About allotments

WELL, Whispering Smith still has his hat on, despite the worst weather since records began, and judging by his slow work and lizards, the climate must be decidedly tropical on his allotment (Whispering Smith column, Gazette, July 5)!
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Jul 2012, 11:33 BST

Beware, however, the snake in the grass; in this case, allotments which apparently have grass so high that even lions and tigers could also be taking up residence, and all because the town council is accused of not complying with covenants in contracts to terminate those who default in their performance through the poor upkeep of their plot.

I am not, of course, suggesting that defaulters themselves should be terminated!

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Nor do I believe that there would be many situations which should become legal, but there are two sides to every contract and, from the taxpayers’ perspective, this is surely the situation: the council has a legal requirement to provide allotments, but it does not have to provide them at a rental which is 71 per cent subsidised.

The allotment rents are, therefore, way below the cost of repair, maintenance, water charges, overheads, etc., and as a result there is a great reluctance to spend anything further on land matters.

In any event, is it fair that some 20,000 people should subsidise cheap rents for a few hundred gardeners – some of whom use the land for small-scale commercial purposes?

One could apportion blame to how the town gradually got to this position, and even the retail price index has its share of the blame, with a rise of more than 22 per cent in the last six years. We need to move on.

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I believe rents should rise significantly over the next three years to remove the majority of the imbalance; waiting lists will evaporate and only serious gardeners will remain, thus ensuring that there is a substantially higher chance of contracts not being broken by those renting.

The council, for its part, will have the pecuniary ability to perform its part of the contract the the good people of Littlehampton can cross that grievance off their list.

The only losers, of course, will be those renters who have benefited unfairly, albeit unwittingly.

If higher rents produce a real lack of allotment holders, then the total number of plots can be rationalised and overheads greatly reduced. Some land could even be ultimately sold.

With an increase in rents of about 240 per cent required to neutralise the 71 per cent subsidy, there would be some fallout.

Roy Scrivener, Conserative town councillor for River Ward,

Littlehampton