Council 'failed to get a grip' on allotment saga (From Harwich and Manningtree Standard)
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Council 'failed to get a grip' on Mistley Allotment saga
7:30am Wednesday 13th March 2013 in News By Helen Barnett
ALLOTMENT holders are “disappointed” at the way their parish council has dealt with landlords who are turfing them off their land.
12 gardeners have been chucked off their Mistley allotment plots in Shrublands Road after the owners served notice to quit.
Land owners want to build 30 bungalows on the Brunswick House site and gave notice to quit the tenancy when Mistley Parish Council objected to its plans.
The council managed to save 15 plots from closure until its yearly tenancy agreement comes to an end on December 4.
Allotment Association chairman Phil Chatfield claims the council has failed to get a grip on the situation. The council did not ensure rent payments had been cashed between 2009 and 2012, or manage to get plots classed as a local asset of community value which would protect it from sale, he added.
Mistley Parish Council said it was dealing with the issues with the working party with have with the allotment holders.
