The current
pandemic has given so many allotment holders up and down the country, exercise,
sanctuary, social friendship and interaction and some fresh produce if lucky within
a lockdown void and also demonstrated the value of allotments within the
community.
As we all
grapple with the social and economic impact and the route back to some sort of
normality outside the allotments, we all know things will be different tomorrow.
It is therefore vital that allotments are fully supported, and their role within
the growing, health and welfare and educational infrastructure is acknowledged
further and strengthened.
The public
purse and resources will be under increasing pressure and it is hard to predict
the implications this will have on allotments tomorrow. Many allotments are
managed by local authorities but will the resources to do this as before still
be available?
Many civic
allotments have ‘temporary’ status whilst others have separated themselves from
the local authority and are now self-managed, and land leased to them. Is this
the future model for others to now follow? The remaining allotments are classed
as ‘private allotments’ and outside local authorities and the allotment statute
and the future security of these will always be a risk.
Allotments,
whether they are statutory, temporary or private should be registered as Asset
of Community Value (ACV) under the 2011 statute. This doesn’t secure the future
in perpetuity. It doesn’t provide 100% protection in the five years of its
terms, but it does grant certain rights to be consulted, bid and more importantly
fires a significant shot across development bow. It also forces the allotment
body to think hard about what it does, what it gives to the community and its environmental,
health and well-being credentials and makes the local authority evaluate and
respect these formally.
Today we
all use the term allotments and probably have a different picture in our mind
what they look like and who uses them. The rural allotment is very different to
the urban one which may vary significantly to the metropolitan inner city one.
They are all allotments but it’s like we are all looking into the same house
through different windows. Some will see a kitchen, others a bedroom and if
asked to describe it can only describe what they have seen. However, it’s the
same house but viewed from different perspectives.
If we look
at our allotment here in the middle of Docklands and Canary Wharf in London, we
see allotments sitting in the middle of an urban farm smack next door to the densest
residential housing in Western Europe and in Tower Hamlets itself which has the
densest housing per square kilometer in all the UK. There are literally
thousands of flats all sitting on top of each other reaching up to the sky.
Many
of these new boxes have a very small private balcony and communal small manicured
grassed area below. No gardens, none or little opportunity to grow anything unless
in many cases the plants like wind and high altitudes as some tower blocks are over
50 storeys high.
So how do
these tens of thousands of families in this mini Manhattan experience growing,
cultivation, the physical and mental health and well-being and fresh natural
produce from plot to pot?
The plots
we have in many metropolitan sites are called full plots but are often less
than half the size enjoyed in many other areas and our half plots …. but they
produce sufficient food and are fully utilized.
So, in areas
of the country we have relatively short waiting lists, large 250 square metre plots
and even folk allowed to have more than one plot. In our area we have often
less than 100 square metres, huge waiting lists and no one is allowed a second
plot. It’s the same house but from a different perspective.
The
question we return to is describing that house in same way and understanding
that we are all at different starting points with different opportunities and priorities.
We may be diverging in the routes we may each have to take and speed we must
travel, but we all share the same aims, enjoyment, community spirit, health and
welfare benefits and much more.
This is why
a national organization is important and can support local organisations and
their initiatives as well as national ones with equal weight and understanding.
No site is an island, and almost everything we may wish to do has been done
before and if not, some else wishes to do. It is this strength that the National
Allotment Society have the potential to bring to all our tables.
