Save Plot 15 Waterfurlong Gardens

29/07/2022

Thank you to everyone far and wide who fought alongside us to save our beautiful orchard garden.

I am are sorry to tell you our efforts failed and on 31 March we were evicted, although the agent continued trying to bill us for rent, which really says it all.

The views of the 13,000 people who signed our petition were of no interest to the agent or the land owner, and to the bitter end they refused to explain their decision. No warnings, no known complaints against us, no arrears, no rationale, no right of appeal, no compensation for years of back-breaking restoration, investment and love. The law, as it stands, allowed them to do this.

My Subject Access Request was treated with the same contempt. I am attaching a copy of the word-salad I received from the land agent in reply to my detailed request. Following a judgment against them by the Information Commissioner I finally received a 78 page response, so heavily redacted that only a handful of single-sentence snippets are of the vaguest relevance. One of these was a gleeful comment about the “amazing” garden we had created, complete with smiley face…

I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about the likely motives behind our eviction. I would write more, but have received anonymous threats of defamation action should I do so, and I do not have the resources to match the deep pockets of the agent or the land owner. 1/2

29/07/2022

2/2 So many people have contacted me with their own heart-breaking stories, many of which have led to serious mental breakdown, and I will continue to campaign for decent rights for those who rent private allotments or gardens.

We were fortunate that Peterborough City Council allowed us to reclaim some narrow strips of unused land surrounding my son’s allotment plot there, and over the course of the year we dug out tons of rubble, transplanted 300 plants, fruit bushes and young trees, and transferred our potting shed, raised beds and frames. This alone cost a fortune in time and money, and visiting the plot involves Julia and I in a 30 mile round trip, but we have at least been able to salvage something from the situation and are immensely grateful for that and for the support of the lovely Peterborough allotmenteers.

Things didn’t improve when I broke my back in October and then developed serious Covid complications this spring, but I am now slowly on the mend and have put my months of enforced confinement to good use writing. I am just completing a book about the lost apples of Stamford and am half way through another on the history of gardening in England’s smallest county of Rutland, which lies on my doorstep.

I cannot bear to go back to our old garden and see what ‘improvements’ may have been made, but local orchard groups have assured me they will be keeping all the ancient Waterfurlong trees under very close scrutiny.

Thank you again, each and every friend and supporter who helped us keep going. We will always remember your kindness, and hold onto the dream that one day we can create a magical orchard of heritage trees on land of our own.

15/06/2021

Usually seen in southern Europe, the plants have not been found in the wild in the UK for decades.

01/06/2021

01/06/2021

LOST THE PLOT: ETHAN'S STORY

Although Ethan* has managed to keep his council allotment in Lancashire, it was only after a long, expensive struggle which worsened his already serious health problems. *Name changed to protect privacy.

"In 2014 I had a skiing accident, with multiple fractures and serious head injuries which left me with epilepsy, memory lapses and PTSD. I lost my business, my flat, everything and had to move back in with my parents miles away. I hit rock bottom and became so depressed I ended up hospitalised again. When one of the occupational therapists suggested helping out in the patients' garden I first thought she was mad but in the end couldn't be bothered to argue and surprised myself. After I was discharged I kept going back to help and picked up quite a few skills. I couldn't work, drive, or play sport and had no one to socialise with, even if I'd had the confidence and motivation to go out, which I struggled with, and the gardening became really important to me and something to get me up and out.

A family friend suggested I get an allotment and checked out if the Council could help. After a few months they managed to find me one a few minutes walk from home. It was in really good nick as they'd had it properly rotavated and there was hardcore for a greenhouse. The allotment manager was brilliant, really supportive, and completely understood that some weeks I was in so much pain or so down all I could do was sit there and read and watch the birds. She also gave me reassurance when my seizures got worse and I couldn't visit for a couple of months while I switched to new medication. It was around then that the Council handed over to the Allotment Association, and we didn't have a manager any more but a nightmare bunch of control freaks. They started issuing me with improvement notices because I wasn't growing enough (except weeds), which put me under unbearable stress. My doctors and my parents all wrote to the Council explaining my problems, but it just ended up making matters worse as that's when the Association gave me 12 months to quit. They eventually said it was because my epilepsy was a health and safety risk.

Fast forward to today and with a lot of £££ spent on lawyers, the help of one of our councillors and a local head injury charity I'm going to be able to keep my plot and have some special concessions for my disabilities.

Don't give up in your fight, but for anyone taking on an allotment to help rehabilitate from physical injuries or cope with mental health, be warned that you're at the mercy of whoever's in charge. If the b******s don't like you or don't want you they'll do everything they can to throw you off."

Linocut 'Swallows and Sweet Peas' © Janis Goodman, one of our favourite garden artists.

27/05/2021

THE PLOT THICKENS FURTHER

For those following our garden eviction saga -

On Tuesday, Strutt & Parker missed the Information Commissioner's deadline for dealing with my Subject Access Request.

This morning I received the attached response from Strutt & Parker to my letter of 10 May asking for proper reasons and supporting evidence for our eviction, the right to appeal, and contact details for the Secretary to the Cecil Estate Family Trust (as Strutt & Parker blames the trustees for our eviction). It appears the Stamford Director, Jeremy Dawson, crumpled up his single sentence reply in a fit of rage before stuffing it into the envelope. 😳

This afternoon I duly submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner about the Subject Access Request. Half an hour later I received an email from Strutt & Parker's parent company, BNP Paribas, stating they need another two months to deal with it. The email came from a Mr Asim Tufail ...

You couldn't make this stuff up.

23/05/2021

LOST THE PLOT: ALISTAIR'S STORY

Here's another story sent to us. Alistair* and his fellow school governors lost the West Country orchard they had restored for their village's children.

"I'm a governor at a primary school and we got badly burnt saving an old orchard. Most of the village is owned by [a stately home], including what was a half acre of unused, overgrown orchard next to the school playground. We wanted to restore it as an environmental project for the children and an asset for the village. The landowner agreed, we had the trees identified and with parents' help and a small grant we raised £5,000. We replaced dead trees with local varieties, sorted out the hedging and bought wildlife cameras, benches and bird-boxes. The children planted bluebells, had bat evenings and bug hunts and the orchard became an intrinsic part of school and village life. One of the best things was the story-telling sessions where elderly people who had grown up in the village shared a picnic with the children and talked about their memories, including scrumping in the orchards and the harsh consequences!

In our fifth year, just when the new trees and hedging were becoming established we got wind that the landowner had managed to find a solution to a long-standing access problem (too involved to go into), which meant they could sell the land for housing. To cut a long story short, our orchard was bulldozed to build four so-called executive homes. Although we went through all the stages of objection etc, it was hindered by so many villagers being dependent on the landowner for work, housing or both and being worried about rocking the boat, I'm sure with good reason.

We managed to give the school, the village and the orchard five fantastic years but the effort ended up being disproportionate and was wiped out by the stroke of a greedy landlord's pen."

*name changed to protect privacy

21/05/2021

A little Green-Veined butterfly on one of our Pheasant’s Eye narcissi 🦋

19/05/2021

LOST THE PLOT: CARA AND RASHID'S STORY

Cara and Rashid* are now happily gardening an allotment in Birmingham, but racial abuse forced them to leave a previous plot in Cambridgeshire before they'd barely got going.


"When I started seeing Rashid I had a neglected allotment I'd taken on with an old boyfriend. We had both been clueless and thought it would be a piece of cake ha ha, and we ended up doing more drinking there than digging. Looking back I'm amazed I didn't get sent an improvement notice.

Rashid ran a restaurant and had spent a lot of his childhood on his grandparents' plot in Birmingham so was ahead of me in the green fingered stakes. He was really excited about the plot and that rubbed off on me. He took a week off work to help me sort it out, hired a rotavator and turned up raring to go.

We worked flat out, got it all laid out and built raised beds, but from day one the complaints started from the old codgers. Too noisy, using a hose before June, not having builders' bags for the rubbish we were digging out blah, blah. Apart from a couple of friendly people at the other end of the site the atmosphere stank.

A couple of weeks later my brother came over to lay slabs for a shed while Rashid was at work. For the first time the old guy on the next plot said Morning and when a few of them were gathered for a brew I went across with some biscuits, they were quite chatty and actually said the plot was looking good. Wowzers! Then one nodded his head over at my brother and said "So you've moved on from our dusky friend" and the others sniggered. I was just gobsmacked. So full of rage I couldn't even speak.

I debated whether to tell Rashid but when I did he just shrugged it off, he was used to it, which made it even worse. He could ignore it but I couldn't!! I rang the Allotment Association chairwoman who was really defensive, basically saying she didn't believe me. She said she could only investigate what happened if I had a witness who would confirm it or a recording. Which of course I didn't. I could have written to the Council but just wanted out of the place. I ended up subletting the plot to my brother which is against the rules, but nobody complained. They were just happy he was white.

It was a big factor in making us decide to move to Birmingham and me and Rashid now have a plot on a lovely site where everyone is welcome and plotters grow such an amazing range of produce. Of course there's sometimes still friction but it's about stuff like giving out the key pad number not the colour of people's skin."

We're not alone in our unfair eviction. Read our new blog post with six other gardener's experiences at https://www.waterfurlonggardens.com/single-post/lost-the-plot-other-people-s-stories



*names changed to protect identity

18/05/2021

LOST THE PLOT - SUE'S STORY

When notice to quit our plot hit us like a bombshell we thought we were in a really unusual situation, but people from up and down the country have messaged with similar stories. We're going to share some of these to highlight the scale of the problem.

It's not just tenants on privately-owned plots - increasingly councils have been devolving management of their sites to allotment associations. Well-run associations can be great, but badly-run ones can be terrible, evicting reliable tenants because of prejudices, personality clashes, or opportunities for land-grab.

Teacher Sue from Hertfordshire was driven off her allotment in 2018.

"Dad's allotment had been his pride and joy since the 1970's, winning prizes for his veg every year. When his arthritis got worse I started going over to help after work and in the holidays. I did the heavier jobs, we'd share a flask of tea, and Dad would teach me all his tips and tricks. In 2010 Dad needed a double knee replacement and got the Council to add my name to the tenancy agreement, which they were happy to do. He never really recovered from the surgery and when he died having 'our lottie' was what kept me going. Although I didn't go in for competitions I kept the plot the way Dad would have wanted it and took loads of produce into school.

When the Council handed over to our Allotment Society it seemed to come as a shock that I was down as the tenant and the Chairman told me they thought the Council shouldn't have added me. It wasn't as if I was neglecting the plot, quite the opposite, so I didn't get what the problem was. Then he said the Committee felt my plot should go to a family as it was one of the biggest ones and they wanted me to swap it for a smaller one in a rubbish state. No way was I moving but they made me feel like I'd got my plot through false pretences.

They didn't like me kicking back and wrote giving a year's eviction and the offer of a half plot. Lots of the other allotmenteers were really angry but didn't know what to do to help, they were also worried the same thing would be done to them. I paid a lawyer to write to the Committee and that's when things became unbearable, someone sprayed weedkiller over my tomatoes and I started finding dead rats on the path.

One day I turned up to discover someone had dug up the grave of Dad's old dog, scattered his bones and stuck a spade there to show it wasn't animals. I ran home sobbing and never went back. Dad's friend cleared out the shed for me and was almost as upset. Sometimes I wish I hadn't given up but my little sanctuary had become a scary place.

Surprise, surprise, the Committee gave my plot to the Chairman's son-in-law who wasn't even on the waiting list. Now he's got the best plot on the site and all he grows is a few potatoes."

If you are facing unfair garden eviction do contact SWCAA https://www.swcaa.co.uk/news/are-eviction-procedures-getting-out-hand, who can offer help and support and are lobbying MPs about this escalating problem.

14/05/2021

GROUSE UPDATE

It's going to be a busy month for Strutt & Parker's Stamford office, dealing with a different kind of grouse to normal. Not only do they have until 25 May to respond to my (very detailed) Subject Access Request, but Nick Greene, their Senior Director responsible for disputes handling, has actually acknowledged my complaint and undertaken to complete his investigations by 14 June. I am now going to lie down in a darkened room ...