Allotment campaign in Harpenden (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Allotment campaign in Harpenden

9:46am Thursday 8th April 2010 in News By Alex Lewis

A HARPENDEN woman is mounting a campaign to persuade the town council to convert disused land into allotments rather than build on it.

As previously reported by the Review, Elissa Baird of Willoughby Road and about 12 other people in the area have asked the authority for allotments on a grassed over and fenced off piece of land between the end of her road and Hyde Close.

Last week the group received letters telling them that the handful of official allotments there were already occupied and referring them to other areas such as Batford.

But Ms Baird is refusing to be brushed off and insists the law is on her side.

She has told town clerk John Bagshaw: "The council has a legal obligation to provide allotments.

"The allotments closest to us are all on waiting lists.

"Offering allotments in Batford is flying in the face of common sense.

"People in our neighbourhood would need to travel by car, carrying gardening equipment there and back each time.

"If there is a group of people willing to to take this on surely the council should help us."

She has been advised from the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners that the Smallholdings And Allotment Act 1908 obliges the council to "actively seek out" land suitable for plots.

Mr Bagshaw has told her and other applicants the council is already complying with the act, but Ms Baird argues that it is not meeting the clear demand in her own area of Harpenden.

She said: "In this case, the land used to be allotments until 1998, when, except for three or four, they were handed back to the council because of a lack of interest.

"But things are different now. Lots of people want allotment - it is a good way of getting exercise, and there is much more interest in healthy locally produced food.

"There are 13 I know of just in this area, and another 25 on the waiting list for allotments at Harpenden Rise."

She intends to keep the pressure on the council, sending a leaflet round the area to gather support and ask for other ideas for community use of the land, which she estimates could accommodate at least 20 allotments.

Her campaign is welcomed by neighbours who are opposed to the construction of affordable homes on the land, which they fear will bring traffic and parking problems.

Clare Turner said: "I don't want to see that land built on. We need to keep our last bits of green space."