By Harry Mottram: Despite a petition and support from the local MP and councillors plus a groundswell of support from residents it appears the owner of Combe Down allotments remains unmoved by the campaign to save them. Currently a lease is set to run out in 2025.
In a letter seen by Bath Voice the Council’s Lynda Deane, Head of Service – City & Town Centre Management, has updated the embattled allotment holders of their legal battle to save the green space filled with vegetable plots. She explained that despite their best efforts their legal team had so far made little progress in arresting the termination of the lease.
She wrote: “The Council sought expert legal advice and has investigated what available avenues, under the statutory provisions, it has to retain the land for allotments. This included exploring any acquisition powers for the site. At the same time, we have requested meetings with the landowner to understand why he wished to serve Notice. Unfortunately, all requests to meet have, to date, been declined through his solicitor, alongside a repeat of his intention to serve Notice on the Council in 2025.”
Bath Voice understands the owner of the land does not live anywhere near the city and is thought to be keen to sell or develop the land for building thus ending more than 130 years of cultivation. By an accident of history, the large allotment site at Combe Down has been held in leasehold since 1895. The site, along with the adjacent quarry and the Monkton School playing fields, is owned by a distant relative of the original landowner, who is not a resident of Bath. The site was originally procured by the Monkton Combe Parish Council to serve the workers in the Bath stone mines but, following city boundary changes in 1967, became the responsibility of Bath City Council. The Council has held rolling leases since that time. Unfortunately, the owner of the land has recently given advance notice of his intention to end the lease in 2025.
Lynda Deane added: “While we do not have a final outcome at this stage, we want to update you all and have agreed with Councillor Kevin Guy, Leader of the Council and Councillor Tim Ball, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, to provide you with the latest information.”
Bath is short of allotments as the population grows and the demand for places for people to grow vegetables, fruit and herbs increases. The city has a number of sites for gardeners but they all have lengthy waiting lists with some as long as eight years for those wishing to take an allotment before they can sink a fork into the ground. At the same time there is a housing shortage with a number of developments underway or in the planning stage.
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