Outrageous allotment rent increases!

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My mum got a letter last week informing her that the Council have put to public consultation their proposals for allotment rent increases for Council managed sites. The basic rent, which does not include water or society fees, would rise from £59 for a 10 pole plot, to £140 for Barnet residents and to £280 for non-residents! How can they possibly justify an increase of 137.3% for Barnet residents and 374.6% for non-residents? I thought allotments were supposed to be a cheap hobby for the elderly! And that’s not all. A Luxembourg-based organization describes the functions of allotment gardens something like this:

·        Providing a better quality of urban life for the community.

·        A leisure activity for families where they can experience sowing, growing, cultivating and harvesting their own healthy fruits and vegetables.

·        A place for children to play and discover nature amidst towns and cities.

·        Where working people can relax after the stress from their jobs.

·        Where the unemployed can feel useful and grow vegetables at 'minimum cost'.

·        A place for disabled people to participate in social life and overcome loneliness.

·        Where senior citizens can spend time with people with the same interests and find self-fulfilment during the period of retirement.

So it’s not just for the elderly. It’s a fulfilling place for almost any member of our society and I agree with all the above. Under the Allotments Act, a local authority is required to maintain an "adequate provision" of  land, usually a large allotment field which can then be divided into allotment gardens for individual residents at a low rent. So why is the rent being increased by an outrageous amount?

What happened to reasonable rent charges as required by law?

The Allotments Act 1922 states:

"'Section 16 required allotments authorities to exact a 'full fair rent' for allotments".

The Allotment Act 1950 states that allotments authorities may charge such rent "... as a tenant may reasonably be expected to pay for the land".

Is it reasonable to increase the rent by almost 375% in some cases?

My mother is in her 70’s, she is a pensioner and the plot she rents from Barnet Council (and has been renting for over 30 years) is a great joy to her. It is her main hobby, it gives her healthy exercise - which the government are recommending through advertising campaigns which don't come cheap - she gets to eat healthy fruit and vegetables which she grows herself and it’s a cheap leisure pursuit.

If Barnet Council’s proposal to increase the rent gets passed, her allotment rent will be increased by 337.5%  as she currently gets pensioner's rates'. And that’s another thing. The council are also proposing to abolish any discount for older people! Why? In the Allotments Act 1950, section 10 makes provision for the allotments authority to let land "... to a person at a less rent, if the Council are satisfied that there exist special circumstances affecting the person which render it proper for them to let the land at a less rent".

What's changed? The council were satisfied that pensioners were entitled to pay slightly less before, so why not now?

It seems to me that the council are trying to drive all of the poorest and most vulnerable people off the allotments and turn them into a luxury for the rich!