Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to approve the sale of allotment sites by councils in England.

There are strict criteria in place to control the sale of statutory allotments – these are sites covered by the Allotment Act 1925. Councils have to seek approval from the MHCLG Secretary of State and a legal threshold must be met before approval. This includes: the allotment to be surplus to requirements, any waiting lists to be considered, public consultation to have occurred, and other local policies to have been considered.

We are content with the effectiveness of this clearly defined legal process and there is no current government plan to change policy regarding allotment site sales by councils. The eight approvals granted between July 2024 and July 2025 represented a slight decrease in allotment disposals compared to recent years. The National Allotment Society stated that it had not challenged any of those applications as they had all met the legal threshold with either low take-up of plots or alternative allotment space provided elsewhere.