Council tells allotment company to stop work after residents’ revolt

21/04/2023

A company wanting to create a huge allotment on the edge of Bristol have been told to stop work and wait until council planners have decided if they need planning permission or not, after local residents physically blocked tractors and lorries from accessing the field this week.

Council representatives visited the field on Wednesday this week, which is on the main A369 road through Abbots Leigh at the corner of the turning into Leigh Woods. They said they have told Roots Allotments, which already run two commercial allotment sites in Bath, that they should not do anything until the planning decisions have been made.

A spokesperson for North Somerset Council said planning officers have advised Roots that they should not do anything more until the legal arguments over whether they have to go through a full planning application process first are completed. Roots’ bosses spoke of their frustration this week that North Somerset Council has not yet made a decision on whether to give them a Certificate of Lawful Use, or tell them they need to submit a full planning application, and have missed a couple of deadlines on when they have to make a decision.

Roots said they had 400 people already signed up to work on their allotment plot this spring, so decided to start preparing the ground anyway. From Monday this week, there were fractious scenes around the field ^[2] as some residents of Abbots Leigh came out to try to stop work from commencing.

On Monday, a single local resident tried to prevent workers ^[3] from cutting a new access point through onto the lane to Leigh Woods, and on Thursday morning, the police were called to confrontations ^[4] between Roots bosses and local residents, when a lorry arrived to try to offload a shipping container into the field. That stand-off lasted much of the day, and ended with the shipping container being taken away again.

Police intervene between residents and Roots Allotments in Abbots Leigh on Thursday 20 April 2023 (Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)

Much of the frustration for Roots – aside from the time it’s taking for the council to make a decision – appears to be in accessing the field, with some residents living in the Ashgrove Avenue cul-de-sac on one side denying access on their private road, and the Forestry Commission objecting to Roots using its lane on the other side.

Roots says changing one agricultural field into 700 smaller allotment plots is still using the field for agriculture, and they don’t think they need planning permission, but those access, parking and transport issues prompted the leader of North Somerset Council to tweet that he felt a full planning application would be required for such a big project.

Now, North Somerset Council has warned Roots that they could be investigated for breaching planning laws if they carried out work before being told they needed planning permission, and then didn’t get that planning permission. “We have received formal requests from the landowner seeking to establish whether planning permission is required to set up allotments on land off Abbots Leigh Road,” a spokesperson said.

Police intervene between residents and Roots Allotments in Abbots Leigh North Somerset, Thursday 20 April 2023, after the Roots tried to get a shipping container on site using a private road where residents have taken an objection to. (Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach PLC)

“This has raised matters of legal interpretation, which we are investigating. Should the use of allotments start before the applications are decided, it would be at the owner’s own risk and we would treat this in the same way as any other alleged breach of planning control in accordance with our normal procedures.

“Officers from our planning enforcement team visited the site on Wednesday 19 April, and the operators have been advised for work to stop pending the outcome of the planning applications. We will continue to monitor the site,” they added.

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References

^{^} Police called over allotments row as angry villagers block lorry (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} fractious scenes around the field (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} single local resident tried to prevent workers (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} police were called to confrontations (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
^{^} here (data.reachplc.com)