Allotments to make way for cemetery space

1:26pm Wednesday 7th November 2007

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Gardeners at an allotment site are being pushed out by the dead to make way for a cemetery expansion.

Horsham District Council approved plans to extend the cemetery at Hills Farm into the neighbouring allotment area on Tuesday night.

The decision means plot tenants at the temporary allotment will be moved out within ten years when the council expects to run out of burial space.

The allotment, which is owned by Horsham District Council and managed by the Hills Farm Allotments Association, was set up as a temporary project for Horsham residents.

Within the last three years the council has already had to reclaim about ten plots for burial space.

The decision could place increasing pressure on the already oversubscribed allotment plots in the town. Some allotment associations have up to 30 people waiting for plots to become free.

Ahead of the decision some tenants were also concerned they had spent large amounts of money on their plots in the belief they would have several years remaining.

Paul Moore, chairman of Hills Farm Allotments Association, said: "When we lost ten plots to the cemetery a few years ago we were advised there may be another 12 to 15 years for the remaining allotments.

"This has helped us to fill the site with some keen gardeners and we now have a waiting list.

"Many of our members have invested substantially in their allotments, believing that we would have ten years remaining."

At their meeting on Tuesday, Horsham's north development control committee requested that all plots should be replaced before the cemetery extension goes ahead.

The popularity of allotment sites has risen dramatically in Horsham during the last year and there are not enough plots to meet the demand.

Neil Chapman, chairman of the Horsham Shelley Allotments Society, said: "We have a waiting list of about 30 people at the moment. This has really only formed in the last year because it has become so popular.

"I think the reason is people are growing more and more concerned about where their food comes from and realise that if you grown your own you actually get better quality produce, better taste and you have the enormous satisfaction of having it fresh.

"It's a very healthy basis for getting out in the fresh air and there's quite a social side to it too which has all pushed up demand even further in the town."

Horsham District Council has allocated space for further allotment sites in the proposed ten-year town expansion to the west of the town and at Broadbridge Heath.

Are you an allotment holder affected by the decision? Tell us below.