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Parliamentary authorities have decreed that the media encampment
- the source of thousands of Brexit despatches broadcast all
over the globe - be temporarily dismantled next week to allow
the downtrodden turf to be repaired.
An email sent to media outlets this week said urgent action was
needed to re-turf and reseed damaged areas, preserve the grass
in the less-damaged parts, and maintain flowerbeds.
Normally reserved for occasional major political events like
general elections and budget announcements, the number of
broadcasters based on the green has become a barometer of the
state of the nation: The more cameras, the bigger the drama.
For the last few months the area has been packed
Inside parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May's government
teeters on the brink of collapse, Brexit has been delayed and
the fate of the world's fifth-largest economy rests in the hands
of the 650 lawmakers elected to sit there.
Outside, TV channels have built elaborate two-tier studios,
radio stations have bunkered down inside white tents and
presenters speaking languages from Arabic to Italian have
jockeyed for a camera shot with a backdrop of parliament.
All that has turned College Green - a normally grassy area less
than the size of four tennis courts - into a piebald muddy
patchwork in need of a break.
But with Brexit far from resolved and an insatiable appetite for
news of the country's biggest political crisis in more than 70
years, the respite will only be temporary.
Parliament, which owns the land, said the closure was expected
to last seven days. After that, regular access will be allowed
again "should the circumstances justify it."
(Reporting by William James and Tom Scally; editing by Stephen
Addison)
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