New year cheer as allotmenteers win reprieve
Extraordinary meeting over long term future to go ahead
MORE than 70 Hungerford allotmenteers were celebrating this week after winning a 12-month reprieve from eviction.
The future of the Marsh Lane site – and, consequently the entire future of Hungerford Allotment Holders’ Association (HAHA) – was under imminent threat after the landowner and his development partner announced the lease would not be renewed beyond April 2016.
Developer Mark Norgate of Donnington New Homes wants to build 57 homes on 2.8 hectares of land near Smitham Bridge Road (designated HUN001) – but this has so far been rejected by West Berkshire Council in favour of land east of Salisbury Road.
Mr Norgate has said previously that, should the district council change its mind and adopt the HUN001 site “then the lease for the Marsh Lane site could be extended – or become permanent”.
However, he warned that, unless West Berkshire Council could be thus persuaded, he and the land owner would evict HAHA and concentrate on developing Marsh Lane – branded undevelopable for at least 15 years by planners.
But Mr Norgate said in a statement this week: “The work undertaken between Hungerford Town Council, HAHA and Donnington New Homes, is true community planning, which would deliver a fantastic asset to the people of Hungerford, and remove this reoccurring anxiety among the many allotment holders who enjoy the Marsh Lane allotments, as to whether their facility will exist in one year’s time. There are many people in Hungerford who hope that West Berkshire Council’s policy officers will re-appraise the situation, and allocate HUN001, whether in addition to the current Salisbury Road draft allocation or otherwise.”
HAHA chairman Geoff Greenland said: “The town council has been given a 12-month extension on the Marsh Lane site.
“But, while this is a welcome reprieve and allows us breathing space, we’re not out of the woods.
“If the land at HUN001 is not designated for housing, then we’re still in for a rough ride.”
An extraordinary general meeting to discuss the future of HAHA is going ahead on Monday, January 11, at The British Legion, Church Way, Hungerford, starting at 7.30pm.
