Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Gardening shows to blame for rise in allotment evictions and waiting lists for up to a decade



  • Increasing number of allotment tenants evicted over unkempt plots

  • TV shows such as ITV's Love Your Garden make gardening appear too easy

  • Last year 86,787 people were on council allotment waiting lists


By Sara Malm


PUBLISHED: 21:22 EST, 18 December 2012 | UPDATED: 21:40 EST, 18 December 2012


Gardening shows on television are to blame for a rise in evictions of allotment holders as they make caring for a plot look 'too easy'.


Shows such as Love Your Garden and Gardeners' World has led to many people taking on allotments without realising the hard work needed to grow vegetables, experts say.


This has seen waiting time in some councils increase to over a decade, whilst existing tenants are neglecting their plots.


To blame: Alan Titchmarsh presenting Love Your Garden on ITV1 has been blamed for making gardening look too easy

To blame: Television gardening shows such as Alan Titchmarsh's Love Your Garden on ITV1 have been blamed for making gardening look too easy



Local councils are now increasingly cracking down on neglected patches - dubbed 'dirty plots' - by issuing notices warning tenants to clean up their plots or risk losing them.


Di Appleyard from the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners said growing waiting lists are putting further pressure on local authorities to evict lazy gardeners.


She added: 'There have been more non-cultivation letters issued this year because of the weather and people taking allotments unaware of the work and skills involved.'


Around 87,000 people were on council allotment waiting lists last year, with an average waiting time of three years, The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners said.


However, the total number could be close to 200,000 as 150,000 plots owned by parish and town councils, public bodies and private allotment associations were excluded from the survey.


Long wait: Nearly 200,000 people could be on waiting lists for allotments as 150,000 plots owned by non-council organisations were excluded from the survey

Long wait: Nearly 200,000 people could be on waiting lists for allotments as 150,000 plots owned by non-council organisations were excluded from the survey



In Brighton, 1,070 such notices have been issued in the past year - covering over a third of the council's plots in a hope that a drastic crackdown will speed up the 13-year waiting list for the council's 2,855 plots.


A Brighton council spokesman said: 'We carry out regular and rigorous inspections to ensure allotments are properly maintained and remain viable for future tenants.


'All allotment holders are made aware of the need to cultivate their allotments when they sign their rental agreement.'


Similarly, London's Merton Council has issued 378 notices to quit - in respect of almost a third of its 1,364 plots.


Growing pains: Allotment tenants face a harsh truth when they discover that growing vegetables is not as easy as Monty Don and the team on Gardeners' World make it look

Growing pains: Allotment tenants face a harsh truth when they discover that growing vegetables is not as easy as Monty Don and the team on Gardeners' World make it look



And allotment holders with untended plots in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, have also been warned to 'use them or lose them' in a bid to improve an eight-year waiting list.


Beverley Town Council has framed its tenancy agreements so that holders can be evicted if they fail to keep their plot 'clean and free from weeds and well manured and otherwise maintain it in a good state of cultivation'.


One of the council's allotment reps, Steve Johnson, complained: 'People see these gardening programmes that make it look easy. It's not like that.


'They get very depressed when they see the weeds and they abandon it.'


Reg Knowles, chairman of The Allotments & Gardens Council, said the summer's bad weather had seen many amateur gardeners abandoning their plots.


'People think allotments are easy to maintain but it's been a bad year weather-wise and people have got disheartened and not bothered doing their plots.'







Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)