Features / Turbo Island
‘There are two legal mechanisms which will affect the state of Turbo Island’
Turbo Island has reportedly been sold to an unknown buyer for £100,000.
Plans were announced to put it up for auction on October 16 but ultimately no auction took place.
Still, when the council initially announced their plans, a Save Turbo Island campaign was launched to try and ensure it remained a community space.
is needed now More than ever
Benoit Bennett, a director of the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC), is a key organiser in the campaign.
“I’m a community artist and do a bit of all kinds of stuff here, from cleaning up Turbo Island, putting on events… all sorts. PRSC is a community arts organisation that’s been promoting Stokes Croft as an area, an outdoor gallery and creative quarter since 2016,” he told Bristol24/7.
People from all walks of life bump into each other at Turbo Island.
As Benoit explained: “people can interact (there) without having to have an economic reason for being there…people like homeless people and street drinkers interact with students and commuters and stuff in the way that you don’t get a lot of places.”
Milo Kavanagh sat down with Benoit Bennett the day before the council’s proposed auction – photo: Milo Kavanagh
Benoit said the Save Turbo Island campaign was a multifaceted attempt to “push back against gentrification”
He explained: “The wider campaign is about showing any potential buyers that there is a strong community presence here…
“Overall there’s two legal mechanisms which will affect the state of Turbo Island and hopefully put off some of the more commercially minded buyers. One is that we’ve applied for village green status.”
Village green status would mean that Turbo Island couldn’t be built on. This would preserve its current state.
The Save Turbo Island campaign are currently gathering evidence in support of Turbo’s registration as a village green.
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The second route the campaign hoped to go down was to take part in the council’s proposed auction.
They set up a crowdfunder which reached around £2000 of its £50,000 goal.
Benoit said: “Our crowdfunder didn’t quite take off as much as we hoped.
“But there are several people who have, in various different ways, offered the land trust money, whether it be loans or donations, towards buying Turbo Island.
“So, I am still hopeful that might come to something and then the land trust can actually just go in and bid in the auction.”
Turbo Island has reportedly been sold to a mystery buyer for £100,000 – photo: Martin Booth
Despite Benoit’s belief that there is a strong community in Turbo Island, who could risk being displaced, others strongly disagree.
Online it is common to find social media users complaining about drug use and anti-social behaviour in the area.
Bennett acknowledges this: “Yeah, I think there are aspects of the antisocial behaviour on Turbo Island which are so symptomatic of deep problems that we’ve got.
“You can move those problems around by stopping people hanging out on Turbo, but this doesn’t solve the issue.
“I think we need to be encouraging people to be compassionate about those issues.”
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Benoit added: “We should make sure that people who are there (Turbo Island) now get to stay there and get a say in how it will change.
“(We should) make sure there’s ways in which people like the street drinkers and people who want to have a fire on Turbo Island can remain there, while we make the space better for everyone – including them.
“I’m sure, with the right conversations and with the right engagement, we can get to that place.”
Now it has been sold, Benoit will have to wait and see whether the new buyers share his vision.
Main photo: Martin Booth
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