This Must Be The Place

Sometimes you just have to take action….

This was the first in our series of mini place activations as part of our hashtag#XID pilot in Ramsgate 

For 3 hours we took over a small slightly neglected piece of ‘dead’ space that people walk through to get to Ramsgate station….

In 3 hours….

we painted a mural on some derelict hoardings 

we bought a sense of joy and wonder to more than 200 people in their cars as they drove past

adults from my Happy Mondays group who are unable to work due mental health or physical health difficulties helped paint and clear the space

we cleared 20 bags of weeds and rubbish from the space

we spoke to more than 20 people about looking after our shared space

The pub lent us some chairs

Ellington park provided free tea and coffee and volunteers

Is this a mini XID?

Hardware – a permanent mural for all to enjoy

Software – the community came together to make it happen 

Governance – Remixd did the ground work to make sure we had the right permissions 

Liveability – improved a public realm derelict space

Economic vitality – the mural points people to the local park, the pub and Chinese will benefit from having an improved space and the mural will attract attention

Environmental impact – we cleared 20 bags of rubbish 

What is this space?

It used to be a carpark – the pub opposite has been negatively affected by this change of use

A residential property next door tried to buy the land

It is owned by Kent County Council apparently, they have plans to put in a bench – not sure I would want to sit there – lots of traffic?

What could it be?

It’s a big space – about 5 metres by 20 metres – a nature takeover gets my vote