Allotment land could help build more homes

Allotment land could help build more homes

0:01 AM, 15th June 2023, About 11 months ago 13

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England’s allotments could provide space for 200,000 new homes, according to new research.

Figures from development site sourcing specialists Searchland reveals there is an estimated 44.4m square metres of allotment space in England.

This would be enough to build 200,000 new homes with a market value of £84bn.

Desperately need to build more homes

Co-founder and chief executive officer of Searchland, Mitchell Fasanya, said: “Allotments can play a vital role in the community, providing outdoor space for many to socialise who may not otherwise have the chance, particularly in major urban hubs.

“We’re certainly not suggesting that the answer to the housing crisis is to cement over the nation’s allotments.

“However, we do desperately need to build more homes and it’s a conversation we want to ignite, as so far the government has largely neglected to address this burning issue.”

London ranks as the nation’s allotment housing hotspot

According to research, London ranks as the nation’s allotment housing hotspot with 720 allotment sites spread across 7m of land.

This would deliver 31,622 new homes to market with an estimated market value of £18.4bn.

Allotment land could be utilised to deliver 12,780 new homes across Tyne and Wear with a market value of £3.8bn, while 11,726 could be built across the West Midlands with a similar market value.

Other areas to rank within the top 10 include Greater Manchester (10,848), County Durham (9,091), West Yorkshire (7,466), Hertfordshire (7,378), Essex (6,017), Devon (5,578) and Kent (5,358).

Mr Fasanya says the government needs to deliver homes on the green belt.

He says: “Utilising allotments is a drastic measure and one we needn’t ever consider should the government stop bending to the pressures of NIMBYism and the subject of building on the green belt to deliver homes on land that is more than for purpose.”


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Comments

Judith Wordsworth

9:43 AM, 15th June 2023, About 11 months ago

An appalling idea to build on allotment land.

Many who have no gardens, especially in London, an allotment is their outside space. Some are even community worked providing social interaction as well as “home” grown food.

These open cultivated spaces also help with neutralising the effects of emissions.

Far better to convert empty office blocks, as many companies employees are now working most of their time from home. Often these employees only come together 2 days a month now.

Beaver

10:14 AM, 15th June 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 15/06/2023 - 09:43
This is the kind of nonsense published by property developers. Typically what happens in rural areas (including ours) is that a community will object to a proposed development that's totally out of scale compared to the existing community. The local council also turns the application down. Then the developers (who know the rules better than the Council and have better lawyers) go to appeal and quote that the Council has an obligation to build a certain number of new houses and create a bank of land that they can be built on. When the Council doesn't have that the developers win and the Council's own objections to the development are overturned.

So anybody anywhere needs to understand that if they are relying on *any* green space for the quality of life in their community then under the present system it's under threat *even* if they object and *even* if the local council objects to the proposed development.

GlanACC

16:26 PM, 15th June 2023, About 11 months ago

What an utterly stupid idea.

Beaver

16:38 PM, 15th June 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 15/06/2023 - 16:26
It's not a totally stupid idea if you are avaricious, motivated solely by profit and that you don't give a s**t about the well-being of the communities that you are damaging because you are rich and you live somewhere else.

I was talking about a development on this kind of site to a developer once and he said, "...it's all about density." Maximise the number of houses you squeeze into the plot and you maximise the profit. Clean air? Light? Green space for the residents? Not really what 'developers' are about.

It's also not necessarily a stupid idea if you work for a council and you've been given a target to build x number of houses regardless of whether the community you serve wants them or not. In fairness to our local council they didn't want the houses being built in our area (on greenfield sites)....but they were forced into it on appeal.

I do sometimes wonder whether the people in government who voted for those targets are heavily invested in property building companies.

GlanACC

16:50 PM, 15th June 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 15/06/2023 - 16:38
I agree, I am motivated by profit, but even I wouldn't build over allotments. Most (if not all) of them around where I live have waiting lists that stretch into years

Beaver

17:02 PM, 15th June 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 15/06/2023 - 16:50
Same where I live. And for many of the people that use them they where I live these people are in either flats or houses that have no outside green space at all or have small gardens that are heavily overshadowed by nearby housing that means they don't get any daylight at a time when the occupants are not working and able to use it. And the more housing gets built the more overshadowed they are.

The other thing about allotments is they often look interesting. They create a view, birdlife and other natural benefits for the people who live near them or use the rights of way near them. So plenty of other people benefit and the council doesn't pay for that; the people who dig them maintain them and pay to rent them; the council does pay for maintenance of parks and other green spaces that it must look after.

GlanACC

17:14 PM, 15th June 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 15/06/2023 - 17:02
I have to declare a vested interest here. One of my tenants grows vegetables in the property garden and he also rents an allotment (£17 a year) .. and thats where I get my runner beans from

Beaver

17:27 PM, 15th June 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 15/06/2023 - 17:14
One of my tenants also grows vegetables in the property garden. It's better than weeds.

The rent that might be payable on an allotment is a separate question but in considering how much rent should be payable I think we need to factor in that unlike city parks tenants are paying for the maintenance work of a public amenity rather than the tax payer having to fund it.

Suzy Clarke

17:50 PM, 18th June 2023, About 11 months ago

There are 250,000 homes in the UK that are currently empty...duh!
https://www.actiononemptyhomes.org/
We don't need to build on 'growing land' Take heed farmers when you sell your soul to the devil oops I mean corporate property developers...

Beaver

10:53 AM, 19th June 2023, About 11 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Suzy Clarke at 18/06/2023 - 17:50
Take heed anyone living near any green space at the moment.

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