Flooding at the Level which has closed its cafe for almost two years is partly due to a Victorian brick drainage system being damaged when the skate park was built.
The multi-million pound revamp of the city centre park ten years ago won a clutch of awards – but the flagship cafe first had to have its eco-roof replaced, and then was forced to close when water came up through the floor.
One possible cause was that the Wellesbourne, which runs under Valley Gardens, was to blame. However, Brighton and Hove City Council investigations showed low groundwater levels – but during storms, huge influxes of water from Ditchling Road was not soaking away properly.
Meanwhile, the closed cafe became a magnet for antisocial behaviour, graffiti and drug dealing, and initial estimates to repair it and proof it against more flooding exceeded £300,000.
But last night, a meeting of the Level Communities Forum heard that widespread measures to improve drainage across The Level – including a new avenue of Judas trees – were paying dividends, and the cost of getting it up and running should now be much lower.
Mark Syrett, the City Parks project manager who has been overseeing the drainage work, said two phases of the work had already been done – laying compacted gravel in the events space opposite the Open Market, and planting the new avenue of trees.
The third – installing seven soakaways to take water running down from Ditchling Road – was now underway.
He said: “Whoever put the skatepark in cut through the Victorian aquifer, and that’s where it floods. It went in and around the skatepark area and it’s not fixable.
“There’s no gulley pots on the east side of Ditchling Road from the church down to the junction. That’s an acre of tarmac there, and during a storm 460 tonnes of water comes down there and across the crossing and we don’t stand a chance.”
But he said that about 90% of the drainage work was now complete, adding: “The next time we have a monsoon, I will be standing there measuring it to see what happens.”
Brighton and Hove City Council is now considering different options to reopen the cafe, including dividing it into smaller units so more than one tenant can move in and reduce the risk of it becoming empty again.
A report is due to go before councillors soon.
Discussing rumours the cafe could be demolished, forum chair Maureen Winder said: “The last thing the Level needs is for everything to be knocked down and for it to be a derelict dump for years.”
Georgina Parke, chair of the Theobald House residents association, said: “It’s a community space. It’s a sanctuary for people who don’t have gardens, a space people rely on.
“The cafe just turned into a really middle class, overpriced experience.”
Ward councillor Pete West said: “Even beyond the structural and flooding issues, the building itself was the wrong building in the first place.
“We need to change the way it’s used because a new business will struggle to make it work with that configuration.”
Mohammed Asaduzzaman, who runs Spice of Life opposite The Level on Ditchling Road, said the closure of the toilets had made antisocial behaviour worse.
He said: “Every day we have to throw water over the doors before we open up because people have urinated in the doorways.”
The meeting also heard that regular patrols and the return of the policing hub, introduced by Sussex Police last April, have seen antisocial behaviour rates more than halve.
The forum has been given money from the Forestry Commission for new trees, and £1,000 from the Pride Social Impact Fund to pay for a mural to deter taggers.
It is now looking to draw up a wider plan, with the help of the council and with input from residents, businesses and other organisations, into the future of the park.
Mr Syrett said: “It’s worth taking stock of how far since covid we have come. It was dreadful. I have tackled all sorts. They burned one of the benches because they were cold. It’s pretty nasty on occasion.
“The drop in antisocial behaviour has proved that boots on the ground work.”
However, Mrs Winder said more needs to be done. She said: “The police have made a difference but they haven’t managed to stop all the violent incidents that happen at The Level. We need a new strategy.”
