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Gardeners Mobilise For Allotment Turf Wars

Allotment owners are claiming that protection for their plots is being eroded as local councils build on their gardening space.

In Watford, a group of gardeners is preparing to take on their council for a third time to stop them building houses, a car park and potentially hospital buildings on the Farm Terrace allotment.

They've already won their battle twice in the high court, but Watford Borough Council has appealed again to build on the ground because it says it is vital for regeneration.

Campaign organiser Sarah-Jane Trebar told Sky News: "It's like someone trying to take your back garden. It seems terribly sad that land that's been worked on since 1896, for hundreds of years, could be turned into flats or a car park that we really don't need.

"And it feels really awful to think that we've fought for four years and yet tomorrow I could get a letter saying that's it, that's the end of the road."

In a statement, Dorothy Thornhill, Mayor of Watford, said: "We need this land for a comprehensive regeneration of a brownfield site; providing much needed hospital buildings, new homes for families, jobs and public open space for all Watford residents.

"We understand that the 26 people value these allotments but there is space on other plots just five minutes away and we are offering them generous compensation."

During the Second World War everyone was encouraged to muck in and grow their own produce to help feed the country. There may not be that immediate demand for home grown food now but the National Allotment Society says waiting lists are being inundated with people wanting their own plots.

Chairman Tony Hesson said: "We have seen a big increase in the number of younger families with children, whereas when I first came on the allotment 20 years ago it really was the flat cap brigade."

In the Elephant and Castle area of central London, Paul McGann is part of a group of mobile gardeners setting up a temporary allotment on a patch of land that should be a building site.

While the developers don't need it they've been given permission to use the space, and 80 people have small portable boxes to grow their own vegetables.

Paul told Sky News: "Having this sort of shared space that people can hang out, garden in and socialise is really valuable. So even if we could only get a site for a few years it's really worth it for us.

"The land values around here mean that if we asked for a permanent site for a community garden there wouldn't be a hope, so we're happy to be flexible and take spaces where we can find them."

We asked the Department for Communities and Local Government whether it was doing enough to protect allotment land from development. In a statement it said: "This Government recognises the importance of quality green spaces, such as allotments, where local people can come together as a community.

"Our published guidance strengthens allotment protection, requiring greater emphasis on the consideration of waiting lists of the general area. This aims to ensure that a few poorly maintained sites are not used to justify disposal.

"Where this Government has consented to the disposal of allotments that have been in regular use for food cultivation, they have been replaced with equivalent land."