Plot holders say Bridle Path Allotments has been left to become a “wilderness” through lack of maintenance, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

Overgrown plots at Bridle Path Allotments in Manor Park (credit Simon Shaw)

Overgrown allotments in Manor Park are being given “minimal maintenance”, Newham Council has admitted.

Plot holder Simon Shaw says Bridle Path Allotments have been left to become a “wilderness”, with vacant plots left empty. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he’s refusing to pay his rent until the council starts maintaining them.

Simon said: “They used to do an annual inspection to make sure people were maintaining their allotments. Now a lot are unoccupied and becoming a wilderness.

“It is incredible how quickly nature takes over and it becomes almost impossible to clear the growth. The consensus among allotment holders is the council is prepared to let it go.”

He added: “The council asked for my rent payment, but I said, ‘are you going to continue to maintain?’

“I said I’m more than happy to pay, but you seem to be letting the allotments go.”

Simon said there was a “great tradition in the East End” of keeping allotments, and spoke of their importance in inner-city areas.

He said: “In Newham there’s a lot of high rise buildings and housing without access to gardens.”

Simon also suggested the site could be used as a “community garden for refugees”.

A council spokesperson confirmed that the authority is now carrying out “minimal maintenance” of Bridal Path Allotments.

They said this was because the site was not easy to reach and lacked the facilities that others have.

The council spokesperson added that tenants had been offered new plots at other sites such as nearby Reynolds Avenue. They said that of the 20 allotments at Bridle Path, only seven are currently being worked.

They said: “The site itself has very restricted access and there is a lack of other vital amenities like water and electricity.

“This means the site is difficult to maintain and it does not come up to the standard of our other allotments.

“We are undertaking minimal maintenance works on the site.”

The spokesperson added: “We do continue to inspect plots annually and we have communicated with tenants and invited them to relocate to alternative and better resourced allotment sites.

“If any remaining plot holders decide they want to take up this offer of a new allotment we would be delighted to hear from them.”

The council’s website says that its waiting list for allotments is currently closed “due to very high demand”. The website says it is currently offering plots to people who applied almost a decade ago, in the 2016/17 financial year.

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