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Home Brighton

Labour won’t hop into allotment bed with firm backed by hedge fund

Council rebuffs approach from premium-priced company

by Frank le Duc
Thursday 20 Jul, 2023 at 7:07PM
A A
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Our allotments are an asset to the council, says report

More than 3,000 people are on teh waiting list for an allotment in Brighton and Hove

The council has ruled out hopping into the allotment bed with a firm backed by a hedge fund, it was announced this afternoon (Thursday 20 July).

A request had been made to Brighton and Hove City Council by a private allotment company called Roots Allotments.

Roots, which has been described as a premium-priced business backed by venture capitalists, wanted to lease land at Easthill Farm, in Portslade, from the council.

Roots charges £9.99 a month – just under £120 a year – for a 12 square metre “mini-plot” in Bath, according to the company’s website.

A 36 square metre “starter plot” costs £19.99 a month (£240 a year) and a 72 square metre “couple’s plot” costs £34.99 a month (£420 a year).

In contrast, the council’s standard – or “full-size” – plots are 250 square metres and when charges go up in October will cost £90 a year. It offers smaller and cheaper plots.

The council said that it would be “looking at alternative options … that best support the aims of the City Downland Estate Plan when the existing tenancy expires next year”.

It added: “The options will consider how the site can increase biodiversity, improve public access and fulfil some of the many objectives in the City Downland Estate Plan.

“The council’s Allotment Strategy aims to make allotments enjoyable, inclusive, sustainable and affordable for Brighton and Hove residents.

“Next steps to modernise the allotment service include installing a new IT system so that it can better manage its 3,000 allotment tenancies.

“The new system is designed to streamline the waiting list and allow residents to check their position online.”

The council said that it had managed to fill job roles that were advertised so would be able to take on more thorough plot inspections, clear unused plots more efficiently and reduce wait times for residents.

Councillor Tim Rowkins, who chairs the council’s City Environment, South Downs and the Sea Committee, said: “We’ve considered the proposal from Roots Allotments and have decided not to proceed with it.

“Instead, we’ll be focusing on improving our own allotment provision in the city, including reducing waiting lists, modernising our provision to reflect the range of demand, bringing in much-needed income for the council and, of course, enabling more of our residents to grow food in a sustainable way.

“We are blessed to have so much agricultural land and we are determined to put it to good use for the good of our city’s food, sustainability and biodiversity goals.”

The Roots proposal had previously been criticised by Mark Carroll, who chairs the Brighton and Hove Allotments Federation and who said that the council was listening to allotment holders’ concerns.

He said recently that more than 3,000 people were on the waiting list for an allotment in Brighton and Hove.

Roots founder William Gay, 28, a director of Allota Futureland Limited, said previously that the company was considering a second site in the area – on private agricultural land in Ovingdean.

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Comments 8

  1. Dave says:
    2 years ago

    Private provider should consider leasing private land not council owned allotments and doubling the charge. The sensible move by the council today telling them where to sling their hook. If we need evidence that privatisation only rips off the end consumer we have only look as far as : water, railways, oil, power grid, gas

    Reply
  2. Vincent Leahy says:
    2 years ago

    Price will go up. People will stop renting them. Land will be sold off to a building developer.

    Reply
    • Ma3 Denny says:
      2 years ago

      Probably the plan.

      Reply
    • Elaine Batiste says:
      2 years ago

      My thoughts exactly.

      Reply
  3. Billy+Short says:
    2 years ago

    Just to put some detail on this:

    I’ve been an allotment holder for more than a decade, and I can recommend it as a hobby that gets you outdoors into the fresh air. The main thing is you also feel in touch with nature as you grow your own vegetables, which you eventually eat. You nurture the crops, like you would a small child or a pet animal, and the satisfaction is similar, as they thrive and grow older. Home-grown tomatoes taste like no other!
    The allotment plot can also feel like your own space, like a secret garden. If you have no outside space at home, then this is a godsend.

    But the typical ‘fantasy’ of being an allotment holder is that you do nothing but plant a few seeds, and then live off free vegetables all year – when growing is seasonal and where the same vegetables bought from Lidl invariably work out cheaper.
    The reality is that most people ‘think’ they want to have an allotment, but then fail when they get one.

    And that fantasy is why there are huge waiting lists for Council allotments, but where only 10% actually go on to get one and then to stay. I was on a non-moving waiting list for an allotment for over ten years, and got nowhere, but then joined a collective at an existing allotment – where eventually the other people dropped out, through old age, job change, or pregnancy, and there’s just me now.

    When you are first granted a plot, there’s the initial clearing of the land, then there’s the digging to remove roots and pests and to improve the soil, and then eventually there’s the planting season, hopefully in Spring. Then there’s the constant watering in Summer, and the weekly weeding. And then the slugs and snails or aphids can ruin your crops.
    It’s actually hard work and a skill, which takes several hours per week, and you’d get paid more – to buy shop vegetables – if you used the same hours working in catering, like in MacDonalds.

    So, on topic, the idea of private allotments is to fulfil this wide-spread allotment fantasy, and to make money out of it.
    The entrepreneur rents a field of cheap agricultural land and then subdivides it into plots which they then rent out at many times the proportioned land price. You get new leaseholders to sign a contract which commits them to several years rental for a small space, which they then find they can’t work for any practical result. And most get bored and soon give it up, having given over the rental money. For those that stay, the rental cost will go up and up.

    The original concept of allotments is pretty sound, and where poorer people are encouraged to take control over a small piece of under-used land to grow vegetables for their family when times are hard. That concept remains a good one, but the benefits are now about health and well being, more than they are about proving cheap food.

    With the existing council-run allotments serving a lot of retired people, and helping their mental health and well being, it’s so important that we don’t let the concept get privatised – as if it’s glamping providing a higher charging tier for the same basic outdoor experience.

    Reply
    • A says:
      2 years ago

      Excellent comment by Billy Short

      Reply
    • Mary says:
      2 years ago

      Brilliant comment about the hard work on the allotments, where people often think they can just scatter seeds and wait!
      Several of my relatives have had allotments in different areas locally for years now, and according to things I have heard over the years, the long Council waiting list is not really that long – it just needs the Council to go through it and get people to continue registering their interest every 6 months on the waiting list. Keep updating the list!

      As the recent reply said: people drop off for all sorts of reasons: bereavement, illness, disabilities, change of home circumstances and increased work or home conditions, and mostly, to my mind of thinking, I feel the majority on these longs lists may have either moved out of the area to new pastures, or else they may have thought it to be a good idea, such as during lockdown, and then realised how much work was involved! Or it was a fad and they no longer have the same interests to that degree and commitment.

      I would say moving on from the City was probably high up on this list, so if the Council could go through the list and weed out all those who do not reply to letters or phone calls etc. they would find people move up much quicker on the list.

      Reply
  4. Eileen Baker says:
    2 years ago

    I am glad that the Council have not given into Roots!, I have been an allotment holder, 8 years first time, and again 3 years ago, it is very hard work to begin with, but Oh so rewarding once you get going, and also great not only for Peace of mind and Body, but a little bit of Paradise being with Organic flowers and Vegetables, even the weeding is an enjoyment, and so stress free.

    All I can say to those waiting for an allotment, do not despair, one day you will find, it was all worth waiting for.

    Reply

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