The north-east of England is Great Britain’s allotment heartland, with Redcar and Cleveland and County Durham the two councils with the highest rate of allotment provision per person, an analysis has found.
It also revealed that Scotland on average has just a quarter of the space per person that is available in England.
Allotment provision across the whole country is wildly mixed, the analysis shows. Some areas have nearly 9 sq metres per resident while Londoners do worst of all, with Kensington and Chelsea and the City of London the two councils tying for bottom spot.
The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn recently criticised the government for potentially threatening allotments with changes to development rules, but tensions around land use for growing spaces as opposed to housing are longstanding.
Modern allotments date to the early Victorian era, although their origins can be traced to Anglo-Saxon times and enclosures in medieval England.
Britain’s allotment peak came during and between the world wars, when they helped to feed the nation. Two-thirds of allotment land has been lost since then, much of it built on, reflecting a postwar decline in interest. However, in recent decades allotments have grown in popularity, particularly during the Covid crisis when the UK’s estimated 330,000 plots were a lifeline for many as a form of permitted exercise.
Two years ago a report found that there were more than 174,000 people on waiting lists for allotments, but few councils can afford to set aside new land for them, and it is not unusual for people to hold on to plots for several decades. How long people have to wait varies widely, reflecting the disparity of allotment provision across the country shown in the new analysis.
The Guardian’s analysis compared land classed by the Ordnance Survey as “allotments and communal growing space” in the 350 local authorities in Great Britain, and divided the amount of allotment space in square metres by the population to provide an allotment rate per person, for like-for-like comparisons between areas.
Redcar and Cleveland and County Durham came top, with 8.9 sq metres and 8.2 sq metres respectively. The Isles of Scilly, which has the smallest population of any of the local authorities, came third, with 6.6 sq metres per person. The rest of the top 50 local authorities range from North Norfolk in fourth place, which provides 6 sq metres, to 50th-placed Westmorland and Furness’s 3.4 sq metres.
Birmingham claims to have the most allotment plots of any local authority in the UK, but according to the analysis it is 138th out of 350, with a rate of 2.1 sq metres per resident. Based purely on allotment land area and not adjusting for population, its 244.6 hectares of allotment land come second only to County Durham’s 434.7 hectares, suggesting that Birmingham’s claim dates to before Durham county council was formed from a merger of smaller councils in 2009.
Joint bottom of the 350 local authorities is Kensington and Chelsea, which does not have a single allotment site; the City of London also has no allotments, although it is a lot smaller than most local authorities in terms of geographical area and population.
London hosts 14 of the bottom 50 ranked councils, nearly all of which are in inner London. The only two inner London councils to escape this group are Lewisham and Greenwich, each with about 0.7 sq metres of allotment space per 10,000 residents, coming in at positions 291 and 294 in the rankings respectively.
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Outer London performs better: the highest-ranked London council is Barnet, with 2.5 sq metres per person, placing it 107th. This corresponds with a 2020 study by academics at Imperial College London who found that 92% of the capital’s allotment land was located in the outer boroughs.
A comparison between Scotland, Wales and the nine English regions found Scotland was last by some distance, with only 0.5 sq metres per resident. This compares with a Wales-wide rate of 1.5 sq metres and an overall rate for England of 2.1 sq metres. The rate across Great Britain as a whole was 1.9 sq metres of allotment space per person.
When considering allotment area only and not adjusting by population, all of Scotland’s allotment land adds up to 256.6 hectares – less than the overall area of allotment land in County Durham and only slightly more than in the Birmingham city council area. Many of the bottom 50 local authorities are in Scotland, including Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, which ranks 303rd with 0.6 sq metres per person. All six council areas that border Glasgow also fall within the bottom 50.
Scotland’s distinct land ownership history and land laws could explain some of the difference. In 2015 the Scottish government’s Community Empowerment Act came into force, which among other things encourages councils to provide more communal growing spaces. Over time, this could start to close the gap in Scottish provision if councils are given the right resources.
A Local Government Association spokesperson said: “Allotments play an important role in supporting community wellbeing, but it is natural for provision to vary across local authority areas due to differences in geography, population density and varying demand for land. Councils work hard to meet local needs and balance priorities but are facing significant financial and capacity pressures across all services. Despite these challenges, many councils continue to support and expand access to allotments where they can.”
The National Allotment Society and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities were approached for comment.
