UK Allotment Stories

Parco Tritsis

Allotment stories from the UK

Allotments in the UK go back to the 1700s when common agricultural land was being enclosed to create big estates, and some areas were set aside for the common people. The oldest still operating allotments in England are at St Ann’s in Nottingham which date back to 1930s.

Current allotments, which are more often in cities, date back to the 1908 and 1922 Allotment Acts which made it the duty of every Council (or Allotment Authority) to provide allotments to meet demand at a reasonable rate.

The Allotment Act of 1922 defines the term “allotment garden” as:

“An area which is wholly or mainly cultivated by the occupier for the production of vegetable or fruit crops for consumption by the plot holder or their family including the keeping of small livestock as agreed by the allotment authority.”

Around the end of the 19th century and start of 20th century allotments provided a large part of the food for the poor.

And during the two world wars, they were vital. In 1918 1.500.000 allotments and still 1.200.000 in 1948.

Numbers then dramatically fell to 600.000 in 1960s. The Thorpe Inquiry in 1969 slowed decline but still 500.000 in 1970s and currently 300,000. Some suggestions that waiting lists are up from 13.000 in 1996 to 76.000 in 2009 and that councils are starting to provide more allotments. Also the National Trust (one of biggest landowners in UK) announced that it was setting up an allotment scheme ‘up to a thousand new plots’ and Nigel and Elizabeth Pargeter in BBC Radio 4’s The Archers (the world’s longest running soap opera) created allotments in the grounds of Lower Loxely.

Plot sizes now average about 250 sq.m and rents area generally relatively low- say between 15-45 pounds per plot per year.

In my home town of Durham, my favourite allotments are St Margarets with their view of the Cathedral. These are an example of privately owned allotments where the owner is the not the Council. In this case it is the Cathedral.

Like all allotments in the UK, as well as local, organic food production, they are prized as a place to escape, to get outside, for children to learn where food comes from and get there hands dirty, and of course for Food and Produce Competitions. Who can grow the biggest leek? Like all communities there is both cooperation and competition.

Like most allotments there is an Allotment Association, made up of the people who have allotments there, a little like the Management Committees set up in most shared apartment blocks in Athens. This Association elects a committee annually who rents the land from the owner, lets out the individual plots, enforces the rules set out in the lease, pays bills, collects rents and generally ensures the smooth running of the Gardens.

In Durham, the Allotment Authority is the new Unitary Authority which consolidated many small town and parish councils. They have therefore taken on a great range of Allotment Gardens and Allotment Associations each with varying rules and traditions. They are currently asking allotment holders for their opinions on drawing up a new set of rules to be included in all the new leases across the County. These provide quite a good list of questions for anyone thinking of setting out allotments to think about:

- who is allowed to have an allotment (how locally do they have to live?)

- can allotments be passed on to co-workers or family or must they go to the next person on the waiting list

- who provides water and how is it billed?

- how much should an allotment cost?

- can you keep small animals on the allotments (chickens, rabbits etc)? And can you chain and leave dogs?

- what boundaries do you need between plots and who builds and maintains them?

- should there be rules about tidiness (e.g. 75% planted or being prepared for planting and the remainder clean and weed-free)?

- should there be rules about inappropriate behavior?

- what rules should control the use of fires?

- how big can your shed or greenhouse be? And what materials can you use?

- what are the penalties for breaking the rules and how are they enforced?

Clearly, in a city with so few private gardens as Athens, there could be a great demand for allotment gardens, and they could be very successful. Especially at a time when Greece faces a time of crisis and hardship, and money for many families will be tight, as the British said: Dig for Victory.