After the Great War, the scale of poverty and deprivation, especially in the cities, was shocking. Scarlet fever and tuberculosis were rife and deaths from starvation were not uncommon. In response, the government initiated a Homes fit for Heroes campaign which led to the building of five million new homes during the post WW1 period. Most importantly, the majority came with approximately 400 square yards of garden.
The rationale was two-fold. Prime Minister, Lloyd George, having seen the 1917 uprisings in Russia, believed that “Britain would hold out against the dangers of Bolshevism, but only if the people were given confidence, only if they were made to believe that things were being done for them.” Furthermore, he recognised that fresh air, access to an open space, exercise and gardens, espoused by the Garden City movement, were essential for health and wellbeing.
Roll on a hundred years. Riots have rocked the country. There are an estimated 2.9m people in England living with malnutrition. Food poverty is rife, with the inevitable consequence of the public consuming cheaper and more harmful ultra processed foods. The past Tory government’s own 25 Year Environment Plan states that “the 5-a-day messaging has been a spectacular failure”. And, with less than 2% of UK farmland used to grow fruit and vegetables, the country must invest in horticulture.
Grow your own
Urban agriculture, whether it be a community garden, an allotment or your own garden vegetable patch, contributes to food security, better health and biodiversity. Yet in the financial year ending (FYE) 2022, only 1% of fresh fruit and vegetables entering the household came from the free sources of garden veg patches and allotments. A reduction from 2% in FYE 2021.
In the UK, a substantial proportion of urban agriculture occurs in allotment gardens. However, allotment land provision has declined significantly. Resource strapped councils have closed and sold allotments with most at-risk areas for food insecurity facing eight times the level of allotment closures than the least deprived areas. Factors cited to explain this include the rise of convenience food leading to a decrease in demand for allotments and pressures from urban development taking precedence in land allocation.
Take, for example, the village of Mundesley in Norfolk with a resident population of nearly 3000. It is a village with green spaces continually disappearing under housing development. Yet, in spite of requests over the decades, it still doesn’t have an allotment provision. In contrast, the neighbouring, and much smaller, villages of Knapton, Gimingham and Trunch all provide allotments to their residents.
A study in 2022 revealed that almost 87% of the local councils surveyed reported a noticeable increase in demand for allotment plots. 33% had over 1000 people on their allotment waiting list.
A bit of history
Allotments are small parcels of land rented to individuals, typically for an annual fee of £50-£70. There is no set standard size. The most common plot is 10 rods, an ancient measurement equivalent to 302 square yards or 253 square metres.
In the late 1500s, common land used by the poor for growing food and keeping animals began to be enclosed, depriving them of their livelihood. In compensation, parcels of land, allotments, were attached to tenant cottages. But it was not until the Allotments and Cottage Gardens Compensation for Crops Act 1887, that local authorities were obliged to provide allotments where there was demand. Further responsibilities on parish, urban district and borough councils came with the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908.
Food security during the First World War and the German blockades increased the demand for allotments. The WW2 Dig for Victory campaign along with food rationing, encouraged and educated the public to grow their own food. Even the 1970’s television series, The Good Life, created an upsurge in interest in self-sufficiency.
More recently, the Covid pandemic and lockdown made many realise the virtue of accessing home grown fruit and veg. For some, their allotment was also a life-line, benefitting their mental health. Recognising the benefits of being outdoors, some health professionals have adopted a practice known as ‘green social prescribing’. And gardening is one of the nature-based interventions prescribed to treat people with a whole host of health conditions.
At one with nature
The value of allotments to the environment is increasingly recognised. As well as providing social benefits to their users from being part of an allotment community, their existence promotes bio-diversity. With the alarming decline in insects, allotment gardeners are being encouraged to house bee-hives and practise nature-friendly food production.
Urban habitats can benefit pollinators throughout their entire lifecycles. But it is now understood this means more than providing nectar rich flowers. Insects require spaces left for native plants and crops to flourish. By avoiding pesticides and herbicides, and embracing so called weeds that provide food, nesting and breeding habitat for insect larvae— even if it means a few sacrificial crops or losing the odd brassica, this all contributes to the greater good.
Insects which live in colonies, like honeybees and bumblebees, will forage over several kilometres. But they require a corridor of nectar and pollen to make it worth the effort. So, companion planting diverse flowers amongst the vegetables offers nectar and pollen from spring through to autumn.
Allotments add to the tapestry of near-natural spaces that cross our country. Such green spaces are essential to the wellbeing of insects, mammals, birds and humans.
In the Victorian era, allotments were regarded as providing wholesome food for a workforce housed in tenements and high-density terraced housing without gardens to speak of.
That parallel with modern urban life is stark.
Contact your local council to apply for an allotment near you
