Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the average length of time a person has been on a waiting list for an allotment in each year since 2010 in England.

My Department does not estimate allotment waiting list times, as it is individual local authorities which have the legal responsibility for the management and provision of allotments in their area, ensuring that those who want to start an allotment can do so.

Notwithstanding, a survey of allotment waiting lists was carried out by the National Allotment Society and Transition Town West Kirby in July 2013. Whilst there is a degree of difficulty in creating precise estimates, their research indicated that there was an average of 52 people waiting for every 100 plots (as of January 2013). These waiting list figures were down on their previous surveys, which indicated an average of 57 people waiting in January 2011 and 59 people waiting in January 2010.

The 2013 survey also noted that that 65 new allotment sites had been created in the previous two years, across 51 councils, creating roughly 2,000 new allotment plots.

The Coalition Government has introduced a range of measures to help communities who want land to grow fruit and vegetables. Through new community rights, local residents have increased opportunities to protect existing allotments from development and increase provision of green spaces. For example, in Thame, in Oxfordshire, their new neighbourhood plan will create an additional hectare of allotment land. Allotments have also been listed as assets of community value.

As part of our commitment to supporting local community groups, my Department has also published a best practice guide for community groups wanting to find land to grow fruit and vegetables, as well as an additional guide on establishing community orchards and other spaces for food growing. These can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/space-for-food-growing-a-guide

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-orchards-a-how-to-guide

In January 2014, my Department published Allotment Disposal Guidance: Safeguards and Alternatives replacing the previous guidance from 2002. The new guidance strengthens allotment protection, as the requirement for waiting lists to be taken into account must now be rigorously applied to all that council's waiting lists, not just the waiting list for the site to be disposed of. This aims to ensure that poorly maintained sites are not used to justify disposal. Ministers will be closely monitoring to ensure that this new guidance is followed.

I also refer the rt. hon. Member to my answer today to him of questions 191956 & 196310, which explains how the Secretary of State's decisions on allotments since May 2010 have resulted in an increase in usable allotment land.