[merlin12]

My local council, in thier wisdom have chosen my allotment site as the preferred location for a park and ride.  There are over 80 plots on this site.  The site, as far as I know was gifted in the 1930's to the 'poor' of the area to use.  So far there has been an article in the local newspaper and a petition has been set up online by a local councillor.  Does anyone have any experience of fighting this type of thing or can anyone offer any advice???

[Yorkie]

Firstly, your councillor should be able to find out whether the site is a statutory site, i.e. has some slightly greater protection - needs permission of the Sec State before it can be disposed of (though if it's not actually being sold, I'm not sure if it falls within the definition of disposal - and would therefore need permission).

Are the council proposing to offer you alternative plots on a different site?  That may make their actions seem objectively more or less reasonable in the circumstances.

Is the site fully tenanted?  If not, there's an argument that the site isn't needed for the poor.

I'd also suggest that you find out some more details of the initial gift - whether it was a bequest, a donation in trust, or simply a gift with an expressed desire (but no legal restrictions).  That may make a difference as to what the council can do with the land - though you're getting into the realms of probate / trust law then.

It may be that the council has taken the view that 'the poor', as envisaged by the original person and the society of the time, no longer exist and therefore the purpose of the original gift no longer exists.

None of this is very concrete, but you may wish to contact the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners for advice as they've pointed lots of gardeners in the right direction in this sort of situation.

[compostqueen]

Park and ride in these economic times sounds a bit unlikely.  You wouldn't have to start worrying about your plots yet as you don't have any definite threats to you at the moment.  Unless the council has planning consent they can't chuck you off, so everyone has to stay put.  If your site is statutory they need Sec of state consent and they have to meet a strict set of criteria.  That would take quite a time to get as they have to provide lots of evidence. The Sec of State's office would be in touch with your lotty association and give you the opportunity to refute all the points.  Also any application to development an allotment site has to be ACCOMPANIED by a full species survey. A full species survey would take years to complete.  You have all sorts of avenues open to you and a copy of the lotty fighters handbook from the library is a must if you really believe you're under threat.

If your site is not with NSALG then get yourselves joined up fast if you think the threat is real.  Also you need to organise yourselves as if the council is really going after your site you're going to have to be proactive

[kel28]

My allotments are on 2 fields the 1 st field has been going since about 1930 the 2nd has been over the last 15 years and has had about 3 or 4 more stripes added on over the last few years. The council decided to close it when it was in it early years because people were a bit cautious as it was new ground, 1 man had a year tenancy on it and he refused to move down the field or to leave his allot full stop (lovely man but he wasnt going to move for no one) in the end he kicked up so much stink got 5 of his friends to start digging vacant allots and that was the end of it it was saved.  So dont get disheartened it only takes 1 person to stand up for themselves and its all saved. only an idea if its an online petition can you put the address up on here im sure we'd all sign it

[merlin12]

Thanks for the advice.  I've posted the link to the on-line petition in  new topic.