Allotments

The Green Oases, of our Cities, Towns and Villages.

The modern allotment and the law governing them began with The Enclosure Act of 1845, which deprived ordinary people of common land they had used to graze livestock and for cultivation. Thomas Hardy in his novel “Tess of the D’Urbervills” describes Tess working on her father’s allotment in a rural area.  This illustrates that allotments are not confined to urban areas.  In fact rural landowners and farmers provided their tenants with a piece of land to cultivate their vegetables and keep chickens and pigs to supplement low wages.

Allotments in the 1930 / 1940s

During the second world war the “dig for victory campaign” vastly increased the number of allotments nationwide. Householders dug up their lawns and flowerbeds to help the war effort and the government issued – free – tons of seed potatoes in an effort to boost food production.

Allotments In the 1980 / 1990s

In this period the demand for land has turned away from cultivation to other uses, such as housing, commercial centres and factories, putting allotments under threat of extinction. In spite of the fact that allotments provided under statute cannot be used for any other purpose without the consent of the secretary of state, many thousands of allotments have disappeared under concrete and tarmac. Local authorities nationwide have failed to promote the use of allotments and allowed them to fall into disuse, leaving the door open to developers.

Allotments today

There is a resurgence of interest in allotments with increasing demand and lengthening waiting lists, but still local authorities are selling allotment land to replenish their coffers and meet government demands for “Affordable Housing”. It should be noted that much of the new housing is so dense their gardens are minuscule and many residents of the new housing will want an allotment. But none are being provided on new developments.

There is an urgent need for us to take action to prevent the loss of allotments and ensure they are provided on new developments. We would be pleased to hear from anyone who has an interest in preserving this valuable asset and preventing allotments disappearing under concrete and tarmac.