Am Furious! Waiting lists in excess of 200 and Council selling off allotment sites!

angelavdavis

I have just received the latest Clive Emson auction catalogue and discovered that Hastings Borough Council are selling off a former allotment site (which adjoins an existing one).

I am furious - the latest figures suggest that there are waiting lists in excess of 200 long for council sites and in excess of 30 for private allotments!

I have posted a message on the councils "Ask the Leader site" onto which I originally posted the query about reopening some of these abandoned sites only last month, to be greeted with the "we are making the most of our existing sites" non-committal answer of course.

It's a horrible feeling to be so powerless when the Councils can continue selling off the public land - robbing the next generation of the ability to grow their own food and enjoy a healthy hobby!

I have been trying to get find people on these allotment waiting lists via forums, in order to challenge the council, but have had little luck.

OK rant over.... Just had to share with some people that would understand.

Lotus-eater

Contact the local paper.

nodwah

Collar your councillor in person or go along to a meeting and harangue them!


I've been bugging my local councillor about a local issue and he's actually got results for us - haven't told him I've never voted for him ha ha

angelavdavis

Hi Nodwah, I was thinking of cc'ing my Councillor and MP on my letter to go into the local newspaper, what do you think - do you think I need to change anything?

"Further to a recent letter published in the Hastings Observer relating to abandoned allotment sites, waiting lists in excess of 200 long and the recent interest in the subject of Allotments on the Ask The Leader Hastings council web page, I was dismayed to see a portion of former allotment site adjacent to the Lower Park Road allotments to be on sale at the Clive Emson auctions in June!
If you are currently on one of these waiting lists for a council run allotment site, please contact me either at my home address or via email at xxx as soon as possible. As they are clearly not going to reopen these sites voluntarily, our only option is to challenge the Council under the 1908 Allotment and Smallholding Act to release the abandoned allotment sites that the Council has been sitting on for almost 10 years. If we fail to do anything, they will be legally permitted to sell this land off, as they are clearly starting to do due to it not being in public use for 10 years. Once this land is gone, it is gone forever and allowing this land to be sold from under the Hastings & St Leonards residents is robbing our future generations of the right to grow food and pursue a healthy hobby."

Farway

Are the County elections coming up in your area on 4th June?

Nothing concentrates minds like losing your seat

RAS

Angela

A mesaage to this lot http://footprints.pbworks.com/FrontPage might well get you some support as well.

You could leave a message on the wiki?

angelavdavis

Thanks guys, will give your suggestions a try. I had the Transitions group on my list as I had missed their April meeting due to being on holiday (thanks RAS!)

Just to update you. The leader of the council has replied to my query relating to the land being in ownership by the council, apparently it no longer is in ownership (very odd).

My letter wasn't printed (yet) but another letter was printed from the head of the local allotments federation echoeing the situation that the council is sitting on a lot of allotment land and not putting it back into use (apparently the list has been growing considerably over the last three years).

I managed to google and find her phone number which I called on Saturday and updated her on my efforts to try to get a group of people together to launch a formal challenge to the council and she is getting into contact with the National allotment federation to assist with legal costs!

I will keep you updated.

nodwah

keep up the good work!

It's very strange the tranfer of ownership of that land - on the quiet?

Garden_Girl

contact http://www.nsalg.org.uk/ as it is part of their remit to " NSALG aims to:

Protect, Promote and Preserve allotments for future generations by monitoring allotment law and other relevant legislation

Provides advice and information in respect of sites under threat

Is part of the official consultation process of the allotment disposal procedure "

as they have all the legal stuff at their disposal

Good luck with your quest. the more people you can get involved the larger voice you will have.

angelavdavis

nodwah wrote: »

keep up the good work!

It's very strange the tranfer of ownership of that land - on the quiet?

My thoughts exactly!

Garden_Girl wrote: »

contact http://www.nsalg.org.uk/ as it is part of their remit to " NSALG aims to:

Protect, Promote and Preserve allotments for future generations by monitoring allotment law and other relevant legislation

Provides advice and information in respect of sites under threat

Is part of the official consultation process of the allotment disposal procedure "

as they have all the legal stuff at their disposal

Good luck with your quest. the more people you can get involved the larger voice you will have.

Thanks for this. I actually think this is who the chair of the local allotments federation is contacting for funding of any legal costs.

peter_the_piper

Unfortunately this does not surprise me, Hastings council are not known for listening to their public. Their latest wheeze is to take the only useful coach park in town, turn it into an enormous white elephant of an art gallery and move all the coaches to the only part of the sea front which is not blighted by overpriced parking. They seem to be the worst town for hiring "consultants" for all sorts of red herrings.