Worrying drop in urban allotments

THE amount of land used for urban allotments has dropped by 65 per cent in half a century, according to new research.

The decline has been much more dramatic in poorer areas, with deprived locations seeing eight times the amount of closures than the wealthiest neighbourhoods, a team from the University of Sheffield has found.

And the researchers believe that restoring some of the land to allotments could meet a huge surge in demand in recent years.

They said the amount of land dedicated to allotments peaked in the 1940s to 1960s. But the subsequent years had seen a steep decline.

The academics at the Institute for Sustainable Food at the University of Sheffield 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. By 2016, just over a quarter of the area historically recorded as allotments was still allotment land, with almost half (47.9 per cent) being built on.

Another quarter had become different types of green space.

The study, published in Landscape And Urban Planning, found the lost land could have grown an average of 2,500 tonnes of food per year in each city.

The team said councils had 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 for every 100 plots in 2013.

However, the researchers found that four out of the five cities for which waiting list data was available – Southampton, Newcastle, Leicester and Sheffield – would be able to meet current demand by restoring former allotments that had been converted to green space.

On average, three quarters of this land was suitable for re-conversion – with the potential to feed an extra 14,107 people.

Lead author, Miriam Dobson, said: “With waiting lists growing ever longer, this trend of declining allotment land is worrying – but our research has shown that one way councils could meet demand is by simply starting to restore former sites.

“Growing our own fruit and veg has huge benefits for people’s health and wellbeing and can contribute to local food security and improve our environment.

“Our findings strengthen the case for preserving existing plots and boosting growing space, particularly in deprived areas, to share those benefits more fairly across our cities.”

One way councils could meet demand is by simply restoring former sites MIRIAM DOBSON