This Thursday evening (05/09), in response to last weekend’s news that Turbo Island will be put up for auction in October, a public meeting was called. The main aim of the evening was to assess interest in, and coordinate a combined community bid to purchase the space.

Around 50 people turned out, and Benoit (PRSC) and Oscar (who set up one of the GoFundMe pages) hosted and chaired.

There was a lot of energy, history with the space and expertise in the room. There was broad agreement, including from representatives of the Stokes Croft Land Trust, that SCLT, with its recent experience of a successful public property acquisition, would make for a natural choice to manage the legal elements of the purchasing process.

One main outcome was an agreement that we should approach Wildstone (the current owners) directly, and propose that they cancel the auction and allow us to put in an offer to purchase outright. This is in light of a recent offer they had made (at well below the current auction guide) to another local organisation. It seems clear from their statements about the sale that they want to offload Turbo Island, as it’s become more hassle than it’s worth for the money they make from the electrical substation and renting out the billboard space. They also emphasise their efforts to engage the local community, and wishes that another owner can create a positive future for Turbo, and in so doing, improve the area more broadly. We believe we’re in a perfect position to take that on, and will look to make them an offer along those lines.

The consensus on the future of Turbo was broadly that it should remain an open, multi-use space, and that any work on there should be to enhance and further current uses – keeping it open and easy to use – rather than building in specific purposes at the exclusion of others (speakers were specifically concerned not to exclude the communities which have been the most frequent users of the area for decades – homeless people, street drinkers, and the many other who rely on it as a social space to see who is around and hang out).

This was framed beautifully by one attendee, who said most communities further exclude marginalised people such as those who most often frequent Turbo Island, but here we hold them close, in the warm heart of Stokes Croft.

Other topics of discussion included:
– delaying tactics that could be used if the auction was not called off;
– options and ideas for fundraising;
– ways to make it clear to potential buyers who would want to develop the land that they’d face stiff opposition;
– the need to bring more local people and organisations into the discussions on the community bid and Turbo’s future;
– that the auction was even a surprise to the current tenants (Out of Hand);
– the possibility of launching a petition to show the sheer numbers of people who are about Turbo Island (both to Wildstone, and Bristol Council);
– running some kind of survey about possible changes to Turbo and it’s future;
– issues that would face any new community owners, such as public liability insurance/risk management.

If you have specific skills and knowledge that might be useful in any aspect of the process then please contact the PRSC (email hidden; JavaScript is required) or Oscar (via @save.turbo.island on Instagram). Particularly useful would be:
-legal expertise pertaining to property, public land, managing risk on public land etc.;
-any personal testimonies, memories and photos of using (or seeing others using) Turbo Island from the early 2000’s and earlier;
-people with fundraising experience, or with local contacts in the media, celebrities, influencers, musicians etc. who might be up for helping the campaign;
-people willing to put the time in to take surveys/petitions out onto the street and around local addresses;
-people with time and energy to help manage the campaign more generally.

If you are any of these please get in touch, and if you know anyone else who might be able & willing to pitch in along these lines then point them our way!

This is just the start of this process, so keep your eyes peeled for updates on this blog, newsletter and social media.