Council agrees to support Allotment Holders against eviction threat

Allotment Holders at St. Norbert’s, Brockley, will be supported by Lewisham Council in their efforts to stave of eviction threats. Green Party Councillor for Brockley, Darren Johnson, put a formal question to the Council at last week’s full council meeting. However, at the meeting the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Gavin Moore, said he remained "very sceptical" about using a compulsory purchase order to safeguard the site.

Cllr Darren Johnson said, "I am pleased that the Council are going to back the allotment holders. Officers will be meeting them to look at what support they can give in helping prevent the evictions. However, I urge the Council not to rule out a compulsory purchase order. We need to safeguard this important green site and if the landowners refuse to listen then the Council may have to consider taking ownership to safeguard its future.

More information contact Darren Johnson on 07887 737 276

NOTES TO EDITORS: The full text of Darren’s Question and Cllr. Moore’s response is reproduced below.

Question from Cllr Darren Johnson: "Given that plotholders at St. Norbert’s Allotments, Brockley, have been issued with notices from the site owners informing them that they will be evicted in April 2006, what will the Council do to safeguard the future of this important allotment site and given that the land forms part of a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and therefore has limited commercial value, will the Council consider a compulsory purchase order?"

Reply from Cllr Gavin Moore: In addition to the allotments forming part of the Forest Hill to New Cross Gate Railway Cutting which is a designated nature conservation Site of Metropolitan Importance, the land is also identified in the Council’s Unitary Development Plan as Urban Green Space. The Council’s planning policies are strongly protective of the ecological and open space value of such land and set out the Council’s commitment to resist development proposals that would result in loss of or damage to these areas. I am writing to the site owners in support of the plot holders facing eviction.

A number of allotment sites in the borough are in private ownership, some of these, adjacent to railways, are owned by Railtrack. Any proposal for the Council to acquire the land would need to be carefully considered in the light of competing demands for limited resources.