page_title: Allotment (gardening)
section_title: United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Allotment (gardening) / Around the world / United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: Allotments in the rural village of Jordans. Self taken photos. Not available on the net. I took these 5 photos and combined them in en:inkscape.
context_page_description: An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, or in North America, a community garden, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-commercial gardening or growing food plants. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundred land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families. Such parcels are cultivated individually, contrary to other community garden types where the entire area is tended collectively by a group of people. In countries that do not use the term "allotment", a "community garden" may refer to individual small garden plots as well as to a single, large piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people. The term "victory garden" is also still sometimes used, especially when a community garden dates back to the First or Second World War.
  The individual size of a parcel typically suits the needs of a family, and often the plots include a shed for tools and shelter, and sometimes a hut for seasonal or weekend accommodation.
context_section_description: A 1732 engraving of Birmingham, England shows the town encircled by allotments, some of which still exist to this day. The accolade for the oldest allotment site is reserved for Great Somerford Free Gardens in the Wiltshire village of Great Somerford. These were created in 1809 following a letter to King George III from Rev Stephen Demainbray (a chaplain to the king) in which he asked the king to spare, in perpetuity, six acres from the Inclosure Acts for the benefit of the poor of his parish.
  Following these Inclosure Acts and the Commons Act 1876, the land available for personal cultivation by the poor was greatly diminished. To fulfill the need for land, allotment legislation was enacted. The law was first fully codified in the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908, then modified by the Allotments Act 1922 and subsequent Allotments Acts up until the Allotments Act 1950.
  Under the Acts, a local authority is required to maintain an "adequate provision" of land, usually a large allotment field which can then be subdivided into allotment gardens for individual residents at a low rent. Allotment sizes are often quoted in square rods, although the use of the rod has been illegal for trade purposes since 1965. The rent is set at what a person "may reasonably be expected to pay" (1950); in 1997 the average rent for a ten square rods (250 m²) plot was £22 a year. In February 2012 the UK's first Green-controlled council, Brighton and Hove, caused controversy when they stated their intention to raise the rent for a standard 250 m² plot to £110 per year, with many people suggesting that this was contrary to the environmental agenda on which they were elected. Each plot cannot exceed forty square rods (1000 m²) and must be used for the production of fruit or vegetables for consumption by the plot-holder and their family (1922), or of flowers for use by the plot-holder and their family. The exact size and quality of the plots is not defined. The council has a duty to provide sufficient allotments to meet demand. The total income from allotments was £2.61 million and total expenditure was £8.44 million in 1997.
  The total number of plots has varied greatly over time. In the 19th and early 20th century, the allotment system supplied much of the fresh vegetables eaten by the poor. In 1873 there were 244,268 plots and by 1918 there were around 1,500,000 plots. While numbers fell in the 1920s and 1930s, following an increase to 1,400,000 during World War II there were still around 1,117,000 plots in 1948. This number has been in decline since then, falling to 600,000 by the late 1960s and 300,000 by 2009. The Thorpe Inquiry of 1969 investigated the decline and put the causes as the decline in available land, increasing prosperity and the growth of other leisure activities.
  Increased interest in "green" issues from the 1970s revived interest in allotment gardening, whilst the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners (NSALG), and the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society (SAGS) in Scotland, continued to campaign on behalf of allotment users. However, the rate of decline was only slowed, falling from 530,000 plots in 1970 to 497,000 in 1977, although there was a substantial waiting list. By 1980 the surge in interest was over, and by 1997 the number of plots had fallen to around 265,000, with waiting lists of 13,000 and 44,000 vacant plots. In 2008 The Guardian reported that 330,000 people held an allotment, whilst 100,000 were on waiting lists.
  In 2006, a report commissioned by the London Assembly identified that whilst demand was at an all-time high across the capital, the pressure caused by high-density building was further decreasing the amount of allotment land. The issue was given further publicity when The Guardian newspaper reported on the community campaign against the potential impact of the development for the 2012 Summer Olympics on the future of the century-old Manor Garden Allotments, Hackney Wick. In March 2008, Geoff Stokes, secretary of the NSALG, claimed that councils are failing in their duty to provide allo
caption: Allotments in the rural village of Jordans
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