Good life could come to an end for Nailsea allotment holders

Allotment holders in Nailsea are up-in-arms about a proposed 400 per cent hike in their rents.

Allotments are a quintessential way of life for an English gardener, from Arthur Fowler on EastEnders to Alan Titchmarsh who wrote the handbook.

And since the Allotments Act of 1925 local authorities have been very restricted in what it can or can’t with the small parcels of land it rents to individuals to grow crops.

But in Nailsea the future of its allotments is under threat from a huge inflation-busting rent rise imposed by local councillors.

Currently allotment holders pay 13p per square metre per annum for differing size plots at Whitesfield Road and Engine Lane.

But Nailsea Town Council leisure facilities committee agreed last week to up the rate to 50p per square metre although pensioners would keep their concessionary 50 per cent rebate.

Plots at Whitesfield Road range from the smallest at 52.5 square metres to nearly 300 square metres.

Most of the plots at Engine Lane are a standard 75 square metres.

The meeting was told the increase would be more in line with what neighbouring parish allotment holders pay.

Council chairman Rod Lees said he appreciated the increases were ‘significant’ and that given the economic situation ‘some people would find it hard’ but there had been no increase in rents for three years.

With annual rents for the 137 plots at Whitesfield Road and the 58 plots at Engine Lane static for a number of years there are currently 90 people on the waiting list, councillors heard.

And while councillors Clare Hunt and John Wilson called for staggered increases and expressed concern about ‘causing financial hardship’ this was countered by councillor Mary Ponsonby who told them to ‘get real’ and proposed charging 50p per square metrel.

Councillor Robin Bell said ‘private’ gardening plots are rented out for £20 a week.

He called for a series of incremental increases to a more reasonable level.

Mrs Ponsonsby proposal was seconded by Cllr Lees and carried by a 6-4 majority with one abstention.

Ian Stone, of Nailsea Allotments Association, told the committee this increase ‘would wipe the waiting list out in one stroke’.

Mr Stone who has an allotment at Whitesfield Road said after the meeting: “Allotments are the main statutory function of Nailsea Town Council and as such must be provided for the local people.

“The fact that the rents have not been raised over preceding years is the council's problem not the tenants.

“Allotment law and a High Court case have emphasised fair and reasonable rents and a rental a person can afford.

“The proposed rise is highly unlikely to attract low income and unemployed people, as legislation since 1908 (and well before) intended.

“Allotments are a 'not for profit' service not based upon market rents or comparisons with private allotments, as mentioned at the meeting.

“Legislation is in place to protect land for growing food, right down to allotments.

“In coming decades, with an increasing population, looming food shortages and a high demand for land for development, land for food growing will be in short supply.

“Allotments make a major contribution to food production with a low carbon footprint and should be protected, not priced out of existence.

“We should work in partnership to protect and enhance allotment sites and urgently seek more land to meet the increasing waiting list while the developable land price is low and before farmers capitalise on agricultural land prices due to high crop values.

“The town council should pay heed to its statutory function and not engage in knee jerk decisions on rents which will only foster suspicion of a hidden agenda at a time of high demand.”

Retired electricity worker Bill Tate, aged 63, has a plot at Whitesfield Road.

He said: “There comes a point when it is cheaper to go to a supermarket and buy your vegetables.”

Mr Tate said after paying for manure, seeds and gardening tools the cost of running an average size allotment is approximately £250 a year.

He added: “I have been in touch with Backwell Parish Council and they charge 10p per square metre but I am not sure whether this includes water but certainly that is on par with our existing rents.

“Similarly Clevedon pay 10p per square metre but they have to pay for their water.”

“Nailsea Town Council used to pay £400 for a commercial skip every six months to come and take away the rubbish from the two sites.

“We decided we wanted to go ‘green’ and therefore to dispense with this as people were throwing a lot of soil away so we saved the council £1,000s.

“Now everyone composts or takes their rubbish home in green refuse bags.”

The history of allotments goes back to Saxon times when peasants would clear a field from woodland to grow crops.

According to Allotment Growing website rents vary tremendously across the country.

It says some people pay as little as £8 a year and others pay £80.

But it adds most tend to be in the region of £20 to £40 per year often with discounts for the unwaged and retired.

A 44-year-old graphic designer, who didn’t want to be named, also has a plot at Whitesfield Road where she grows a variety of vegetables including potatoes, onions, sweetcorn and courgettes.

She said: “I think it is outrageous, we are not getting anything extra for the increase.

“For what I would be paying it isn’t worth me growing my own vegetables, which is something I love doing.”

Most allotment holders see the rent increase as a way of raising money by a cash-strapped council, said Mr Tate.

He added: “It is not fair that the allotment holders should be penalised to subsidise the massive extravaganza of the Tithe Barn project which is costing more than one million pounds.”

During the past few years the allotments have been blighted with controversial moves to build hen coops and beehives and another idea in the pipeline is to abandon standpipes in favour of water troughs.

Nailsea Town Council had looked at providing extra allotments at the Whitesfield Road play area and Golden Valley playing fields,

Land behind Wraxall Service Station had also been investigated by both Nailsea Town Council and Wraxall Parish Council for allotments and as a burial ground but ruled unsuitable.

Given the growing opposition to the increases and representations from Nailsea Allotments Association the town council has called a special meeting on Wednesday, March 2, at 7.30pm, at its old offices at Church House, Silver Street.

Town clerk Ian Morrell said: “Following the last leisure facilities committee meeting where a resolution was made regarding an increase in allotment rents, a number of councillors felt that the matter should be reconsidered by town council.

“This is permitted by the council’s standing orders and as a result an additional town council meeting has been arranged for March 2 at the Centre (formerly Church House).”

Mr Stone is urging everyone to make representations to their local councillors and to attend this meeting which is open to the public.