Too many allotment plots are vacant and overgrown, a Green councillor said at a meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet yesterday (Thursday 18 July).
Councillor Sue Shanks, who has an allotment herself, asked for a progress update on letting the hundreds of vacant plots to some of the thousands on the waiting list.
Progress was being made, she was told, just a few months after some people questioned whether the service was broken.
In March, the Brighton and Hove Allotment Federation complained about the number of unlet plots even though more than 3,000 people were on the waiting list.
Federation members were also frustrated by the lack of maintenance and repairs and the poor engagement between council staff and volunteer representatives of the various allotment sites.
Yesterday, at Hove Town Hall, Councillor Mitchie Alexander said that 87 per cent of the 2,789 allotments in Brighton and Hove were now let.
Councillor Alexander, the acting cabinet member for culture, heritage and tourism and adviser on allotments, said that the figure was up from 82 per cent in May. The national average is 92 per cent.
The Labour councillor, who runs the Grub Hub vegetable growing project, which supports local food banks, said that the allotment service was “at a turning point”.
She said that she recently met officials and the chair of the Allotment Federation, Mark Carroll, to discuss plotholders’ concerns.
An extra staff member was being recruited, she said. And the service had been working through data protection issues to enable volunteers to be more effective.
Councillor Alexander said: “It’s going to take some time to see the effects but it really is happening.
“The chair of the Allotment Federation was sitting there (at the meeting) with a big smile on his face so I think that’s a good indicator.”
Maintenance was happening, funded by some of the council’s budget underspend in the past financial year. Overgrown pathways and potholes were being tackled at allotment sites, she added.
Odd how the few remaining green councillors are now moaning about the things they couldn’t be bothered to fix when they were in charge.
You mean in their half-term of minority government?
Generally speaking though, when it comes to allotments, things like this have cross-party support historically.
I see your tag is cod latin for cars must be destroyed – Are you sustrans boy using a different name?
it’s a riff off Carthage must be destroyed.
He must be very clever under all that lycra
Ad homeims are weak retorts.
I always find this funny with politics. One party gets voted out, then complains to the next party about something that they made a total total mess of when they were in.
Seems that Labour are doing that funny thing of actually employing someone to do a job.
Why is it that the Brighton Greens did so many anti-environment things? I never understood why they made so much of a mess of running the allotments. Can’t get much more green than growing your own veg.
It’s an age-old strategy in politics, you can even see evidence of this in central government as well. As the new incumbent starts to address and fix the problems of the old, it’s a prime opportunity to attack – since they make the points to attack. Personally, I’m not a fan of these tactics, I’m a bit of an idealist and think that we should all be working together, we may disagree on the method, but that doesn’t make parties enemies to each other. Recent events with Trump got me thinking about the damage that inflammatory politics has.
Potholes? Blocked drainage? Real things that affect us all ?
Those are also important. But that doesn’t diminish the need to work on this as well, nor does it mean that these cannot be done in parallel!
Speaking of pathways, we cleared the part up and down our particular section because, you know, being nice.
It’s great to see the community taking action on the issue of vacant and overgrown allotments. These spaces have so much potential to bring people together and promote sustainable living. It’s encouraging that more staff are being recruited and maintenance is improving. Let’s hope this leads to more locals getting involved and making use of these valuable plots. Kudos to the Allotment Federation for their support and efforts in this initiative!
The problem with the allotments declined while the Greens had a say – specifically around Covid – 23 Jul 2020 7 May 2023. Now they should keep schtum.
People love to make political mileage over allotment issues, partly because they are at the heart of a naive green fantasy – but, rather than scoring points between old and new council administrations, it’s time we faced up to the facts.
1) The original idea of allotments was to help poorer people, especially in cities and bigger towns, to feed themselves with fresh produce.
2) Nowadays, having an allotment is hard work, and while that can be rewarding, for most it’s more of a hobby and a well-being exercise, than it’s a genuine source of year-round food. If you want cheap vegetables, then go to Lidl or Aldi.
3) The green fantasy, often picked up like a virus by sofa-huggers watching two or three TV gardening programs, is that we humans can still live off a small holding, and that growing vegetables is easy. This fantasy has resulted in long waiting lists for allotments.
4) The reality is that many new allotment holders don’t actually ever get their plot working, and many give up within the first year or two. If the weeds don’t take over your plot, then it’s often the digging and clearing that gets you down in the end. Then there’s the perennial problem of slugs and snails eating your seedlings or fresh crops. It can be a huge disappointment for newby green fantasists when they have to face up to all this.
5) The second issue that happens is where ‘life’ gets in the way of you putting in time at your allotment – be that you changing jobs, having kids, or moving away. An allotment actually needs the plot holder to devote 4-8hrs a week just to maintain it – and that’s after the initial land clearing, creating growing beds, and other setting up issues like adding a garden shed. The minute you turn your back – perhaps to go away for a short holiday – then nature takes over.
6) Some people think that new ways to grow, like ‘no dig’ techniques, will solve the work or time problems. But ‘no dig’ is actually not ‘no work’, and can be expensive in terms of materials needed. Also, you can never get rid of invasive plants like bindweed with ‘no dig’ methods. Slugs and snails also show no prejudice to no dig beds, so they are still a major problem.
7) The council – whatever political colour they are – make no money from allotments, because the land is rented out cheaply in relation to its actual value. Most councils would rather build houses on the allotment plots, but they keep quiet about that. But this lack of income for the council also means they are not willing to have a whole team of allotment officers, overseeing things. Even sending out emails and an annual bill takes a lot of time. And this is why few councils are hands on with their local plots.
8) Getting involved with a party political battle over allotments, really is a waste of time, because use ti will be the same, whoever is in charge. I can tell you however, that the recent decline in our local service first happened under the Greens
9) The answer to letting vacant allotments more efficiently, or more quickly, is to allow local site volunteers take over that process. Let’s hope the current council at least give this idea a try.
10) I’m writing this after eating my dinner, which tonight was entirely made from my allotment produce. But, as a 20 year allotment holder, I can tell you this is a rare thing, and certainly never a weekly one. Most of my food, in terms of shopping or growing costs, comes from Lidl.
I wonder if plots are typically too big for many. That many would have more success with smaller plots that are easier to manage?