Share this post:
Did I suggest that UK governments had run out of things to sell?
It seems I was mistaken:
Jeremy Corbyn has taken aim at Angela Rayner after it was revealed that her department has signed off the sale of eight allotment sites since the general election. Yes, this is what the sale of public assets has come down to.
The move has triggered concern among green space advocates – and sparked fury from one of Parliament’s most prominent plot-holders.
Corbyn, who famously grows marrows and other crops on his Islington allotment, accused Rayner — Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government — of endangering a vital piece of the country’s social and environmental heritage.
In a letter to The Telegraph, the independent MP and newly-minted leader of a rival political movement, condemned the sales as contributing to “the future of these precious spaces [becoming] even more perilous”.
While the number of sites affected — eight — may seem small, the symbolic significance is enormous.
For Corbyn, who links the history of allotments to resistance against the Enclosure Acts and the dispossession of the rural poor, the issue cuts deep.
“Allotments grew out of opposition to enclosures and the privatisation of common land,” Corbyn wrote, invoking the struggles of the Diggers and other radical land campaigners.
Corbyn’s critique isn’t a simple “not in my backyard” stance. He acknowledges the urgent need for social housing — a fact his critics may seize on to accuse him of NIMBYism.
But Corbyn flips that argument on its head: why sacrifice the few green, productive spaces left, when brownfield sites and vacant homes go unused?
“Of course, social housing is desperately needed, but we need not sacrifice these vital green spaces to build it,” he insists. “We can build on ex-industrial land and take over empty properties.”
Figures from the National Allotment Association show that 100,000 people are currently on waiting lists for allotments, and in urban centres like London, one in five residents has no access to a garden at all.
For these people, allotments aren’t a hobby — they’re a rare patch of earth in an increasingly paved-over Britain.
So what is Rayner’s defence? A statement from her department said allotments are only to be sold where “clearly necessary” and if they offer “value for money” — language that is unlikely to reassure campaigners or Corbyn supporters.
And while this may be business-as-usual policy inherited from previous governments, its optics — under a Labour administration — are particularly jarring.
The Tories, opportunistically, have jumped on the row, calling it “a kick in the teeth to local people”.
Hypocrisy, perhaps, but not inaccurate — this is a culture war over who gets access to green space, and who doesn’t.
Corbyn’s closing salvo? A rallying cry:
“Is this government going to put the nail in the coffin of the joy of digging ground for potatoes on a cold, wet February Sunday afternoon? The battle for the grass roots is on!”
Indeed it is.
Share this post:
‘The battle for the grass roots is on’: Corbyn slams Labour over allotment sales
Share this post:
Did I suggest that UK governments had run out of things to sell?
It seems I was mistaken:
Jeremy Corbyn has taken aim at Angela Rayner after it was revealed that her department has signed off the sale of eight allotment sites since the general election. Yes, this is what the sale of public assets has come down to.
The move has triggered concern among green space advocates – and sparked fury from one of Parliament’s most prominent plot-holders.
Corbyn, who famously grows marrows and other crops on his Islington allotment, accused Rayner — Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government — of endangering a vital piece of the country’s social and environmental heritage.
In a letter to The Telegraph, the independent MP and newly-minted leader of a rival political movement, condemned the sales as contributing to “the future of these precious spaces [becoming] even more perilous”.
While the number of sites affected — eight — may seem small, the symbolic significance is enormous.
For Corbyn, who links the history of allotments to resistance against the Enclosure Acts and the dispossession of the rural poor, the issue cuts deep.
Corbyn’s critique isn’t a simple “not in my backyard” stance. He acknowledges the urgent need for social housing — a fact his critics may seize on to accuse him of NIMBYism.
But Corbyn flips that argument on its head: why sacrifice the few green, productive spaces left, when brownfield sites and vacant homes go unused?
Figures from the National Allotment Association show that 100,000 people are currently on waiting lists for allotments, and in urban centres like London, one in five residents has no access to a garden at all.
For these people, allotments aren’t a hobby — they’re a rare patch of earth in an increasingly paved-over Britain.
So what is Rayner’s defence? A statement from her department said allotments are only to be sold where “clearly necessary” and if they offer “value for money” — language that is unlikely to reassure campaigners or Corbyn supporters.
And while this may be business-as-usual policy inherited from previous governments, its optics — under a Labour administration — are particularly jarring.
The Tories, opportunistically, have jumped on the row, calling it “a kick in the teeth to local people”.
Hypocrisy, perhaps, but not inaccurate — this is a culture war over who gets access to green space, and who doesn’t.
Corbyn’s closing salvo? A rallying cry:
Indeed it is.
Share this post:
you might also like