Dear Ray Long, Anne Elton and Tim Sanders, thank you for forwarding your email sent to the CNJ, (We were horrified to hear of the destruction of this allotment site, August 15).

• NO one is planning the “destruction” of a thriving inner-city allotment site.

The site in question is a communal garden belonging to the housing revenue account, the funding of which is ring-fenced and paid for by tenants’ rents to protect taxpayers, and which is demised to a small block of council tenants living in 6-60 Bassett Street.

When I discovered there were disagreements from some of the council residents living in 6-60 Bassett Street about the management of their garden, I wanted to know if this was a real problem or the work of a small but vocal minority.

So I asked for an independent survey to be carried out by an external organisation who were recommended by our green spaces team and specialise in work with green spaces and community groups.

They knocked on doors of 6-60 at different times of day to get face-to-face feedback and left flyers encouraging residents to respond by phone or by completing the online survey.

In this survey, three simple questions were asked to discover how they wanted the garden managed in the future. The answers were:

– 1. A relaxing space for residents only… six.

– 2. Space to relax and community gardening for residents and some of the community in Bassett Street only… eight.

– 3. Wanting community garden to continue; two.

– 4. Not interested… six.

– 5. Did not take part… six (one property was vacant).

From these results it is clear to me that the majority do want to take control of the management of the garden.

The elected TRA tenant and resident association have indicated their desire to work with the street property residents in Bassett Street, and they wish to retain some of the beds, but wish to create a larger amenity space for themselves where they can relax as neighbours. And some do wish to continue growing food.

I hope this addresses your concerns over the council’s rationale on reaching the decision to hand over management of the garden to the TRA, which I support.

I appreciate there are strongly-held views here and have requested that one of my senior officers makes contact with the wider gardening group committee members to see how we can support the group to continue.

As I said before, this is a dispute between two groups, one of whom reside here. Disputes can only be resolved if there is a meeting of minds.

For this to happen both groups must want this. To me this lies at the heart of finding a shared solution to this dispute which I am more than willing to facilitate.

CLLR MERIC APAK
Cabinet Member for Better Homes