Speen Allotments Options

[Simon Kirby]

Story in yesterday's Newbury Weekly about the Speen allotments being moved to make way for housing. Speen Allotment Association runs the allotments and they rent the land from Sutton Estates.

On the face of it that doesn't sound too bad if the allotmenteers are given an equivalent site somewhere else, but allotments really should be right slap-bang in the middle of communities, literally as well as metaphorically, so that they're easy walking distance for everyone, and so that allotment life nurtures and feeds that community life.

Moving allotments to the outskirts makes it more difficult for everyone to walk to the site, so if you have a car you drive, and if you don't you're excluded. But aside from the obvious cost and health benefits of walking to your allotment, there's that subtle social benefit - if you're walking you meet people that you wouldn't in your car, and you see stuff that you'd miss. It's this that builds communities.

So by all means create a new site to accommodate the new houses and the unsatisfied existing demand in Speen, but unless there's a good reason that hasn't come out I'd like the existing allotments to stay where they are.

[NWNREADER]

Story in yesterday's Newbury Weekly about the Speen allotments being moved to make way for housing. Speen Allotment Association runs the allotments and they rent the land from Sutton Estates.

On the face of it that doesn't sound too bad if the allotmenteers are given an equivalent site somewhere else, but allotments really should be right slap-bang in the middle of communities, literally as well as metaphorically, so that they're easy walking distance for everyone, and so that allotment life nurtures and feeds that community life.

Moving allotments to the outskirts makes it more difficult for everyone to walk to the site, so if you have a car you drive, and if you don't you're excluded. But aside from the obvious cost and health benefits of walking to your allotment, there's that subtle social benefit - if you're walking you meet people that you wouldn't in your car, and you see stuff that you'd miss. It's this that builds communities.

So by all means create a new site to accommodate the new houses and the unsatisfied existing demand in Speen, but unless there's a good reason that hasn't come out I'd like the existing allotments to stay where they are.

Surely a decision for the Association members?

[Simon Kirby]

Surely a decision for the Association members?

Not really.

The allotmenteers themselves are in all likelihood unhappy about the disruption of moving from one site to another, and while I sympathise enormously with that - and really I do - there may be a bigger picture here in which society is better served by moving the site despite the inconvenience to the few. The allotment association is only serving the interests of the membership and isn't necessarily best placed to see the bigger picture.

I'm not addressing the inconvenience to the existing allotmenteers in moving, significant though that inconvenience is, I'm addressing the wider issue of ensuring that allotment sites are designed into the centre of communities and not tacked on the edges. You can garden happily for a lifetime on an allotment and never give a thought to the hows or whys of the allotment movement, but that's my particular interest.

So actually I think it's a decision that will be taken by the Estate, and I'm sure they'll listen to what the allotment association says, but they'll also need to get development plans passed by WBC, and this is where a strategic view on allotment provision will need to be taken, and I don't have confidence in that. The parish council should also take a strategic view on allotments, and they also have the statutory powers to compulsorily acquire sites for the purpose, and they may yet, but again parishes don't always understand the allotment movement.

[blackdog]

The bottom line is that the allotments are privately owned and the owners want to build on them - the allotmenteers are only bit players.

The parish may have the power of compulsory purchase - but they are unlikely to have the cash. Were they to decide to use this power how much would they have to pay? As building land they must be worth big money, as allotments relatively little.

How do the planning laws affect the situation - does provision of an alternative site overcome the normal protection of allotments? Do privately owned allotments have the same protection as local govt owned sites?

Any idea where they are proposing to site the replacement allotments?

[Simon Kirby]

How do the planning laws affect the situation - does provision of an alternative site overcome the normal protection of allotments? Do privately owned allotments have the same protection as local govt owned sites?

There are two levels of protection for allotments: land that councils acquired specifically for allotments have the highest protection (under Section 8 of the Allotments Act 1925) and can't be sold or used for anything else without the permission of the Secretary of State. Private allotments never have this level of protection. The weaker protection is from Planning Policy Guidance 17, which doesn't exactly protect sites but it does mean that alternative provision has to be provided if allotments are to be developed.

The parish may have the power of compulsory purchase - but they are unlikely to have the cash. Were they to decide to use this power how much would they have to pay? As building land they must be worth big money, as allotments relatively little.

Councils always seem to get confused about this. They do indeed have the power to buy the freehold, but as you say the capital investment can be high. The much more useful power is the one to compulsorily rent the site - the only capital cost is the legal fees, and I have a feeling they're borne by the county - it's a power the parish ask the county to exercise on their behalf.

There's a statutory procedure for arriving at the right rent, but as I understand it the power allows the council to rent the land at a value that reflect the land's present use - so it's not renting a potential building site, it's renting an allotment site. If the planning authority had already passed plans for developing the site then that would likely change the valuation, but because of PPG 17 the planning authority can't actually pass those plans until the allotments have been accommodated, and the allotments can't be accommodated until the developer agrees to rent them to the parish.

That said planning isn't my thing and it's possible that PPG17 doesn't apply now, and that would change the situation.

However, don't forget that a parish council has a positive legal duty to provide sufficient allotments - it's actually the only duty on a parish, and most ignore it to some degree, but a parish doesn't have any choice but to provide sufficient allotments - and sufficient means enough plots for everyone who wants one to have as big a plot as they want - so no rationing, and no waiting lists!

Any idea where they are proposing to site the replacement allotments?

I don't know.

[Simon Kirby]

If you missed the new story in the NWN, here's the on-line copy.