the South Atlantic, the spiky yellow woodlouse has a party trick: when the UV lights show, they literally glow, the only woodlouse of record to have this reaction. But they're not the only incredible creature on Saint Helena: the island is also home to 250 other unusual species which live nowhere else on Earth. The RSPB has been involved in conservation on this magical island since 2018, working with the island community and partners on a plan to save and restore the vital cloud forest. Prof Dave Goulson, expert in invertebrates I have to go for the hairy-footed flower bee, Anthophora plumipes. Seeing these lovely fluffy bees zipping about the garden is one of the highlights of springtime. The jet-black females are most interested in drinking nectar from lungwort and grape hyacinth, while the rusty-brown males have eyes only for the girls, chasing off rival males and defending patches of flowers that females might visit. Courtship involves the male grabbing clumsily at the female either mid-air or while she feeds on a flower. He then tries to make up for his gauche behaviour by gently brushing her face seductively with his hairy feet. These are solitary bees, only on the wing for a few weeks in April and May. Between 24 March and 2 April, we will be profiling a shortlist of 10 of the invertebrates chosen by readers and selected by our wildlife writers from more than 2,500 nominations. The voting for our 2025 invertebrate of the year will run from midday on Wednesday 2 April until midday on Friday 4 April, with the winner to be announced on Monday 7. Read the other wonderful nominations here.
The Guardian
23-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Caroline Lucas: ‘I can't imagine my parents ever voted Green, but they became less antagonistic'
It's tempting to think of Caroline Lucas as a kind of spirit of place in Brighton. She has arrived first at Food for Friends, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the city, and there is something almost mythical in seeing the pioneering Green MP in its window seat, facing the Lanes, framed by trailing foliage. She has been coming here for as long as she can remember, she says – the restaurant opened in 1981 and used to have folk queuing around the block. She recommends the blueberry and ginger 'nojito', orders the Thai noodle salad and crispy tofu, and half apologises for still being 'a vegetarian on the road to veganism' without quite yet arriving at that destination. It's nine months since Lucas stepped down after 14 years in parliament as her party's first and, in that time, only MP. I sense that she is still getting used to this kind of thing – leisurely lunches on a weekday, without somewhere to dash off to. She is, rightly, adamant that she has not retired. Far from it: she remains a tireless activist on the issues she cares about – the environment and the climate crisis, and Britain's return to Europe (among several other patron and ambassador roles she is co-president of the European Movement with the former attorney general Dominic Grieve). She is writing a children's book, and has an acclaimed adult one already out – called Another England, and one reason for our lunch. It's about the idea of England, and 'how to reclaim our national story'. She talks animatedly about the joys of her new home near the Seven Sisters cliffs, along the coast at Seaford, where she walks her labrador puppy on the beach – but she resists my suggestion that relief must be her overriding emotion after leaving parliament. 'I'm finding it much harder to adapt than I thought I would,' she says. 'On the one hand, it is liberating not to have to haul yourself up to Westminster and spend hours and hours in the chamber trying to get speaking time, and then not getting seen by the speaker. But I suppose inevitably you miss the platform, which is an enormous privilege.' One of her reasons for standing down was that for all that time she was the Greens' one-woman spokesperson on everything from health to education to the economy to defence. It is a measure of her effectiveness between them that she has been replaced in the current parliament by an unexpected four new Green MPs, who can divvy up those briefs between them between them. 'When I heard how they were able to split up all the different portfolios, I burst into tears thinking back on it,' Lucas says. 'On that responsibility of feeling that if there was going to be a green angle in any debate, then the only person who was going to give it was me.' Some of her conclusions about the frustrations and challenges of those feverish years – through the coalition government, austerity, Brexit and Covid – are expressed in her book. Like everything that Lucas articulates, it is a mix of nuanced hope and sharply informed anger about the state of the nation. The new paperback edition comes with an afterword that is damning about the early Starmer government's lack of conviction, its weak compromises on environmental commitments (this is even before news of the third runway at Heathrow) and its avoidance of the issues that Reform UK so cynically exploits, including the vexed question of English identity. Lucas believes passionately that the idea of England must be reclaimed from the far right, and that it can be progressive and pluralist and comfortable in its own skin (of whatever colour). 'Patriotism isn't boasting that your country is 'world beating' at this or that,' she says. 'I like Billy Bragg's definition, which is, basically, just giving a shit about your country. Wanting it to be as good and fair as it can be.' One of the themes of her book is that Labour has no vision of what this might look like, no story to tell: 'They are much less ambitious than their voters.' She thinks it 'bloody scandalous' that with their 170-seat majority they are talking so much about cuts, rather than a wealth tax or land reform. Before Lucas became a politician, she gained a PhD in English literature (her dissertation was on writing for women in Elizabethan times) and her polemic is deeply informed by the tradition of dissenting English writers engaging with the social and environmental issues of their time – John Clare's impassioned poetic manifestos against the Enclosure Acts, for example, the fencing off of the English imagination's right to roam. 'I think if more of our politicians knew fiction and poetry, we'd have better politics,' she says. 'We are a country of nature lovers. We're also one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. And it's just like, how does that happen?' With our plates full of fabulous locally sourced veg, we talk a little about how one aspect of that depletion is the fact that, as a society, we are so divorced from the ethics and production of what we eat. (Last year, Lucas resigned as vice-president of the RSPCA over exposed failings in its 'RSPCA Assured' accredited abattoirs. At the time the RSPCA defended its record and said there were 'differing views on how best to address the incredibly complex and difficult issue of farmed animal welfare'.) She regrets to say that she is not much of an enthusiastic home cook – her husband Richard Savage, a recently retired English teacher and one-time professional cricketer, does most of that – but she does love making things that last: batches of marmalade and preserves – 'I love to see the jars lined up' – or a Christmas cake. One of Lucas's proudest achievements in parliament was helping to create a new GCSE in natural history. It was designed to bring young minds in closer touch with their environment, and to help them understand sustainability through applied science and literature (a course Wordsworth would have loved). Though ready to be rolled out by the Tories, Labour has, to her dismay, shelved it. Another significant parliamentary legacy, the climate and nature bill – which seeks to bring government policy in line with its international commitments, and link the renewal of nature with the climate crisis for the first time in law – was also, shamefully, scuppered by the government when it was due to be voted on last month. Equally scandalous, it seems to me, I suggest, is the fact that Lucas was not elevated to the House of Lords on leaving her seat in the main chamber. Doesn't it make a mockery of the second house if there is no room for someone of her conviction, expertise and popularity? She doesn't elaborate – 'that's not for me to say'. She is used to being the committed outsider, though she wishes it otherwise. Lucas grew up in Malvern – Elgar country, where her dad ran a small central heating company and both parents voted Tory. Though there was a sense of freedom in the hills, she was hemmed in by the narrowness of attitudes. What did her parents make of her career? 'They were bemused by most of it,' she says. 'It was like, 'When are you going to get a proper job?'' They were a little more sympathetic when she became an MP. 'I can't imagine they ever voted Green,' she says, 'but perhaps they became slightly less antagonistic.' She recalls, with a smile, the time she was arrested protesting against American cruise missiles at RAF Molesworth. Her father contacted her from his Rotary club, wondering if there was anything he could do to bail her out. She has maintained a belief in non-violent direct action – she was arrested again in an anti-fracking protest in 2013 – and has been a rallying voice against the draconian sentencing of Extinction Rebellion activists. That consistent rage against the kind of denialism that threatens the planet has found another expression for Lucas since she gave up full-time politics – she is training to become an end-of-life doula, spending time counselling people in hospices and families facing the death of a loved one. 'I'm on a mission,' she says of her training with the organisation Living Well, Dying Well. 'We are not good at talking about death. But I do love the way in which, with people towards the end of life, you can cut through the crap, you know, and get to what's important.' The tragedy, she suggests, is that more of us do not get to that realisation about what really matters so much earlier – stop and smell the roses, while there are still roses to smell. We're finishing up a fabulous shared pineapple tart while we dwell on the big questions. 'My biggest fear,' she says, before she goes, 'would be to be on your deathbed and regret that you hadn't done enough.' Another England by Caroline Lucas (Cornerstone, £10.99) is out now in paperback
