Allotments

I have blogged previously on the exploding waiting list for allotment sites in Brent. The list has trebled in the last three years, and I think we need to review how they are managed and how we can get some new ones.

I am a bit worried about how effectively they are managed because I know of a case where someone worked an allotment for three years before it was realised that he didn't have a formal contract to do it. Looking round, for example at the Longstone Avenue allotments, some of the sites do not appear well cultivated. I wonder if Brent Council are as pro-active as they might be in following when peoples' circumstances change? I suspect that there are cases where people move away from the area, but retain ownership of an allotment that they are unlikely to use. I don't want to hurry people off, but perhaps we can do better in encouraging people to use their sites or perhaps sub-dividing them if they get get to be too large.

The second issue is increasing the supply. I don't whether reconfiguring the sites would yield more plots, but we should also look to use planning powers to address the shortage we have at the moment. Even quite a small number of plots can be viable, and we need to be more imaginative in we meet the growing need.