Overview
- Jeremy Corbyn published an op-ed accusing Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner of approving the sale of eight council-run allotment sites since Labour took power and calling it a “nail in the coffin” for community green spaces.
- The eight approved sales affect sites in Somerset, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, West Sussex, Derbyshire and Kent and were authorised under asset disposal rules introduced in 2016.
- A Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government spokesperson reiterated that strict criteria protect allotments and school playing fields from inappropriate disposals.
- The National Allotment Society reassured plot holders that no statutory allotment can be sold without ministerial consent and a defined legal process under the Allotments Act 1925.
- Corbyn is using the row to bolster his newly launched Your Party and intensify pressure on Labour’s housing funding and green space policies.