New Imperial College Report Sheds Light on London Allotments Today

 

London allotments are still reducing in number whilst the demand for them is exploding.

This is one of the major findings of a research paper into allotments in London by Imperial College, London’s Centre for Environmental Policy (Fletcher, Collins) and published in the ‘Urban Forestry and Urban Greening’, journal published by Elsevier. The paper highlights some interesting findings about the continued decline in the number of plots, the associated land occupied by allotments in London and the increase in demand and value of allotments.

Since the GLA report in 2006, demand for allotments has increased four-fold and this excludes the current further increase within the Covid pandemic. Based on the information from some 55% of London’s sites the paper estimates that the provision of allotments would need to increase by 77% to address current waiting lists. In 2006 the GLA report identified a waiting list across London of 4,300; today’s findings are that it has increased to 17,424. This is not uniform across London, with the average wait being some 4 – 5 years. However, there is a significant variation by borough and even sites within a borough. This must be viewed against the fact that the true latent demand is somewhat hidden with some 16.3% sites having closed their waiting lists. A survey by Brent asked all their 570 applicants on the waiting list to confirm they wished to be retained on the waiting list and only 268 or 50% did. However, this doesn’t take into account waiting time and its associated frustration and probable lack of communication since joining the waiting list. This is also currently compounded by the survey being performed in 2019 and prior to the current explosion of demand during the 2020 Covid pandemic and continued rise in applications today. From our own experience our waiting list has risen from some 160 in February 2020 to 270 plus today for a site of 100 plots.

It is also relevant to note the points made in the Thorpe report re people applying for plots in multiple sites and the report again raises the lack of centralised city wide planning , duplication of effort and poor communication between sites, sites and boroughs and boroughs. This lack of communication is viewed as exacerbating plot availability and waiting list lengths.

Interestingly, the Imperial report found that the rate of closure between 2006 and 2012 was 3.2% but over the last seven years there had been a net loss of 41 sites (5.73%) which would imply that the rate of closures increased in the more recent window. It states that five boroughs however had increased their site numbers; Harringay, Islington, Lewisham, Hounslow and Westminster.

The research only reviewed allotments on Local Authority land and identified some 682 sites which is below the overall numbers generally accepted in London which is around 750. The research received detailed responses from some 399 sites (58.5%) which totalled 24,883 plots and an area of 895 hectares. The inner London boroughs had some 16% of sites but only 7.9% of the land area. The boroughs with the highest numbers of sites were found to be, Bromley(51), Barnet (44), Ealing (44) whilst the boroughs with the highest number of allotments per head were per capita; Sutton, Bromley and Bexley. The report looks at the acreage covered by allotments but doesn’t identify the growing trend towards splitting plots and creating a two-tiered plot size environment. Using the measure of area of allotments per head the highest scoring good boroughs are Barnet, Enfield and Bromley, whilst the lowest  are Westminster, Lambeth and Hackney, with no sites in the City of London and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

They calculated that based on the Brent council published estimates (2018) that 21% of allotment land is given over to infrastructure and by applying the scaling factor across London results in some 188 hectares are infrastructure, leaving 707 hectares as active growing space.

It also found that 52.8% of sites are managed by the authorities and 47.2% are classed as self-managed. 

London like most major cities has and continues to experience a population increase, (some 10% from 8.11 million in 2012 to 9.11 million at the time of this report). This obviously increases demand on; housing, land, local authority budgets and spending resulting in allotment land often viewed by some as prime site for housing development and a quick cash option for local authorities. This is not unique to London or England. There is a stark difference between inner and outer London Boroughs with the latter free of the statutory requirement to provide allotments where there is demand.

The report found that allotments are an invaluable part of the urban environment, promising many ecological, social and health benefits beyond their primary function as food growing areas. It surveyed some 317 individuals about the benefits associated with allotments with them ranking the benefits between 0 and 9. The results in descending order were:

1.       Relaxation

2.       Mental health

3.       Recreation

4.       Food production

5.       Physical health

6.       Lower environmental Impact

7.       Improving the local environment

8.       Learning new skills

9.       Socialising

10.   Saving money

It would be interesting to see what these would be post Covid.

We await the second report on Demographics and congratulate Imperial College on the report and effort expended and some great supporting maps.

The BIrds

The one thing that we have gained temporarily from the current lockdown is the sound of silence. Gone is the everyday background noise that constantly invades our lives. Here in the heart of London we can enjoy the birds singing in the late Spring sunshine.

The early morning walk across to the allotments is now filled with the sounds of the many songbirds that live on the Mudchute Park and Farm. We may not be able to distinguish all the various songs and their singers, but Britain certainly has got talent.

The bench on the plot is under a fir tree and today you can hear the pinecones cracking open in the sun. At first you wonder what the noise is as you will have never hear it normally. Then the Goldfinch who is sitting on top breaks into a song. He misses a few notes and does an excellent key change, but it’s a bit on the rock style for me. Robin sits in the middle of the bed with his wings over his ears complaining about the racket and as if he were on the panel of judges he proclaims in his black and red fronted tee shirt and LA tan, ’That’s not singing. Next!’

I never thought of the bird songs competing like some X Factor contest, but many are similar and distinguishing them and naming that artist and the song can be tricky.

We are blessed with Robin, a Song Thrush and Wren. I am sure I can detect the Nightingales distinctive and mixed notes and hammering percussive sounds but it is hard to pin them down when, like an orchestra warming up, they sing at the same time.

Not all birds are blessed with ‘The Voice’. The button is not always pressed, and chairs don’t always turn around. Some birds do not even make the auditions and their talents lay elsewhere. Take the Magpie; his plumage is both distinctive and attractive, but he cannot sing. Like his carrion brothers he rarely ventures onto the plots as they have more business on the farm since we do not service their dietary needs. So thankfully we are sparred their macho squawks.

There are of course the Pigeons. They just waddle around pecking and pretending not to be there but can’t stop cooing on and chattering to each other. A bit like Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough’s Cissy and Ada chattering clutching their handbags, they talk a lot and saying nothing and here there are no punch lines. Their eyes are for ever searching out the next meal and they love their veg and can strip a bed in no time at all. Fortunately, they don’t like performing in front of crowds so if the plots are being worked, they go and find another spot to have their natter.

The Farm has many working birds and occasionally you hear a cockerel making his morning cry. You look at your watch and realise it’s 11am and wonder if he has had a long lay in or missed the early morning alarm call. Hang on, he is the early morning alarm call! Some obviously work harder than others!

‘The Birdman of the Mudchute’ works on the upper plots and like Burt Lancaster in the film he is devoted to feeding the flying minstrels. He probably, unlike me, knows them all by their first names and like Gareth Malone has his own choir and practice times. Now, what will that TV show be called?

Among his choir are the latest new band to hit the streets with their new sounds. They are like the punks of the 70s, the new wave of the 80s or the hip hop rap stars and introduce their sound with aplomb. It’s not some much singing but a continual chorus of grating high-pitched caws. Enter left stage The Ring-Necked Parakeets. They even dress differently and have gone for a kind of glam rock bright green outfit. If you cannot hear them you can certainly see them. Apparently, they are making it big south of the river but still to have a big hit up here. Fortunately, they haven’t taken up residence on the Mudchute and are busy taking over nearby neighbourhood estates and residence in their large Plane trees.

Walking down some streets is quite an experience as you hear them cawing above you. You see their massive communal housing squat at the highest point of the tree, step over the rejected nest twigs and guano and try to avoid flying deposits. The roofs and bonnets of the cars on these streets resemble a paintball target. Now it may be fertilizer to some but we don’t want that on the veg at the allotment do we! 

So, after the auditions, the semi-finals and the final, can we promote the songbird choir and celebrate their songs and singing and look forward to their Christmas number one.  

VE Allotment Celebration Packet 1: The Scale of the Effort

Friday 8 May is VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day. It marks the day towards the end of World War Two when fighting against Germany came to an end in Europe. All this week we will be publishing articles associated with allotments during the War and that extraordinary time when everyone ‘Dug for Victory.’

Above: Plots being worked on Clapham Common during WW2

Today we recognise the significant effort made to feed the nation whose supply lines were being challenged by the U Boats in the Atlantic. Some 70,000 tons of British shipping alone was sunk in the first week of the war.

At the beginning of the war, 70% of Britain’s food was imported so the impact was significant. Pastureland was dug up to grow the wheat we were now not getting from Canada which in turn lead to dairy shortages. Rickets became a danger as vitamin-rich products could no longer be imported and onions, which had come from Europe, became prized objects. At the beginning of the war there were only 3.5 million private gardens and 819,000 allotments in Britain. By 1943 the House of Commons was told the number of allotments had risen to 1,675,000 and the number of private gardens used for growing vegetables had risen to 5 million.

The land girls, farms, allotments and growing vegetables made a huge contribution to the war effort with over 80,000 women being members of the Women’s Land Army. Without such an effort harvests could not have been picked and food would have been even scarcer.

The government organised ‘Dig for Victory’ exhibitions up and down the country and released a blizzard of information pamphlets and bulletins on how to rotate crops, improve the soil and make a compost heap. Gardening became part of the curriculum in virtually all schools.

Britain and London rose to the challenge: in North London, Tottenham had almost 3,000 allotments in 150 areas and a successful pig club run by the council dustmen. In Bethnal Green, bombed-out buildings were turned into plots. 

Vegetables were also planted in the dry moat around the Tower of London and demonstration plots dug in Kensington Gardens and at London Zoo. Soil often had to be sieved through pierced dustbin lids to remove glass shards and bomb debris.

Fire Wardens working a plot in Cribblegate, St Giles Church, with St Paul's in the background 

 A bomb crater in Westminster turned into a plot

View over Greenwich Park and Museum with much of the park turned into plots 

Kensington plots and demonstration area 

Above and left: the moat plots at the Tower of London 

Tomorrow we feature ‘Seeds from America’


The author is indebted to the research and archive provided by Mick Lemmerman and the work and archive of the Island History Trust which enabled this untold story to be written.

Discussions with Freddie Fox

Today I catch Freddie Fox lying sunbathing on the plot. At first, he becomes aware of someone and potential danger. He sits up tries to out stare me. He then sees Lottie, my faithful whippet, besides me and the two dogs momentarily freeze. Who will blink first?

Lottie, suddenly has had enough of this trespasser and barks out, ‘Don’t mess with me and leave now!’  

Freddie leaps up and duly scurries off, briefly casting a glance over his shoulder and aware he has four eyes following him as he weaves across the plots and disappears behind some sheds at the far side. Lottie gets the pat she deserves and jumps appreciatively onto her bench for a rest.

‘How would i have coped without you?’ i ask mockingly.

‘Don’t mention it. It’s our plot not his.’ Lottie replies, ‘and can i have a treat now please?’ 

Foxes are a fixture at the allotments and only tend to see them early in the morning especially if its sunny and they want a quick warm-up. Rarely do you see them as a pack unless there are cubs and they are teaching them how to behave of the plots. It’s as if they can only go out as single foxes and they probably either draw lots or take it in turns to forage. They are far more scared of us than we of them and disappear at the slightest disturbance or sight of plot holders.

Freddie and his gang have an annoying habit of pooing everywhere. No point in leaving toilet paper or poo bags out as they do it on top of your best veg, on the path, where you have just sown your seeds, round your bench, no place is safe. Their diets are not always the best, so their poo is often, shall we say ‘loose’. I wish they could be plot trained.

Another annoying habit is the midnight walk. You rake your bed over, perhaps sow some seeds in it and the next morning it can look like a crime scene. Paw prints everywhere and never in straight lines! It’s as if they wanted to help and heel in the seeds and flatten the earth. I think they bring on the music and have a disco dance without the lights of course. When i ask Freddie if he did it he always says with a straight faced, ‘Not me guv,’ and waves his paw in the direction of some far-off lair of one of his relatives.

Then there is the redevelopment of your plot. You don’t get chance to see their plans before hand and i doubt they have any. They just start digging and excavating. The next day you are welcomed by a big hole and a mound of earth. Does the hole mean a den? Or, have they started, stopped and forgot to clear up and fill in the hole? They have more attempts than success and its hard to understand where they will start next. Yes, we have tried all the old wives’ recommendations, the fox deterrents but all fail. I didn’t realise that foxes can climb over fences 2 metres high and so our careful laying of large stones at the base of the fence was a fruitless exercise.

Freddie says its best to dig next to a shed as then he doesn’t have to worry about the roof and weather as he sleeps under your feet and can eavesdrop into your every shed move.

Some of the gang are not so clever and just tunnel anywhere and everywhere often creating sink holes. They never did watch those Second Wold War POW films and learn that you must shore up the tunnel otherwise it may just collapse. The other thing they would have learnt is to hide the entrance by removing the excavated soil. Mind you they don’t wear trousers to hide the soil in and disperse it quietly around the plot. They probably think we can use it on the plot!

 

I once asked Freddie why there was no stones or roots in their earth mounds. He just looked at me and said, ‘but i thought you didn’t want them so i got rid and just left fine soil for you.’ As he scurried off and my foot collapsed into the labyrinth of tunnelling beneath me, I shouted, ‘Thank you!’ 

He didn’t bother to turn around.

I suppose we often don’t appreciate that Freddie and his gang may look dangerous, may be disruptive, leave deposits everywhere but they do keep the vermin away. That’s apart from those with a grey furry tail. 

Now i must talk to Freddie about a squirrel cull.

‘Come on down’ you have won a Starter Plot!

We all submit our application for a plot and wait. Like waiting to win the lottery it can take a very long time. Sometimes, we may get updates from the Society informing us where we are in the queue, sometime out of frustration we ask and are told, ‘our plots are very busy at this time, you are now fiftieth in the queue and we will be in touch when you get to the top of the list.’

You find yourself passing the allotments and peering in through the fence and dreaming of that smart looking plot full of vegetables with a freshly painted shed to boot. You avert your eyes from the one next to it that resembles Tracy Emin’s ‘My Bed’, knee high in nettles and an assortment of weeds and a shed that looks as it may collapse if you applied a coat of paint to its fragile surface. You dream of what you can grow and the exotic vegetables you will try to grow and of course the bumper harvests you will reap.

You can’t wait to be one of that select group ‘an allotment holder’ and wear it as a badge of honour and talking point at social gatherings.

The day comes and you receive that call to attend the site as you are now finally top of the list and a plot is now awaits. You have won the lottery; your long wait has been rewarded and you spend time trying on different gardening attire so you can make the right impression. That list of tools you have quietly been compiling comes out of the draw and the reality of the investment starts to sink in.

You arrive onsite to be greeted by the Secretary, Site Manager, Treasurer or whoever performs the induction course. First there is a quick tour and welcomes from those on the plots. Where is everyone you find yourself asking? I thought once you had a plot you would spend every daylight moment working the soil, having endless cups of tea with fellow plot holders, whilst you discuss, seeds, plants, composting and plots.

Most plots turn over either at the end of the season when the plots need putting to bed for winter, or the beginning of the season when they need preparing for the season ahead. These are often the periods of hardest work and least reward. On top of which starter plots often have become available for a reason, which often means that they haven’t been fully or consistently worked. If you are lucky you may get a plot where the current occupier is moving to another plot so it’s in relatively good shape, but this is more the exception than the norm. I remember my plot had been cleared but not dug over and the extension i was offered was waste high in brambles, weeds and even had a concrete pond hidden under the jungle.

Next the paperwork, the rules, the checks and the exchange of money. At this point you let it wash over your head. After all you can read it all when you get home and its cheap, or relatively cheap and how many rules can an allotment need?

The plot may not the one you admired through the fence but more often Tracy’s ‘Bed’. Your heart may sink a bit, but you have a plot and envisage little problems as you’ll soon get it in order. during those early days you keep reassuring yourself.

According to your experience and what the state of the plot you inherit, that first season can be hard. The effort together with the set-up costs is often underestimated. Many do appreciate the amount of effort and time needed.

At our allotments, we give new members half ‘starter’ plots and encourage them to work their way into it. After all you have to train to run a marathon and few can just turn up and run it. After a season and if they have worked it then they can apply to move to a full plot. Some are happy to remain on half plots, some just want a plot and to them size doesn’t matter!

Importantly, after that long wait you have finally joined and become an allotment holder   

Love to hear your starter experience and lessons learnt