Page 36 - ALG Issue 3 2024

LONDON
The Paddock Rainham
Melville Road Allotments in Rainham, Essex, has been
a part of Hornchurch & District Allotment & Gardening Society for over 70 years.The society manages 15 allotment sites in The London Borough of Havering, has over 800 members and just over 40 acres of land, which is leased from the local authority.
Many years ago, when allotments fell out of favour, a 2.5-acre part of land at Melville Road was given back to the Council as
it couldn’t be filled or managed by the society.This land subsequently became known as “The Paddock” – possibly because it resembled one!
In 2012 the council applied to the Secretary of State for consent to dispose of this land to developers. Although the society thought this was a good idea as improvements were promised for the remaining land, plotholders and residents
alike objected strongly to this. Thankfully they won the day and the land has been left vacant and fallow ever since, fenced off and ignored.
In 2020 during the pandemic, as secretary of the society, I received at
least one call per day enquiring about allotment space! Everybody wanted
an allotment and soon we had at least
a 10-year waiting list for all 15 sites. It became obvious we needed to get the paddock back for allotments. It wasn’t
just Covid that brought allotments back into favour, it was an out of control cost
of living crisis and many family homes being built without adequate outdoor space.
Luckily, during the lead up to the 2022 local elections (where I was standing as a prospective conservative councillor), I asked the then conservative leader of the council if this could be a part of our campaign, to finally get this land back into the society’s hands.
There was an allotment society meeting with the Council in November 2023, where
we heard that this land had in fact been returned to the society and would form part of the new lease that was to be signed. I at first refused because our leases were already 4 years out of date and a 7 year lease would only give us 3 years to work with to try and get funding for this area.
The Council agreed to a 10-year lease and we walked out relatively happy.
My mind was just swimming with plans and ideas but, being winter,
we didn’t really start thinking about things until the end of February.
This site was full of dumped rubbish, broken fencing and was
very unloved. It was going to cost an absolute fortune to get up to spec with measured workable
plots, pathways, water, a car park, security, years of work and an endless
supply of money.
In the middle of March, I realised I
out another 10 plots and they were filled the next week! This proves that the need for outdoor growing space is in fact growing stronger year on year.
Most of this site is now ready for planting. Sheds are up and new friends are being made.The demographics of our site have been reduced drastically, with 90% of these plots going to young families, which is, of course, what we need to ensure longevity of allotments.
We identified watering would be a problem and put excess pressure on original tanks, so until water can be run onto the site, we improvised with 4x 1000L water tanks.This system will act like the original dipping tanks when finished with a ballcock opening a valve to keep the tanks full.
East London Waste Authority are building us a composting area consisting of three compost bins, and they will hold an open day explaining the benefits of composting. We have a 16 tree orchard in a far corner of the site for all to use once established, and 40 new plots benefitting over 120 adults and children. We still need to tr y and find another 10/20 plots on site, possibly by downsizing on the planned car park, with maybe smaller plots or maybe a community growing area – and all this from a piece of land forgotten for so many years.
During the election campaign, I said I wanted to turn Melville Road into “The Horticultural Heaven of Havering” and I think we may be close to doing that now.
was overthinking the whole situation and if the need for plots was as great
as our waiting lists suggested, all I had to do was measure out plots, adver tise “rented
as seen” and work the rest out as we went along.
We measured out 30 half plots; the community payback team we have working with us twice a week chipped the paths, and we were off.
Week 1: 10 new happy plotholders. Week 2: the next 10, and by the 1st of April those 30 plots were filled.We measured
“My mind was just swimming with plans and ideas but, being winter, we didn’t really start thinking about things until the end of February.”
36 | Issue 3 2024 | Allotment and Leisure Gardener
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Ackroyd Drive Allotment Society Barn Elms Allotment Society Hornchurch & District Allotment
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