Hounslow Council has secured a 24-year lease to protect Park Road allotments in Isleworth following a 10-year-long development battle.
The allotment land was initially leased to Hounslow Council in 1917 by the then-Duke of Northumberland as a space to feed wounded World War One soldiers.
Northumberland Estates has been attempting to develop the land since ending its lease to the council in 2015.
Since then, efforts to secure the site’s future have been led by Councillor Salman Shaheen, Isleworth councillor and cabinet member for culture, leisure and public spaces, with support from Hounslow Council Leader Councillor Shantanu Rajawat.
Cllr Shaheen said: “This historic agreement preserves a site tended by generations of plot holders, and loved by the people of Isleworth for over a century.”
Local community groups like the Park Road Allotment Association and Isleworth Society have been working closely with Cllrs Shaheen and Rajawat to preserve the community space.
Stephen Hurton, Chair of Park Road Allotment Association said: “We are over the moon that the future of our local allotments has been secured for at least the next 24 years.”
The site has provided more than just home-grown food. During the pandemic, it became a vital space for residents without gardens to access the outdoors, supporting both physical and mental wellbeing.
They are also home to protected species, according to Isleworth Society committee member Dr Val Snewin.
Snewin said: “This triangle of open green space benefits the local community, providing recreation and food-growing, as well as being a haven for nature, providing habitat for protected species such as bats, badgers, hedgehogs and nesting birds.”
After the close of the initial lease in 2015, Northumberland Estates put forward two planning applications to develop flats on the land.
Hounslow Council rejected the last application in 2021, with the Planning Inspectorate coming out in support of the council in a 2023 public inquiry due to the predicted harm of heritage assets and Local Open Space.
Northumberland Estates Head of Communications Rachel Rutherford, responding to the rejected proposals, said: “We previously brought forward a proposal to deliver homes on the site, which we felt offered a balanced solution in response to an identified local need for affordable housing, alongside benefits such as allotment provision.
“Hounslow Council and the local community considered and ultimately declined that application, and we respect that decision.”
The council now plans to maintain the site and re-let vacant plots, as demand for allotments in the borough continues to grow.
Featured image: Hounslow Council
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