The homely allotment: from rural dole to urban amenity a neglected aspect of urban land use.

That the British are a nation of garden lovers is proudly proclaimed by many writers on horticulture who describe the fine home gardens that one may find, reflecting, on the one hand, a keen love of nature or, on the other, an urge to keep up with neighbourhood appearances personified in "the Joneses". But that not all our urban dwellers need land to tend is seen in the grossly neglected condition of so-called "gardens" at the front and rear of many council and private houses. Enquiry shows that "back gardens" are often dominated by household washing, children's play, a run for the dog, sitting-out space or car parking, with little thought or need for either beauty or productivity. Yet, elsewhere, some of the less fortunate families occupying dismal terrace rows looking out over a diminutive back-yard, or perched aloft under claustrophobic conditions in high-rise fiats, profess a deep longing for a plot of ground to tend in pleasant open-air surroundings. In such a situation of imbalance where professed garden lovers may find themselves, in consequence of planning policies designed to save land, dwelling under high density conditions, while elsewhere many householders neglect their home gardens, there is considerable waste of valuable resources. As is well known, land is a scarce commodity in our tight little islands, the pressure on land in England and Wales being such that there is now somewhat less than o*8 acre for every man, woman and child to meet the needs of farming, mining, industry, housing, services and urban recreation. It is imperative, therefore, that we plan our land use wisely and in the best interests of our communities, both urban and rural. Throughout this century the provision of allotments in urban areas has played an important part in meeting the gardening needs of some of our citizens whose house or flat either lacked a tract of ground or who possessed only a plot of diminutive size. Yet the origin of this special form of land use, so long neglected for detailed study, extends far back over two centuries, though its form and function have changed considerably during this period. The author's interest in allotment land use, both rural and urban, was suddenly awakened early in 1965 when he was invited by the Minister of Land and Natural Resources to become Chairman of a Government Committee of Inquiry1 set up "to review general policy on allotments in the light of present-day conditions in England and Wales and to recommend what legislative and other changes, if any, are needed". This was a broad brief covering land worth many hundreds of millions of pounds, and involving a wide range of historic, social, economic, planning and legal considerations. At this time, the term "allotment site" conjured up in many people's minds a rather sordid picture of a monotonous grid of rectangular plots, devoted mainly to vegetables and bush fruits, and tended by an older stratum of society, particularly men over forty including many old age pensioners (Plate I). Prominent over many sites were assemblages of ramshackle huts, redolent of "do it yourself", from the corrugated iron roofs of which sagging down-spouting carried rainwater into a motley collection of receptacles, long since rejected elsewhere, but again pressed into service here and ranging from antiquated baths to old zinc tanks and rusting oil drums. One in every five of the plots lay uncultivated, with weeds flourishing waist-high in summer, almost reaching the tops of abandoned bean-poles from which tattered pennants of polythene still fluttered