New Victoria Gardens Boulevard

Part of the Boulevard, with assembled guests at one end

Photo by Henry Bruce

Members of the City Parks team that created the displays

Photo by Henry Bruce

On the edge of North Laine

By Jackie Fuller, North Laine resident

Victoria Gardens Boulevard is the new name given to that previously bare strip of grass opposite the derelict Astoria cinema [October 2010], on the edge of North Laine.

Formal opening

Brighton & Hove Council’s City Parks section has now planted this out with an imaginative selection of plants to give some colour and interest to those passing by on their way to the seafront. There was a formal opening on 17th August 2010, with Cllr Geoffrey Theobald, City Council Cabinet Member for Environment, cutting the ribbon.

A French design

This development is part of the Council’s wish to put in place sensitively designed and managed spaces for everyone to enjoy, with an eye to future sustainability. The design was based on one seen at Macon in France.

Mosly perennials

Each pair of beds has been planted with a different colour scheme, the last one at the south end being a combination of all of them. The plants are all wild life friendly and are already attracting bees and butterflies etc. Most of the plants are perennials, although for the first year before they have become established the gaps have been filled out with a few annuals.

A welcome development

This is a very welcome development and should improve impressions of this gateway to the lower part of town for both visitors and local residents.

[Previously published in the North Laine Runner, No 206, September/October 2010]