A GROUP of 16 artists will be evicted from a gallery in a shock move that will leave the borough without any council-run exhibition space.

The Changing Room Gallery, in Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, is being extensively refurbished as part of the multi-million pound redevelopment of the park funded by lottery cash.

The refurbishment will begin this summer but the Changing Room Studios Association (CRSA) believed it would not have to vacate the studios, adjacent to the main gallery, during the work.

They have now been told that their tenancies will only be renewed for six months, instead of a year, and by the end of September they will have to move out.

CRSA also says it has been told for the first time that the running of the gallery and studios will transfer to Waltham Forest College after the Lloyd Park redevelopment.

David Sullivan, a prize-winning painter and former student of the Royal College of Art, is a member of the CRSA and is angry at the council’s move, saying the artists were stakeholders, contributing to the development plans for the park and new gallery.

He said: “At no time was there any suggestion that we would have to vacate the studios for the duration of the build, nor that our tenancies would cease.

“This is also the first official communication to us regarding Waltham Forest College’s future involvement with the new hub complex, despite previous attempts at clarification.”

Mr Sullivan said the council has put artists “bottom of their list of priorities.”

He added: “As one of just five Olympic boroughs, the council should be investing in and celebrating the thriving arts and creative scene here in East London but instead they’re evicting 16 professional, local artists from one of the few studio spaces in the borough.”

Alke Schmidt shares a studio with fellow artist Zarah Hussain.

The 45-year-old, whose paintings depict political issues including climate change and the global recession, said: “This has come as a complete surprise, we are still hoping there will be some kind of agreement and we won’t be evicted.

“There is a scarcity of exhibition space in the borough as it is.”

A council spokesman admitted the decision to evict the artists was a ‘recent one.’

He said: “Unfortunately it is not safe for the artists to remain in the studios while extensive rebuilding and renovation work takes place nearby.”