Priced off the plot?
I have an allotment in a London borough and the council is proposing to put up the rent for my plot by nearly 400 per cent. They say the increase in rent is to cover improvements in administration and for infrastructure projects, like toilets, on site. Long waiting lists mean councils can put up their rents, pricing the poorer people they were intended for out of the market and letting gentrification take over.
The bulk of the increase I’m expected to pay is made up of an ‘out-of-borough surcharge’. Many London boroughs now impose a similar surcharge. Given that our site sits on the borough boundary, this will impact a significant number of my fellow tenants. I’ve had my plot for 18 years and am utterly heartbroken at the thought of giving it up because I can no longer afford it. Are allotments a casualty of their own success?
Eleanor Morgan, by email