Righty ho, no point shilly-shallying around the issue - I may as well get straight to the point!
For anyone not currently living in Redbridge, the local council are currently following a plan of hard sell. Sadly not of themselves, instead of the spare spaces in the borough. It is currently proposing the sale of three car parks in South Woodford, and one in Woodford (all are regularly used). There are additional places up for grabs to the right developer, but the main ones concerning me at then moment are the allotments. Altogether five sites across Redbridge are threatened by sale including the one that I am on.
I have no beef with a council seeking to sell of a little of its land for development assuming that the circumstances are right. However like a lot of London, Redbridge is largely built up and is getting more so ( I can think of 3 building sites within walking distance to me - one of them for 1000 new homes), and Redbridge council selling up the borough wholesale is unnecessary over development.
I could pontificate for a long time on the rights and wrongs (don’t get me started - I probably will!) In terms of the allotments I have several concerns, beyond this over development of the borough. Mainly these are that the council has kept allotmentees in the dark about what their plans are, and have treated them with a lack of respect. There is no clear plan as to how allotmentees will be provided for should the sale go ahead, and more importantly no mention made of new allotment sites being provided. This is key, as statutory allotments come with the proviso that if they are developed/ sold/ whatever then the council must provide an alternative new site of at least equal size. My main concern is that the council are knowingly acting illegally, but are hoping that their residents will overlook it; and if people do overlook it, then the council set a precedent that other councils can follow with their own job lots of council land.
Apologies if this is all a bit convoluted and a bit conspiracy theory, I will try to be more lucid in future! In the meantime, if you are interested in doing your bit please sign this petition currently before the PM, stating your opposition to the sale of sites in Redbridge, including the allotments. Many thanks for you support if you do!
Posted in Grow Your Own, Life in general
