I found this while browsing -
www.timeistight.co.uk/PCF/LPQD21.htm Looked interesting.
Local Plan Home
QD21 Allotments
Planning permission will NOT be granted for proposals that would result in the loss of allotments. Planning permission may be given for alternative open space uses for allotments which are surplus to requirements. Allotments will be considered surplus to requirements where the following criteria are met:
a. plots have remained genuinely available to allotment users;
b. they have been unused for more than five years;
c. they have been offered to all the people on the allotment waiting lists, city wide;
d. they have been advertised to the general public as being available during this time; and,
e. redundant allotment plots form a cohesive unit, that can be separated from other plots without causing disruption to existing allotments, still in active use.
Where allotments are surplus to requirements, preference will be given to alternative amenity or leisure uses that retain the open nature of the site and are compatible with allotment gardening. New built development will only be acceptable where the applicant can demonstrate it is ancillary and essential to the open space use of the site.
3.92 Allotment sites owned by the Council and in private ownership, are unevenly distributed throughout Brighton and Hove. Some are inner urban plots, others form part of the urban fringe between the built up area and the Downs. In the Government’s command paper, ‘the Future of Allotments’, the Government considers that allotments form a component part of healthy neighbourhoods and that there was a need for urgent action to protect existing allotment sites. The Government welcomes the contribution made by private sites and urges the owners of private sites to adopt a long term and positive approach. The Government advises that planning guidance on the role of allotments should be explicit because allotment land is the principal category of urban green space that is being eroded.
3.93 During the consultation process carried out to inform this Plan, allotment holders expressed concern that allotment sites should be protected and that any alternative use of vacant plots should not damage the existing allotments. The deliberate development of scrub or overgrown vegetation was considered to be unhelpful to other allotment holders because of possible rabbit infestation.
3.94 Allotment sites in Brighton and Hove are currently being surveyed by the Council. Until the survey is complete and any vacant plots identified, advertised and promoted, it is not known whether there are any parcels of redundant land that could be put to alternative uses. Some allotments on the downland fringes may be of very poor quality and if not in use over a period of time may be better managed as open downland until they are needed. Small sites publicly or privately owned within the built up area fulfil several roles as amenity open space as well as allotment land and are likely to be valued as open space by the local community.
3.95 Proposals affecting allotments will also be expected to comply with the ‘Urban Open Space’ Policy (QD20) and the ‘Protection of public and private outdoor recreation space’ Policy (SR22).
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