• I AM emailing as a concerned plot holder of an allotment at Antrim Grove, Belsize Park.

Like many allotmenteers, I waited over 20 years before accessing mine and have never lost that feeling of good fortune in having a plot.

I have made friendships with people from all ages and all backgrounds, including Nigel who is a spritely 94 and whose mother was the first to receive a plot after World War II.

The allotment has been a solace in a changing world for both myself and the other lucky plot holders. It is also a much needed “green lung” for the surrounding neigh­bourhood.

Which is why, during what for many has been the hardest year, to learn that Camden Council had done a test and found lead was concerning.

However, their ambition was to build raised beds, which would not mean the removal of trees. As the site, though not large, has over 50 trees, I was reconciled to this as a solution.

Now, however, the council, without notifying neighbours or doing an environmental impact assessment, are committed to removing all the trees and instead installing gabion walls, and using the playground as a dumping and removal entry point.

This will mean the loss of this precious wildlife and greenery and for many children the prolonged closure of their only local playground. It will take years for this wildlife to regenerate and, in the meantime, it will decimate this precious space.

The council are also proposing the same gabion response at Branch Hill. The reason they cite is economics, but the figures they quote keep changing and the lack of engagement and scrutiny is worrying.

A fellow allotment-holder recently paid for testing on their apparently high-risk plot; and found the vegetables safe to eat.

In no way do I want to waste money but, equally, I want there to be an impact assessment of what losing 50 trees would mean for the environment, as well as an impact on the children who use the playground. Many live in crowded, multiple-occupancy spaces, including the hostel on England’s Lane.

This NW3 area many might think very privileged but, like the whole of Camden, there is a vast variety of incomes, lived experien­ces, and access to outdoor space.

This diversity is equally on display with plot-holders, who come from all ranges of back­grounds. For many this is their only green space.

I would like to understand why a council committed to a “Green Action for Change” strategy is not seeing the decimation of wildlife as a key issue. Locally we have already seen the impact that HS2 is going to have on traffic.

I hope the council sees sense and looks for a less draconian solution, one which safeguards the environment, air quality, and children’s playground.

TAMARA CINCIK
Antrim Grove Allotments