Paul Brown, a champion for Leighton Buzzard and former environment correspondent at the Guardian, has sadly died, aged 82. Paul lived in Leighton Buzzard, and brought his environmental interests off the page and into many local demonstrations, campaigns and environmental meetings. Members recall that he was a passionate, energising speaker, that gave the community the encouragement to campaign on climate issues.
Paul was a key person in the campaign to save Linslade new wood in 2004, when the bulldozer was knocking down the trees near Knaves Hill. South Bedfordshire Friends of the Earth members Gill and Andrew King went to fetch him from Rothschild Road. Paul approached the Land Agent, shook his hand and quietly said: “I am from the Guardian newspaper and I know that there will be a lot of national interest in this story.” SBFoE Resource Manager, Victoria Harvey remembers, “I saw the agent’s face go white!” After quite a campaign, the trees were saved.
In 2003 and 2005 Paul covered the public inquiry and later, the direct action against the building of the £50 million Linslade Western Bypass, for the Guardian. This was happening at the same time as cutting the Linslade buses by 50%.
In 2007, he was ahead of his time when he exposed that building large roads such as the Linslade Western Bypass was the first step to very large-scale housebuilding for the area and destruction of the High Street and market.
He championed one of the positive results of the environmental protests against the bypass – the regular half-hourly bus service known as the Dash Direct. It resulted in cutting traffic by 17% and allowed many families to give up their second car.
His article was a key factor in getting councils and developers to work together to deliver this really positive benefit to the town.
Paul raised the profile that Leighton Buzzard, a town of 42,000 people, still has no museum, no space for art exhibitions or music performances, or for large regular community meetings in the town centre. He set up The Peppercorn Centre with Sally White of Leighton Buzzard Arts Society, Natasha Seale, (jazz artist and former West End star), and Gabi Davison and Janet Kirby from the History society, to raise funds to build a financially self-sustainable arts and heritage centre. Sadly neither the Tories nor Cllr Zerny’s Independent Group would commit to allowing the derelict part of the Land South of the High street to be used as an arts and heritage centre, with Peppercorn raising all the funds for building the centre and for running it. However, he has kept pursuing this plan and inspiring others to work with him.
Paul Brown has been an avid local historian who, apart from championing the role of Leighton Buzzard in World War II when Bletchley Park was just a mere outpost of Q Central in Leighton Buzzard, championed its geological history and the importance of the very high groundwater in Wing, Southcott Stud and areas of Linslade due to glacial deposits which Central Bedfordshire Council Landscape consultants had completely missed. This will have huge significance in the fight to save some of the most beautiful countryside around Linslade.
And during the 1980s and 90s, Paul was an active member of Leighton-Linslade Peace Campaign, which was set up to campaign against cruise missiles being based in the UK.
Victoria Harvey, SBFoE Resource Manager, said: “Paul was in the thick of the international agreements on climate change and always kept a global view, but he never lost sight of the importance of small local schemes that made all the difference. Mitigating climate change meant Leighton Buzzard had a vibrant high street with a market selling local food from local farmers, really good regular buses and cycleways, lovely greenspaces, low energy bills due to renewable energy and insulation. Above all, he was campaigning for a great arts heritage and performance centre in the town centre, so people did not have to travel outside Leighton Buzzard to hear a concert, see an exhibition, or learn about their town’s amazing heritage.”
SBFoE Member David Hawkridge adds: “Paul Brown was a giant among environmental journalists: read his Global Warning: The Last Chance for Change (The Guardian, 2006) for prescient writing about much that is happening now, 20 years later. He was also very willing to engage in local environmental debates. He joined the team that successfully opposed the Lancer Boss application to build a factory on the water meadow south of All Saints. Knowledgeably, he co-authored books about the history of Leighton Buzzard. Many were published and are still distributed by the Leighton Buzzard & District Archaeological and History Society.
“I have lost a colleague and a friend. Long may he be remembered.”
Paul Ray Beck Brown, journalist, born 20 July 1944; died 25 August 2026