a day ago
Concern after 50 allotments built on South Downs National Park
Residents have criticised an allotment company for "destroying" protected land in West Allotments has created 50 new vegetable patches on 12 acres of land between the villages of Clapham and Patching, near Worthing, in West Clapham and Patching Conservation Society (CPCS) said the project had ruined years of rewilding efforts, and the entrance and exit from the A280 was a "death trap".A spokesperson for Roots said a large part of its business model was conservation, including wildflower meadows and bugs hotels, and that it had no plan to build housing on the land.
'Beautiful meadow'
The allotment site, known as Patching Meadows, is on land within the South Downs National Park."It's not easy to get to, there's no public transport. It's a very odd choice for location," said Anna Bingham, of the CPCS."The land owner is well within his rights to lease the site to Roots, [but] why this site? There are countless others."To stick it out here, in the middle of the national park, why? And... without any ecological study?"Ms Bingham said the "beautiful meadow" has been been rewilding for years and was "bursting with wildlife"."Roots arrived, harrowed the field and put up the anti-deer fencing," she said.
The CPCS said it was not against allotments on the site, but opposed "destroying" the fields to make way for said it chose the location after sending letters to more than 150 land owners around Worthing, Brighton and Shoreham."We picked the absolute closest field to an urban location - it was the only field we were able to get a deal with," it company said it was "absolutely incorrect" to suggest the site would be developed into housing at a later date, adding that its focus was on "trying to educate people in growing food on [the] biggest scale possible".The South Downs National Park Authority said it had visited the site three times this year and found there were no planning breaches to investigate.
