17 FEBRUARY 1998

MS ANNE WAREHAM, MS KATHRYN MANSELL, and MR PETER MCGREEVY

  100.  So that with this huge population that you have described you are saying that this is the only allocation in Blackpool north and that you are back to about 30 plots?

  (Ms Mansell)  Yes.

  101.  On the current sites in Blackpool I assume there is a further allocation south that you may be aware of as residents and would you say that they are being used efficiently? Maybe that is a subjective question and you could perhaps give us your view of what you might interpret as "efficiently", because it may not any longer be to do with subsistence but it may be to do with amenity and quality of life. I would like you to focus on the efficient use of that land in those terms.

  (Ms Wareham)  I know that some of the plot holders from other sites are having difficulties in that the council are not letting off their plots and that some people have said that they are just purely keeping the plots next to them clear because it has not been let off, yet there is a waiting list. That is not efficient. We have a waiting list at Leys Road, but the council are refusing to let off the plots.

  102.  What about Mr McGreevy? Would you like to add anything to that?

  (Mr McGreevy)  As regards Leys Farm allotments, the corporation, the council, whichever you want to describe them, they are just putting a brick wall in front of us. We have got a lady on the committee for the residents association who put in for an allotment.

She was told that she was number eight on the list on that particular site.

  (Ms Mansell)  We have two conflicting letters here.[2]

  103.  So what do you think that the council are up to then, in a few words?

  (Mr McGreevy)  It is deliberate, I would think, on their part to run them down. They have not maintained the allotments for the past ten years. Leys nurseries was a place where all the bedding plants for the parks in Blackpool were grown and then it was just tendering for their own jobs under the last lady prime minister.

It was disbanded and just left. Prior to that it was a beautiful working arrangement. The foreman on the nurseries used to come down and tell you if you were not doing your job properly. This was all abandoned, now they do not look after the hedges, the fences, you name it, there is absolutely nothing done. They just do not face up to their responsibilities.

  104.  You talk about a brick wall, but it seems as if there is no maintenance of the site as it is existing?

  (Ms Mansell)  It is practically non-existent.

  (Mr McGreevy)  Any maintenance on the fences is done purely by the allotment holders - not that they would make a great deal of difference, because if people wanted to get in and cause mischief they will do anyhow. We do get vandalism and, as I say, we get quite a lot of wildlife there that is not to our advantage, but these are things that we are prepared to put up with.

  105.  You, Mr McGreevy, have been on the site since it was established, have you?

  (Mr McGreevy)  No, I am not quite that old! I have been for 14 years, I am the longest serving member.

  106.  In that period what has been the programme of maintenance done by the local authority, if anything?

  (Mr McGreevy)  Well, there is not any at the moment. They have contractors, there is supposed to be a gentleman to come down from the council to see that the work has been done, but this has not been done. Last year we had a bit of a confrontation with some of the council, I would say a middle management gentleman there, I will not mention his name, though I do not suppose there is any difference if I did, and he pointed out this hedgerow. He said, look at this, you can't get down here without scratching your vehicle, I will get it seen to, Mr McGreevy. It has still not been touched. There is supposed to be somebody who comes down seeing that all these jobs are done. I pointed it out to Mr Woods yesterday.

  (Ms Mansell)  I actually asked the monitor for the site personally and he actually told me that he was deliberately avoiding the site because it was sensitive at the time. He was not serving any weed notices or doing anything.

  107.  But as I understand it you are charged £25.50 per annum for each plot?

  (Mr McGreevy)  Yes, some are dearer. Eight and a half poles is £25.50 and it was £12.75 last year.[3]

  108.  So it has doubled?

  (Ms Mansell)  Yes, they have doubled the rent.

  109.  Was there any consultation between yourselves and the authority over that?

  (Mr McGreevy)  No, it was just a case of take it or leave it.

  (Ms Mansell)  Consultation is not a word in their dictionary.

  110.  If you are paying that amount of money what is there within the association if there is an association to have any resources handed back from the local authority or raised among yourselves? Do you have an association with money, with funds?

  (Ms Mansell)  You mean among ourselves?

  (Mr McGreevy)  Among ourselves, no, not as regards our little action group. We have very little.

  (Ms Mansell)  It is just our own two hands, our own two feet and our mouths.

  111.  Can I just be clear here. Blackpool has a statutory duty to provide some extra houses, does it not? How much more land is there in the north of the borough for housing that would not involve taking your site?

  (Ms Wareham)  We cannot understand why they need our site. They are building detached luxury houses on the site, they are not building houses for the poor of Blackpool.

  112.  So your objection is to the type of house?

  (Ms Wareham)  What we are objecting to is the sale of our allotments.

  113.  But let us just be clear. First of all, if Blackpool has a duty to provide extra housing, you are saying it is the wrong type of housing; and you are also admitting that there is not other land in the north part of Blackpool that is now suitable for housing, is that right?

  (Mr McGreevy)  I would think so, Mr Chairman.

There is quite a bit of land, but it has all been reclaimed land, corporation tips many years ago when I was a boy. This is the very north part of the town.

There is some land there.

  (Ms Mansell)  We believe that there is quite a lot of brown land in the area.

  114.  Now is it also your contention that houses could be built on part of the site and the allotments protected?

  (Ms Wareham)  Yes, we do.

  115.  So that in a sense the allotments issue is separate from the possible development for housing on the rest of the site?

  (Ms Wareham)  Yes, it is.

  (Ms Mansell)  Yes.

  116.  I think that we should now leave those issues.

Would you like to describe what people have done on the allotments over the last ten, 15 years in terms of the enjoyment and pleasure that people have got out of the allotments?

  (Ms Wareham)  There is a local tutor at one of the colleges and he teaches young adults with learning difficulties and he has actually encouraged a couple of his young men with their families to take allotments and they have had a lot of enjoyment out of that and the young boys have had a lot of enjoyment out of it.

We have got some young families and the children get a lot of enjoyment and a lot of learning and understanding from the allotments.

  (Ms Mansell)  I have got an 11 year old boy and, as I have said in my statement, I have not got any garden at all, so it is my garden and it is very personal to me and obviously to my little boy. He has his own little patch and he grows his own vegetables and flowers on it, so obviously I am biased.

  117.  Mr McGreevy?

  (Mr McGreevy)  I am just looking forward to the spring coming. It is all I have got to do. I am not in what you call very good health, but I can manage about 20 minutes at a time and have a sit down, and there is no pressure. This is what it is all about. I can possibly put an hour's work in in, say, six hours on the allotment, but if the weather is right you can just sit there and watch the world - well, not the world, but the wildlife go by. It is unbelievable. Obviously, like anywhere, at this time of the year it looks very drab and miserable, but give us another two or three months and hopefully it will come back to life again.

  118.  Right, then on that note, may I thank you very much again.

  (Mr McGreevy)  Thank you.

3   Note by witness: Standard 10 poles currently £34.00 per annum. Back