A firm that has created a huge allotment in a field on the edge of Bristol have incurred the wrath of local residents – and local council planners – after they laid down a hardstanding drive across the field last weekend.
Roots Allotments has already been involved in a two-year-long battle with villagers in Abbots Leigh, sparked threats from North Somerset Council, and been slammed by Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden, over the creation of what could end up being a 700-pitch allotment business, even before this weekend’s latest twist to the saga.
Contractors and Roots bosses arrived on site late on Friday afternoon (September 27) and spent the weekend turning, what was a temporary driveway laid with rubber mats, into a much more weather-proof entrance and driveway with hardstanding.
Local residents called the council’s planning office and claimed the timing of the work was no coincidence – because North Somerset Council ’s planning officers didn’t make it to the site until Monday afternoon, when the work had already been done.
Roots Allotments said the hardstanding driveway was ‘a temporary measure’ and added that it believed it was allowed under permitted development rights for the site. But North Somerset Council has told Bristol Live that its officers are ‘of the view that planning permission is required’ for what Roots has done. A spokesperson for the local village campaign against the allotment development called on the council to block the entrance and force Roots to dig it all up again.
One of Roots Allotments’ founders, Will Gay, said: “With the change in season and with recent weather conditions in mind, this has been done to limit any potential issues with mud on the private road or the wider road network.
“This is a temporary measure and one that is allowed under permitted development rights for agriculture, with the soil lifted remaining on site.
“Roots continues to operate under the Certificate of Lawful Development (CLD) to create our growing space. Allotments and food production are defined within horticulture which fit into the legal definition of agriculture and the primary function of this land at Abbots Leigh is agricultural use.
“While our core infrastructure remains of temporary nature, we continue to consult with our planners and with North Somerset Council, applying for permission where relevant,” he added.
With local residents unhappy at the development and trying to persuade council planners and enforcers to take a hard line with Roots, the firm has maintained that everything it has done to turn the site from one big field into 700 allotment plots is allowed under agricultural use – like putting up fences, a water supply, troughs and storage containers.
Back in July, the council told Roots it was not going to treat the allotment business like it was a regular farmer, and so the firm needed planning permission – and provided a list of the things it had done to the field and the entrance that required permission. The firm has submitted a planning application, understood to be only for the shipping containers currently on the site, but North Somerset Council said the application is ‘currently invalid’ and Roots have been asked for more information before it can enter the planning process.
This latest action by Roots has put further pressure on North Somerset Council, and added to the list of things the council is demanding a planning application for. A spokesperson said: “We’re aware that contractors brought hardcore onto the Roots Allotments site at Abbots Leigh and formed a new hardstanding.
“We have visited the site and are of the view that planning permission is required for the works,” she said. “Our planning enforcement officers have contacted Roots to explain that we consider planning permission is required.
“Roots Allotments have submitted a planning application to North Somerset Council for other works which have taken place on the land. The application is currently invalid, and we are awaiting the submission of further information,” she added.
Outraged local residents gathered to film and photograph the work as it was happening on Friday afternoon but could do nothing to stop it. “This sorry story illustrates how little protection exists for threatened meadows across the country,” a spokesperson for the Save Abbots Leigh Green Belt campaign said.
“Commercial companies can wreak damage and destruction – and local councils seem powerless to prevent that until the damage is already done. Roots has employed similar tactics to develop green belt land across the country,” she added.
One local resident called on the council to act fast. “The council needs to act now and close off the entrance and get Roots to remove the entrance and track. Or force them to put in for planning permission where it can be properly assessed like any other development that takes place in North Somerset,” she said.