Oakham Town Council will not manage its own allotments

The seed of an idea to return allotments administration to a town council has been uprooted before it had chance to grow.

At Oakham Town Council’s meeting yesterday (Wednesday, March 12), Coun Sally Anne Wadsworth asked whether it was worth the council running the allotments, as is the case in Uppingham.

Currently, Oakham Home Gardens and Allotment Society (OHGAS) and Oakham Smallholders Association (OSA) lease the allotments from the town council for an annual rent and then charge allotment-holders a fee to sub-let a strip of land from them.

Coun Wadsworth’s proposal was backed by Coun Martin Brookes who said he thought it was a great opportunity for the council to “take the allotments back in house”.

He said they had, over the years, provided thousands of pounds in grants to the associations and, rather than being a community provision, it was ‘an exclusive thing’, adding: “They have never been transparent to the council.”

But his proposal for the town council to take control of the allotments did not find backing. Coun Wadsworth said she wanted to second the proposal but thought the issue needed to be looked at more fully before rushing in.

Council chairman Paul Ainsley said the associations were not making ‘vast’ amounts of money and said he did not think the council was the right organisation to be managing the allotments.

Clerk Christopher Evans said there would be ‘significant administration’ if the council decided to take over the running of the allotments.

OHGAS manages 220 allotments at Elm Close, Burley Road and Willow Crescent. It will pay a £570 annual lease for seven years.

OSA manages 50 allotments at Kilburn Road. The new lease with the council will cost £135.