The Battle of the Ridgeway, West Harrow - Plymouth Brethren acting as developers destroy rich natural habitat ahead of ecological survey

 

Warning that allotment BBQs risk closure of sites

Brent Council took a sensible decision to keep allotments open as a place for exercise at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, as long as social distancing and other guidelines were kept.

The decision has led to many plots looking better than they have done for years as the result of their owners' enforced time off work.

Now that is threatened because there have been instances of 'gatherings', ignoring 2 metre social distancing, around barbeques on some sites.

A well-placed Brent Council source said that if this continues it could lead to the closure of allotments. The source emphasised that it was a minority ignoring the rules but closure would affect everyone.

Brent Council has only recently improved the management of allotments, letting vacant plots more quickly and generally taking more of an interest. If sites were to close at peak growing season plots would become overgrown with weeds  and brmables and difficult to get back under cultivation.

Brent keeps allotments open for fresh air and exercise

Brent Council is keeping its allotments open for plot-holders' fresh air and exercise and has posted notices closely following the advice drawn up by the National Allotment Society. LINK

I applaud the Council's sensible decision.

Need to safeguard our allotments as development proposal made for Roundwood site

The triangle ear-marked for development - allotments top right

Several people have drawn my attention to the development plans for the Roundwood triangle formed by Longstone Avenue and Harlesden Road.

The plans involve building on the allotments that can be seen on the ariel view above (top right) and, because the site is under-utilised replacing them with a site of fewer plots elsewhere in Roundwood Park.

I have covered concern from several allotment sites about the Council's failure to re-let plots quickly leading them to be overgrown and hard to bring back into cultivation when they are eventually let.

In a posting in June 2018  LINK I wrote about the issue and said:

Meanwhile, following other examples of neglect of council resources such as garages on estates, there is a fear that pictures of neglect and low use rates such as those above, could lead to justification for a policy of selling off  allotments to be used for housing developments.

The proposal for Roundwood has been put into the project mainstream with £0.5m to be spent and  in 2019-20, £20m in 2020-21and £24.5m in 2021-24:
 

The allotments and 1-47 Longstone Avenue will be two relatively rough sites sitting between two brand new developments in Knowles House and an existing new development that has been completed and sold off.

The proposal is to buy out the lease holders in 1-47 Longstone Avenue and develop a new corner block. The massing Visual does not include the allotments that are located at the rear which have no overlooking and could be developed up to four storeys, with the allotments (half dozen in use) being relocated on to a small portion of Roundwood Park directly to the back, this allows us to not lose the allotment use as part of the scheme as allotments are considered to be a leisure activity.

The worry is that if this is conceded other lucrative allotment sites could be threatened by a land-hungry council with a potential reduction in the size of sites because of the number of unlet plots.

Precedent was set in the famous case of Farm Terrace in Watford which I covered HERE.

All may not be lost as Brent Council have tasked an officer from the Parks Department with looking after the borough's allotments and I hope that he will be proactive in letting plots. Clearly there has been a problem when we are told that there are hundreds on the allotment waiting list and so many are at present unlet.

Meanwhile allotment holders should keep an eye out for people in hard hats, high vis jackets and measuring tapes!

Better times ahead for Brent allotments?

Looking for improvements by next Spring

Brent officers from the Parks Department met with tenants on the Birchen Grove, Kingsbury, allotment today.

The meeting had been requested as a result of concerns over difficulties in making rental payments as well as overgrown and uncultivated plots which were not being relet and thus spreading weed seeds to neighbouring plots. LINK

The officers recognised that management of Brent allotments had not been going well for 18 months to 2 years since the  non-replacement of the Allotments Officer when she moved on to another job.  An officer is going through the process of auditing the many sites in Brent and as he toured the allotment with us today he took note of the uncultivated sites and maintenance issues and another collected photographic evidence.

We were promised better communication with updates on when plots had been allocated to new tenants and action to make the billing process more efficient. I have been trying to pay rent on one of my plots for  2 years without success!  An apprentice has been allocated to deal with the paper work. I suggested as an early essential is a spreadsheet recording all the plots, tenant's name, whether it was being cultivated and whether a bill had been sent.

The efforts of the Allotment representative at Birchen Grove, a voluntary elected position, has already helped reduce the number of unallocated plots from 25 to 10, although work has not started on some because of the colder weather. There will be another tour in the Spring to make sure that clearing and cultivation is taking place. It was pointed out than unlet plots represented a loss of income to the Council.

There is now a Birchen Grove Facebook page LINK that could be linked to a sustainability network that Brent Council is working on.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, lead member for the Environment, was unable to make the meeting but has asked officers to feed back to her on the issues raised.

Brent Council should reinstate the role of Allotments Officer to tackle overgrown plots and poor billing

The overgrown allotment next to my plot at Birch Grove, Kingsbury

I was pleased to see Cllr Janice Long take up the issue of Brent Council's allotments at the recent Full Council meeting. It is a subject that has been covered on Wembley Matters several times.

Cllr Long said that she was receiving a lot of complaints about the state of our allotments: the billing process is disorganised, the council does not therefore know who no longer requires their allotment and the result is that many are left overgrown - 'a mess.'

She went on to say that the Council had got rid of its Allotments Officer (something I campaigned against) and the work had  'been dumped on someone in the parks department.'

Long mistakenly said she thought that allotments had been converted to self management, in fact allotment holders except for one site turned this down but the Allotments Officer was nevertheless made redundant. There are however allotment representatives who can liaise between allotment tenants and the council.  There used to be an incentive of free plot rental for people taking on this role but I am not sure this is still the case. My allotment site at Birchen Grove has recently elected a new representative and I hope this will result in some improvement. However I think the problem will only be resolved if Brent Council decide to reinstate the Allotments Officer position - there is a lot of potential income in those plots that are not currently being cultivated.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, lead cabinet member for the environment, responding to Cllr Long said, 'We definitely want to get the best out of our allotments. I'll take this back to the parks team and make sure the billing is done properly as well.'

Neglect and dilapidation at Gladstone Park allotments

The overgrown allotment plots at Gladstone Park

Following yesterday's article LINK on the state of Birchen Grove allotments, in which I asked if there was a similar issue at other Brent allotments I have received the following information regarding the Gladstone Park allotment site:

I got my plot after a 2 year wait.  Everything you wrote yesterday could have been about Gladstone Park allotments also. Had my plot been allocated back in the autumn, I could have made a good start on clearing the ground of the dense couch grass, horseradish, bindweed etc, getting them to rot over the winter and preparing the plot for planting. The council rejected my request for help with clearing it. 

I am aware of other newbies with worse plots which they have been told they must clear and dispose of the rubbish themselves – including bricks, broken glass, abandoned contents of sheds. Although there have been several waves this spring of allotments being released to newcomers, a number of allotments remain abandoned and dilapidated. I’ve attached a couple of photos of examples but there are more. As you say, you can see why newcomers become overwhelmed and give up, perpetuating the general neglect.

 

The allotment sheds

The council has no idea who rents the council sheds. 

The toilet

 The toilet apparently has not worked for some time and the internal key was lost, I don’t know the current situation. The on-site allotment offices are abandoned and locked up. More could be done to organise communally beneficial services such as bulk purchase of compost, maybe have a large polytunnel on the overgrown plot which used to be communal – like the one they showed on Gardeners World recently, where the wider community can get involved in the growing process.

Abandoned buildings

 The on site supervisor does her best with the lack of council support. There are incidents of theft. Apparently the allotment key fits every padlock on all the Brent allotments so there is no knowing who is coming in legitimately or not. Updating entry security is long overdue.

The cost of allotment neglect in Brent

Birchen Grove allotments in Kingsbury

In Spring 2016 Brent Council consulted on the possibility of our allotments becoming self-managing. Allotment holders were not enthusiastic LINK and as far as I know none, apart from Kingsbury which was already self-managing, opted to self-manage.

I spoke up for the then Council Allotments Officer and the fine job she did but shortly afterwards she was gone.  Without a named officer the role was taken over by the depleted parks department - depleted after Veolia took over the maintenance contract for parks and the Green Flag scheme was abandoned.

Now the Birchen Grove site,  where I have two plots, is looking neglected and overgrown.  There seems to be no system of checking on active cultivation and  expediting the reletting of abandoned plots although I understand there is a waiting list and the Council is supposed to be encouraging local food cultivation LINK

The practical effect of plots being overgrown  is that they are much harder to bring back into cultivation and any new allotment holder can become demoralised by the sheer hard work involved. Grass and weed seeds spread over neighbouring cultivated plots and become a nuisance,

I would be interested to hear about experiences on other Brent allotments and perhaps Cllr Krupa Sheth, Cabinet member for the Environment, could look into the issue. It would be useful for the Scrutiny Committee to review the success or otherwise of the Council's Food Growing and Allotments Strategy.

Meanwhile, following other examples of neglect of council resources such as garages on estates, there is a fear that pictures of neglect and low use rates such as those above, could lead to justification for a polocy of selling off  allotments to be used for housing developments.

Many allotments likely to be at risk after Farm Terrace court judgment

Goodbye Farm Terrace

A four year battle LINK to save the Farm Lane allotments in Watford from development ended last week when a judge found against the campaigners. BBC London News showed an 80 year old man weeping in despair at the loss of his beloved allotments.

As campaigner Sara-Jane Trebar explains below the judgment that said that 'exceptional circumstances'  allowed the Borough Council to take over the site, could have wider implications for allotment holders across the country:

Unfortunately our fight to save our allotment site and protect others has ended.

We the Farm Terrace allotment holders are bitterly disappointed that the Judge did not find for our case against the government and Watford Borough Council.

This has been a very long, very emotional battle for us. We feel that at very stage where we have won the rules have been changed to make it increasingly difficult for us. 

This judgement is in our view, is a developers charter for development on any allotment site and could wipe out urban allotments forever. We are extremely worried about the ramifications of this case for all allotments. We still believe that the remits of ‘Exceptional Circumstances’ have still not been clarified nor explained. If there is no bench mark for what is an exceptional circumstance. We feel the term can and will be applied to get rid of many other plots and sites.

There is evidence almost weekly of sites losing land to development or like us losing their whole site.

We are very frightened about the future of urban allotments, unfortunately as our case has shown, they can now be offered as a ‘blank cheque’ to cash hungry developers and councils. Farm Terrace plots are and always have been in demand. This point was not questioned in court and yet permission to dispose of it was given. Watford Borough council have now been given the opportunity to do whatever they want with this land, be it a car park, expensive housing or yet more flats.

After consulting with our loyal legal team, we have come to the very difficult decision not to appeal against this decision. This is the end of the road for us. We have got to give up the keys to Farm terrace on Friday the 4th. Give up keys to plots that are still being worked, still growing fruit and vegetables and still very much loved so that bulldozers can move in. Needless to say it is heartbreaking. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our supporters near and far and of course our prestigious legal team, who could not have worked harder for us or for the protection of all allotments. We now leave the defence and protection on England’s Allotment sites to the National Allotment Society who we hope will work hard to safeguard other sites.

We could not be prouder of ourselves and our supporters who have battled so tirelessly against this immoral and illogical act. We feel we have done ourselves proud. It is a very sad day for everyone involved.

We would like to thank everyone at the National Allotment Society who have supported us over the past 4 years, particularly allotment holders and sites up and down the country. We also now leave the Society to take forward the issues raised in the judgement for the sake of all allotment sites in the country.

I have now closed donations to the gofundme account.

We would like to thank all those who donated to our crowd funding site, no matter how little or large an amount you helped us take this fight as far as we could and we remain thankful for that opportunity.

Defending the Council's role in allotment management

I could only attend the first half of last night's consultation  meeting on self-management of allotments. My impression by the time I left was that the majority of the large audience of allotment holders was sceptical about such a scheme - although that might have been changed by later presentations.

Council officers made it clear from the beginning that the consultation did not constitute a recommendation for allotments to be self-managed, 'nor is there a requirement to do so.'

Despite persuasive speeches from  Richard King of Barnet Allotment Federation and Richard Wiltshire of the National Allotment Society (there were other speakers later) the Q&A sessions revealed problems, not least (although it was said to be only a few hours a week), the amount of work involved in self-management (budgeting, managing lettings, rent collection, bank account, public liability insurance, dispute management) seemed daunting. 'We just want to get on with gardening' someone muttered.

The self-managed Allotment Association would take over maintenance of trees, paths, fencing and water and the question immediately arose of the inequality between allotment sites where some would face flooding problems or contain a large number of mature trees that would require maintenance.

Such inequalities would require such allotments to put up rents in order to have a fund to cover major expenditure while others would require less of a contingency and so would have lower rents. A response that there would need to be a 'levelling off' between sites  before they were handed over to Associations was not very convincing.

The audience were not much impressed by the guest speakers revelation that self-management had increased rents and that this was justified by the new freedom they had to improve the allotment.

Speakers from the audience suggested there was a need for an overall body to manage cross-borough waiting list rather than each independent self-managed site to have its own waiting list.

The argument, particularly from Barnet, that self-management was preferable to poor council management ('Easy Council' Barnet wants to get rid of everything anyway) was not in general favourable received, with  praise for the work of the current Allotments Officer, in allotment management, training, promoting organic gardening and sustainability and the overall Council food growing strategy,  despite more general criticisms of the Council.

Brent has 22 allotment sites, only one of which is currently self-managed, with the 21 managed by the Food Growing and Allotments Officer. At the end of January 2016 there were 1,064 plots of which 1,029 were let and a waiting list of 201 individuals.

Officers did refer to the Council's need to make savings and the possibility of budget cuts in the service but also stated that there were no plans to sell off sites to developers.

The legal position is that Section 23 of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908 puts the Council under a duty to provide a sufficient number of allotments with powers to improve, maintain and manage allotments. However, he legislation does not set minimum standards and these powers are discretionary - not a duty: 'Each individual authority can decide how to use these powers and what proportion of its resources to allocate to the service.'

The proponents of self-management quoted this as a reason to opt for self-management as it would be easier to defend allotment provision if it was self-financing.

The almost forgotten 'Big Society' was quoted.

Self-managed allotments- local control or a cover for cuts?

Brent Council is holding a consultation meeting with allotment holders on 'Allotment Associations and Self-Management: The Future of Your Allotments?'  on March 2nd.

As part of the Food Growing and Allotment Strategy LINK tenants will be consulted on their views of self-management:

Councils across the UK are looking at different styles of management with the aim of running allotments more effectively. Having an Allotment Association os the first step to taking more ownership of your site and in its most extreme (sic) form, this means that Allotment Associations lease the sites from the Council and take on the full financial, administration and maintenance management of their sites.

In Brent one allotment site is already self-managed but other sites lack an Allotment Association.

Speakers include:

Richard King, Barnet Allotment Federartion on 'The Barnet experience'
Clare Fuchs, self-management in Hammersmith and Fulham
Richard Wiltshire, the National Allotment Society
Derek Osborne, Chair of the self-managed Old Kenton Lane Allotment Association

In my chats to fellow allotment holders there seems little appetite for self-management but I expect attitudes will vary across the borough.

'Full financial , adminstration and maintenance management' sounds like a considerable amount of work that will be transferred from council officers to volunteers.  Major maintenance such as control of trees, fencing and drainage will clearly be potentially very expensive although water bills, toilet lighting etc will be paid through regular rental income.

There are whole borough issues such as management of waiting lists where people may be interested in plots at more than one site and initiatives such as wildlife friendly gardening, sustainable and chemical free gardening, where the present Food Growing and Allotment Offfcer has performed a vital role, which would be lost if the post is abolished as a result of self-management.

I hope the meeting is well attended and the issues given a good airing.

Public enjoy Birchen Grove Allotment Fair

Briefing the judges

Prize sweet peas

Best dressed vegetables

Some on the competition entries

The first Allotment Fair at Birchen Grove Allotments, Kingsbury went off well today with many members of the public touring the site and chatting to the gardeners about their produce. Many enjoyed sampling my mulberries.

There were not that many entries for the competition and it wasn't taken as seriously as on some allotments where there is intense rivalry and accusations of skulduggery. This was a relaxed affair with tongues firmly in cheeks for most of the time and plenty of humour.

The only controversey reported by Cllr Roxanne Mashari, one of the judges, was whether you could measure around the bend of a runner bean to establish its length or just measure a straight line from top to tail. I can't remember what the ruling was but modesty prevents me from telling you the winner!

Come down to Birchen Grove Allotments tomorrow - discover more than just the longest runner bean!

We were crossing our fingers down at Birchen Grove Allotment near the Welsh Harp this afternoon - not over the weather for tomorrow's Allotment Fair (Noon to 3pm) but because we recognised that the warm,  damp weather is ideal for late blight which affects potatoes and tomatoes.

In previous years we have left our healthy looking spuds and tomatoes late afternoon and found the lot brown and withered the next day on our return. The blight goes through the allotment like a tsunami with only the greenhouse tomatoes surviving. Even then they often eventually succumb.

On a positive note the rain has brought the runner beans on beautifully and courgettes should do well.

So fingers crossed that all will be well tomorrow and we can celebrate National Allotments Week in optimistic mood and maybe persuade some people to start growing their own.

Please do come along. There will be music, vegetable class displays, light refreshments, tea cakes and biscuits for sale, insect and bird homes for sale and to make and a chance to have a look around this pretty and busy allotment site.


Bring a container if you fancy doing some blackberrying between the allotment and the Greenhouse Garden Centre or over on the Welsh Harp.  I sampled some this afternoon and they are beautifully juicy after the rain.

PS I wonder how Jeremy Corbyn's allotment is doing while he is otherwise engaged?

The Birchen Grove Allotment has a fascinating history. The land was set aside for a Lawn Cemetery and a Shelter and Chapel built but was never used.  The land is still consecrated:

Sufra food growing, fresh veg collection and cooking opportunities

 

Work starts ar St Raphael's Edible Garden

From Sufra NW London

Today Marks & Spencer launches a national campaign called Spark Something Good, which aims to encourage people to take action for social good. Over the next 24 hours, 24 projects across the capital will be transformed – and the derelict site on St. Raphael’s Estate is one of these projects.

Across the day, M&S employees will be joined by our own volunteers, as well as volunteers from Sudbury Town Resident’s Association and Brent Housing Partnership to clean up the site, build raised beds and plant the first seeds of what will become one of the largest communal food growing spaces in North-West London. We do aim high, don’t we!

It’s going to be a manic day, with volunteers working onsite till 10pm tonight. For regular updates on what’s happening on site, make sure you follow us on Twitter.

Fruit & Vegetable Collection Pilot

On the subject of food growing, tenants at Birchen Grove and Bridge Road allotments will notice that some unusually bright yellow bins have appeared on site. Across August and September we’re piloting a new initiative, encouraging allotment-holders to donate fresh produce to the food bank.

Every year, many tenants find that a successful harvest quickly turns miserable at the sight of wasted fruit and vegetables, which are surplus to their need. To reduce food wastage, and ensure that we can help vulnerable people maintain a healthy diet, we’re offering tenants the opportunity to share their harvest with Sufra.

Collections from both allotments will be on Tuesday mornings, so it’s best to pick your harvest as close as possible to the collection day. There are separate bins for soft and hard fruits/vegetables because there is nothing more depressing than an overgrown marrow landing head-first on a pile of tomatoes.

And Fahim will not be impressed, when he has to clean out the bins. Please don’t upset Fahim.

Summer Academy

Keeping with the food growing theme, we’ve had a lot of enquiries about our Summer Academy, an intergenerational project that celebrates food growing and experimental cooking. Each session includes a visit to Sudbury Court Drive Allotment where participants harvest fresh produce (courtesy of Michael and Patrick’s frantic efforts since early February) and return to Sufra to cook a delicious meal.

What’s more, there are no chefs and no recipes! It’s truly experimental and a chance for people to learn cooking skills from one another. Or watch, and be entertained. The Summer Academy is open to young people aged 11-19 years and older people aged 60+ years... but we’re happy to slip in a few eager beavers. You can attend as many or as few sessions as you like, so why not give it a try?

The sessions run from 10am to 4pm on: Tuesday 4 August, Thursday 6 August, Tuesday 11 August and Thursday 13 August. To take part, download a Registration Form here. There are no spaces remaining on the first session (sorry, but you should have registered early!).

Food Academy for Young Carers

Sometimes experimental cooking doesn’t quite hit the mark!

We know that many young people who care for a disabled or unwell parent or sibling, often face the challenge of having to cook for the family. In partnership with Brent Carers Centre, we’re organising a special week-long Food Academy for young carers from Monday 24 August to Friday 28 August.

Across the week, young carers will learn how to cook 10 different dishes, as part of an accredited certificate in cooking. We’ve also thrown in a visit to King’s Cross Skip Garden (we’re really getting into this food growing malarkey) and a workshop on healthy eating run by a nutritionist. Participants who complete the accredited outcomes will be treated to a night out at Jimmy’s Restaurant at Wembley Outlet Centre to sample a world buffet.

If you know a young carer who would benefit from the course, get in touch or download a Registration Form here.

Brent allotment holders encouraged to go green as sites with short waiting lists advertised

Birchen Grove allotments near the Welsh Harp

It is good to see Vanessa Hampton, Brent Food Growing and Allotments Officer, taking action to encourage greener gardening by allotment tenants.  This was sent to allotment holders today:

Earlier this year I ran a couple of free cultivation classes which were attended by approx. 50 people.  So back by popular demand I’ve organised another 2 classes which any tenant is welcome to come along to.  The classes are identical, so you don’t need to go to both.

We will be covering useful topics for beginners on the allotments looking at tools and how to get your plot cleared and dug over, composting and how to garden more sustainably, reducing the use of chemicals on a plot.

The classes start at 10.30am and there will be a poster on the gate showing where I am on site if you can’t see me from the entrance. The class will last for approx. 2 hours and I have enclosed a useful information sheet that covers some of the subjects we’ll go over in the class.

Saturday 29 November at Gladstone Park Gardens allotment, Dollis Hill, Broadfield Close entrance, NW2 6NR  Map and travel info   There is a car park at this allotment.

Saturday 10 January 2014 at Woodfield Avenue allotment, North Wembley, HA0 3TP  Map and travel info   The entrance to the allotment and car park is in the park: go down Sudbury Avenue, take the first turn on the right into the park and you will see a building, North Wembley pavilion and the car park opposite where the gate to allotment is. 

I will also be contacting every tenant in December to invite them to complete a short questionnaire about their gardening methods with a view to finding out how green are our plot holders, for example do you have a water butt if you have a shed and how often do you use pesticides?  We will then re-survey everyone in a year’s time to see if people are getting greener.

I am also producing a Conservation Management Plan for the allotments and the aim will be to improve the places for wildlife at every site.  This will involve some fun habitat improvement activities like making log piles and ponds, building bird boxes and managing hedgerows.  If you are interested in joining in with a habitat improvement activity on your allotment site, please let me know.

Meanwhile the Council is advertising some potential plots on its website:

If you fancy your hand at food growing, some of our allotments have short waiting lists where you can be offered a plot within a year or so.

The short waiting lists are at:

• Cecil Avenue, Wembley, HA9 7DY
• Dors Close, Kingsbury, NW9 7NT
• Kinch Grove, Kenton, HA9 9TF
• Lyon Park Avenue, Wembley, HA0 4DZ
• Sudbury Court Road, Harrow, HA1 3SD

Allotments are a great way of growing good quality and fresh fruit and vegetables for your family and friends at a low cost.

Apply online for an allotment plot or call 020 8937 5619.

Brent makes good progress on allotments and food growing

My Birchen Grove plot this morning

As the Farm Terrace alloment holders in Watford take legal action against Eric Pickles in a bid to save their plots LINK it seems a good time to review the state of allotments and allotment gardening in Brent.

The appointment of Vanessa Hampton as Food Growing and Allotment Officer and the updating of food growing strategies seems to have resulted in a much more proactive approach with issues such as uncultivated and over-grown plots being dealt with more efficiently.

In a letter to allottees Hampton reports:

• 91% of plots are let
• 99.6%of allotment plots are let or under offer
• 98.7% of plots are being cultivated (up from 92% last year)
• There have been extensive clearane to bring over 70 plots overgrown with invasive weeds back into cultivation
• From April 2013, over 15 metric tonnes of rubbish was clear from allotment sites
• She worked on sites with volunteers including 120 young adults from the Challenge Network, the Wembley Stadium Geen Team and Veolia Environmental Services
• Ongoing renovation of council-owned sheds and drainage improvement works at various sites

Vanessa is to be applauded on the progress she has made in a short time and it has been good to see visible progress on my own site at Birchen Grove. Previously uncultivated plots were left for a long time giving weeds and brambles a chance to get a real hold on them, making it harder to bring them back to cultivation and spreading weeds seeds all over neighbouring plots.

An uncultivated plot at Birchen Grove

Following in the steps of the gardening classes that have take place on the Metropolitan Housing allotments on Chalkhill Estate, Vanessa Hampton is running free master classes on 'Preparing Your Plot for Cultivation' for new or inexperienced tenants to help them 'get started on plot clearance and digging with confidence'.

She will show tenants how to transform their plot from 'grass to a productive food-growing area'. The classes are open to any plot holder, irrespective of where their plot is located are available on two dates at two different venues. They will be held regardless of weather conditions.

• Saturday 25th January 2014 from 11am-1pm Birchen Grove, Kingsbury NW9 8SE (Map showing location on entrance gate if you are late)
• Saturday 1st February 2014 from 11am-1pm at Gibbons Road allotment, Gibbons Road, Harlesden, NW10 9BR

Advance booking and tools not required but wear sturdy waterproof shoes and warm layered clothing.

Not so welcome of course is the annual increase in allotment fees. The proposed increases below are subject to the final decision of Full Council in February.

Brent Residents - Increase of 3% which raises rents from £81.11 annually for 5 poles to £83.50. Council owned sheds will increase by  4% to an annual rent of £22.50 (£21.63)

Non Brent Residents - Increase of 15% which raises rents from £81.11 to £93.30. Council owned sheds will increase by 16% to £25 (£21.63)

Community groups that serve mainly Brent residents will have the same increases as Brent residents.

However the concession for 'senior citizens' of a 50% discount on the first 5 poles will now start at the age of 60 for both men and women. Previously it was 65 for men and 60 for women.

Residents who receive unemployment benefit will  need to provide up to date proof of their status from the DWP or similar in order to receive the concessionary rate for 2014..

By the way, I still had a broad bean in flower out in the open on my plot today, December 29th...

For more on the Farm Terrace Campaign follow this LINK

Chalkhill: A Growing community

The day after media publicity about the health benefits of gardening it was good to spend yesterday helping out with other volunteers on the Chalkhill allotments.

We were clearing the raised beds for the new season and topping them up with compost. There were problems with growing last year because there was no water source on the allotment that runs alongside the Metropolitan railway line.

That should be resolved shortly after an agreement between Metropolitan Housing and the Well London project on Chalkhill to install a water supply.  Anyone interested in  growing healthy local food and improving their own health through the exercise involved in gardening should look out for publicity regarding bagging one of the plots.

Allotment plots available in Brent NOW!

A corner of my allotment at Birchen Grove

I was under the impression that there were huge waiting list at all Brent allotments but today Brent Council tweeted that there were vacant plots available immediately at 7 sites without waiting lists. I am not sure if this fact has been conveyed to people on the waiting list at other sites so here are the details:

Seven allotment sites in Brent now have plots immediately available for anyone who wants to try their hand at food growing

The vacancies are at:

• Dors Close, Kingsbury
• Cecil Avenue, Wembley
• Kinch Grove, Kenton
• Lyon Park Avenue, Alpterton
• Sudbury Court Road, Sudbury
• Vale Farm, Wembley
• Woodfield Avenue, Wembley.

Allotment gardening is a great way to grow healthy food, keep active and works out a cost of just 22p a day for a standard size-five pole plot - that's about half the size of a tennis court and is big enough to grow enough fruit and veg for a small family.

Apply online for an allotment plot or call 020 8937 5619.

Still time to have your say on allotments and food growing strategy

The above poster was issued by the Friends Allotment Committee in the 1930a. The Quakers set up the Committee to assist the unemployed during the 1930s depression. It continued its work until 1951.

In our current recession  once  again allotments have a role to play and Brent Council is consulting on its Allotments and Food Growing Strategy. Its report acknowledges that allotment rents in Brent are the third highest in London. It proposes to deal with the large number of people on the waiting list by halving or further reducing the average size of plots when they come up for renewal.

There are some imaginative ideas in the document on extedning food growing opportunities other than in allotments including putting temporary vegetable growing beds on sites awaiting development.

The consultation closes on May 31st. Details HERE

Have you say on the future of food growing in Brent

Watering a seed bed at Birchen Grove last week

I had ear-marked today for working on my allotment, especially watering the seed beds...  So today's rain means that I can look at Brent Council's 'Food for Thought-A Draft Food Growing and Allotments Strategy'.

Few Brent Council documents start with a quotation from Gandhi,

To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves

and this sets the tone for an unusually thoughtful, well-researched and imaginative document.  However, as I read it I could not help but have a nagging voice at the back of my mind asking, 'but will they have the staff to make it happen?'

The report lists the benefits of local food growing, each one supplemented by a Case Study:

1. Supplying a sustainable source of food
2. Improving health and wellbeing
3. Acting as a valued community resource
4. Allotments and food growing as an educational tool
5. Delivering a resource for improving biodiversity
6. Establishing an link between gardening and engagement with the arts
7. Providing open space amenities for all residents
8. Contributing to climate change and energy reduction objectives

Raised vegetable beds at Chalkhill Primary School

Working as I do with children from Chalkhill Primary School on their school and community allotment I was pleased to read:

It is widely recognised that there is a strong need for children to be taught about here food comes from and the valuable contribution of fruit and vegetables towards attaining a healthy lifestyle.

Absolutely, not to mention the sheer pleasure children get from sowing, nurturing, harvesting and eating their own produce.  This unsolicited letter from a parent whose son visited my Birchen Grove allotment testifies to the enthusiasm that can be generated:

All evening H could not stop telling me and his dad about his trip to the allotments. it was very interesting to hear what a good educational experience it had been for him. He was telling us things about flowers, fruits and vegetables that we did not even know. I am very pleased that H had the opportunity to go to the allotments and widen his knowledge in a 'hands on' way and it is good that the school are able to make use of local area resources in such a way.

The strategy suggests extending the provision of temporary food growing spaces for community groups where land is available in spaces awaiting development such as South Kilburn and Wembley. Working with Capital Growth and Brent Sustainability Forum they will provide an umbrella structure for the coordination of food growing spaces and initiatives across Brent and will liaise with Transition Town Kensal to Kilburn and Transition Willesden  to encourage local communities to grow food as part of improving the local environment. They suggest utilising ward working money for food growing projects in areas such as Queensbury and Sudbury and for raised beds at Eton Grove and Grove Park. They suggest the provision of growing spaces in new developments such as the Willesden Green Cultural Centre.

Reviewing current allotment provision in Brent  the report notes the increased demand for plots nationally at 57 people per 100 plots, with 265 confirmed applicants on the Brent waiting list. Based on average turnover it is estimated that the current applicants on the waiting list could be accommodated in approximately three years.  However, as with school places, available plots may not be near enough (or good enough) for some applicants and waiting lists for some plots will be longer, while less popular plots may have vacancies.

Allotment fees in Brent went up substantially last year with some concessions removed, and will increase again from this month. Brent allotments are now more expensive than any of our neighbouring boroughs and the third most expensive in London.

Borough	Standard Charge 2012/13	Standard Charge 2012/13	Concession Charge 2012/13	Concession Charge 2012/13
	5 poles	10 poles	5 poles	10 poles
Brent	£78.75	£157.50	£39.40	£118
Camden	£46.50	£78.00	£23.25	£39.00
Harrow	£21.00	£42.00	£11.50	£23.00

The steepness of the rent rise provoked a revolt by allotment holders last year and I challenged Cllr Powney on the method they had used to set the new rents. LINK Contrary to claims last year  that the increased rents still meant plots were subsidised, figures show that the standard 5 and 10 pole plots involve a small net contribution to the Council.

The report's analysis shows that the profile of those on the waiting list now constitute more people in full-time employment (42% against 24% of plot holders) and more women (54% against 40% of plot holders). In order to meet the rising demand the Council suggests that plots can be split when they become vacant with 10 poles converted into two 5 pole plots and a higher proportion of 2.5 pole allotments.  46% of plot holders agreed with this strategy but 33%  strongly opposed. Plots that have been abandoned often remain uncultivated for some time because of cumbersome checking and re-letting arrangements and it is suggested that this could be streamlined. However the effectiveness of this may be hindered by lack of staffing.

The combination of increased charges and smaller plots could change the demographic of allotments considerably in the long-term with fewer retired males with large plots which they tend regularly.  The report acknowledges the social side of allotments and I can vouch for the fact that for many retired men it provides a kind of 'work substitute' with many almost clocking on and off and banter about 'are you doing the late shift today?'. The importance of this in providing structure, sociability and purpose to post-retirement life should not be underestimated.Interestingly 55% of the waiting list but only 26% of existing plot holders stated that the main reason for growing their own vegetables is for healthy easting and exercise and a choice to grow organically.

Respondents are asked to comment on the Vision and Objectives of the Draft Strategy:

The vision of the Food Growing and Allotments Strategy is to provide a range of food growing opportunities accessible to all parts of the community and to promote the benefits of a healthy lifestyle within a greener borough.

Objectives:

1. To provide efficiently managed allotment sites that provide good value for money and are accessible to all
2. To develop and broaden the range of food growing opportunities available though increased partnership working.
3. To promote the benefits of food growing as part of a healthy lifestyle within a greener borough.

The consultation lasts until May 31st. Documentation (substantial) can be found HERE