Time to think again about allotments?

Yesterday, we mentioned the Broadfield Lane allotments, and their unimportance when contrasted with the needs of the inhabitants of Wyberton.
We know that the Borough Council had no choice other than to evict the tenants of Broadfield Lane after the greedy Boston Municipal Charities demanded the return of the site that had been used since 1914 so they could sell it to Longhurst Housing.
The charity argued that - after dispensing less than £2,000 a year to local good causes - selling the site for a sum believed to be around half a million would let them do even more good work in the community.
Frankly, we believe all this would do would flush out a load of fringe money grabbers from the woodwork which would see the cash being given to a sheaf of unnecessary projects.
Then the Mayflower Housing Association stepped in to express an interest in the land, and everything fell fallow ... presumably in anticipation of a bidding war.
Since then, the economy has collapsed, and it seems that neither party is interested in buying the land and building on it.
If nothing else, we think this should mean that the land could be returned to use as allotments at least in the short term, but no one seems to have thought of this possibility.
We mentioned yesterday our recollection that Councillor Ramonde Newell, who represents Staniland South ward where the allotments lie, pledged his support for the victims of the land grab, but we had heard nothing much since.
In fact a reader has reminded us that this support was far more concrete than we recalled.
In a letter to the Boston Standard at the end of 2007, he wrote:
"In local politics few things are just right or wrong, good or bad. However, most people believe Boston's roads are both wrong and bad.
"And now another, smaller issue, falls into that category – the Broadfield Lane allotments.
"For Boston Municipal Charities to throw all the allotment holders off the land they have worked for decades, to swell the charity's
coffers, is clearly wrong.
"The allotment holders are model tenants. They ask for very little, and have done much good over a long period of time.
"They, and their fathers before them, often wounded veterans returning from both world wars, turned fallow land into a productive, ecologically-viable space.
"It is an amenity to be proud of. It is a rural, environmentally-friendly oasis nestled within the town – part of its very lungs.
"On the other side stands the Boston Municipal Charities, motivated by money – lots of it. The allotment holders have the misfortune to occupy a large piece of very valuable building land. The charity has massive advantages.
"It is apparently aided and abetted by huge, wealthy landowners, such as Longhurst Housing.
"Moral leadership against the allotment holders is provided by, of all people, the Church of England, in the form of the Lincoln Diocese.
"Charities and housing associations are not forced to behave like feudal lords.
"They have a choice to do what is right by the allotment holders and the community.
"But none of this bodes well for the defenceless allotment holders. They, on the face of it, don't stand a chance. They are just ordinary, local people like you and me. They simply have a love of the land, and enjoy working the soil.
"Faced with the brutal, uncompromising demands of powerful agencies and individuals, they seem as doomed as the weeds on their own compost heaps.
"The Boston Municipal Charities and their supporters are effectively destroying something of great local value. Something unique and very difficult, perhaps impossible to replicate, without spending large sums of money.
"Even then, they would probably never recapture the soul of what is the present Broadfield Lane allotments!
"Councillor Ray Newell - Proudly representing Staniland South Ward"
These are very fine words, but we wonder if Councillor Newell has been pursuing matters on behalf of the Broadfield Lane victims in the two years since he wrote that letter.
Certainly we think that the possibility of reopening the allotments pro tem is something that the council should consider.

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