The Bradley Stoke Journal

Bradley Stoke Town Council is to place press advertisements for land suitable for allotments after South Gloucestershire Council failed to come up with any potential sites after more than 18 months of searching.

The Town Council became obliged to act after a number of electors, backed by local MP Steve Webb, submitted a petition in November 2008 calling on it to provide allotments for the residents of Bradley Stoke.

With no suitable sites within the town’s boundaries, the Council then agreed to ask SGC if it could provide an appropriate parcel of land at a “peppercorn rent”, with sites at Old Gloucester Road and Trench Lane being suggested as possibilities.

Almost two years on, SGC has failed to come up with a single proposal, claiming that “everything is on hold” because of uncertainties over the provision of gypsy and traveller sites in the district.

Frustration boiled over at last month’s meeting of Full Council, where Cllr Julian Barge described SGC as having been “totally inept” in dealing with the allotment land issue.

Approaches to the neighbouring parishes of Patchway and Stoke Gifford, which both provide allotments within their boundaries, have also come to nought.

Read on to find out how Councillors plan to take matters into their own hands in the search for suitable land »

Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) has received a petition from a group of electors calling on it to provide allotments for local residents, as required by the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908.

The petition was received at last month’s Full Council meeting and has been backed by local LibDem MP Steve Webb, who has written to the Council in support of the campaigners.

Under the 1908 Act, a Council is obliged to take such a petition into account when deciding if there are sufficient allotments available to meet demand.

With no current allotment provision in Bradley Stoke, residents have traditionally taken allotments in neighbouring areas such as Patchway or Stoke Gifford. However, both of these areas now have a policy of giving priority to their own residents when assigning available plots.

A recent decision by Patchway Town Council to charge non-residents three times the standard (residents’) rate for use of its allotments is understood to have triggered the Bradley Stoke petition.

BSTC Clerk, Davd Chandler, reported to last week’s Planning Committee that there are currently 16 Bradley Stoke residents leasing allotments in Patchway with a further 15 residents on the waiting list in Stoke Gifford (where there is currently no surcharge for non-residents). Taking 32 tenants as the minimum potential demand gives a requirement for at least two acres of land, assuming a standard plot size of 1/16th of an acre.

With no suitable land available within the boundaries of Bradley Stoke, the Council is going to have to look further afield. Councillors expressed the hope that South Gloucestershire Council might be able to provide an appropriate parcel of land at a “peppercorn rent”, with sites at Old Gloucester Road and Trench Lane being suggested as possibilities.

Related Links:

• South Gloucestershire Council – Allotments
• Allotment Growing