Not allot of land left for growing
Dave Higgens
THE amount of land used for urban allotments has dropped by 65 per cent in half a century, researchers claim.
The decline has been more dramatic in poorer areas, with deprived locations seeing eight times the amount of closures than wealthier neighbourhoods.
The University of Sheffield researchers say restoring some of the land to allotments could meet a huge surge in demand. They said the peak of land dedicated to allotments was in the 1940s to 1960s. But since then there has been a steep decline.
Academics at the university’s Institute for Sustainable Food analysed historic maps covering Bristol, Glasgow, Leicester, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton and Swansea from the beginning of the 20th century to 2016.
Just over a quarter of all the area recorded as allotments was still in use in 2016, with almost half – 47.9 per cent – being built on. Another quarter had become different types of green space.
The study, published in the journal Landscape And Urban Planning, found the lost land could have grown 2,500 tons of food per year in each city.
The team said councils have a legal obligation to provide enough growing space to meet demand. In England, waiting lists grew from fewer than 10 people per 100 plots in 1996, to more than 50 in 2013.
However, they found four cities – Southampton, Newcastle, Leicester and Sheffield – could meet current demand by restoring former allotments that have been converted to green space, feeding an extra 14,107 people.
Lead author Miriam Dobson said: “This trend of declining allotment land is worrying.”