East London Life

Too little, too late! After almost two years of meeting with plot holders and repeatedly promising to carefully move this 100 year old community to a suitable site before eviction the London Development Agency (LDA) now say they haven’t made any ‘promises or commitments’.

These much filmed and photographed picturesque garden allotments have been passed down from generation to generation over the decades. Founded by philanthropic aristocrat Major Arthur Villiers before WW1 they have been feeding over 150 local East End families ever since. The sensible solution would be to leave the plots where they are and make them into an uniquely British feature of the London Olympics. Yet relocation is all the Olympic Authorities have been prepared to negotiate on so far and even this they seem incapable of achieving.

Manor Gardening Society have had enough of broken promises and delays. They issued Judicial Review proceedings against the London Development Agency yesterday (Friday 27th).

John Matheson, Chair of Manor Gardening Society said “We have been meeting every month with the LDA for the past two years at great cost to taxpayers. They have consistently promised us that we would be relocated before we were evicted from the current site. Now that they have run in to trouble with their planning application we are being hung out to dry and the LDA are refusing to honour that promise. These allotments represent a haven for local people (not ot mention flourishing wildlife) coping with harsh inner city life, many of them pensioners. Some of our members have been growing their own food here for over 50 years. If the authorities are serious about making these the greenest Olympics they are going about it a very funny way.”

Phil Michaels, Head of Legal at Friends of the Earth’s Rights & Justice Centre said: “This is an important case about broken promises and local communities. The LDA made clear and consistent promises to the community that their allotments would be relocated so that they could stay together. They have now decided to break that promise. Public authorities must deal honestly and straightforwardly with the public. That is particularly the case where they are proposing to break up communities and take away their land. If the authorities are not willing to honour their promises then the Court has to step in.”

Baroness Miller expressed her concern about the plight of this national treasure in the House of Lords on Tuesday during a debate about Olympic land acquisition.

Note: The allotment holders are represented by solicitors at Friends of the Earth’s Rights & Justice Centre and leading public law barristers Nathalie Lieven QC and Kate Olley (both of Landmark Chambers).