Northampton Borough Council makes U-turn over allotment user ban

Northampton Borough Council has made a U-turn on its decision to close all allotments down throughout the three week lockdown period.

A letter was sent out to allotment tenants yesterday telling them in light of current Government advice the allotments would shut with immediate effect for a minimum of three weeks.

Many allotment holders, who feared they would not be able to produce crops for their families and vulnerable neighbours, were left upset and confused after Michael Gove appeared on BBC Breakfast with contrary advice.

Speaking with Dan Walker, Michael Gove told BBC Breakfast: "I think it's perfectly sensible for people to go to an allotment, it's in the very nature of an allotments that there is a safe distance between people who are working on individual allotments."

A council spokesman today (Wednesday) said: “Following the Government’s announcement on Monday we decided to close allotments to limit person to person contact, in order to help control the spread of Coronavirus.

“Since the Government’s position over allotments was clarified by Michael Gove on Tuesday, we have revised our position and they will now remain open.

“We are putting up signage relating to social distancing and we would encourage allotment holders to adopt a common-sense approach and maintain at least the two-metre prescribed distance from one another.”

Allotment tenant, Emma Laming, has had her plot for 12 years in Southfields and said she was alerted to the allotments shutting yesterday (Tuesday).

She said while the supermarkets have had their shelves stripped she's been eating some of the produce she's grown, including fresh kale and leeks.

She said allotment users are really pleased with the U-turn: "We are really happy that they are actually able to let us go up there while we still can and everyone is obeying the rules.

"We are not trying to be selfish," she said. "We are trying to say it's one place where people can get to and you don't have to have any contact with anyone else, and we are sticking to the rules.

"People are off work now, they need to be able to grow food. I rely on it for my mental health - if I've had a stressful day, my normal process is to go by the allotment."