OLYMPIC ALLOTMENTS

WHY COULDN'T THEY HAVE LET THEM DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Olympics allotment action averted

The site has been cultivated for more than 80 years

Allotment holders being forced to make way for the Olympic Park in east London have reached an agreement allowing some of them to harvest this year's crops.

Plot holders at Manor Garden Allotments had been due at the High Court to seek a judicial review to stop the London Development Agency (LDA) evicting them.

But the LDA has now agreed access for some gardeners until September.

They will then move to a temporary site in Waltham Forest and can return to Hackney Wick when the Games are over.
On Monday, Waltham Forest council granted planning permission for the gardeners to cultivate 64 plots at Marsh Lane until 2014.

Compensation and support

The LDA said it would be taking ownership of the Hackney Wick site on 2 July, as planned, but a limited number of allotment holders would be allowed supervised access for two days a week until September.

All the allotment holders I have ever met work really hard at their gardens and to temporarily take their gardens away is bad enough but to make them loose their crop for this year is plain mean.