As Sally Davies gazed proudly at the fruit trees on her allotment she said that it was “a bumper crop of plums”.
However, her reasons for feeling pleased with her plot in north London have got to do with more than just the productivity of her plum trees — or her pears, her apples, her raspberries or her gooseberries — for she is a lucky holder of one of the most sought-after allotments in Britain, where the waiting list is as long as 40 years.
Her plot is in the borough of Camden, where there are so few allotments that some would-be vegetable gardeners probably die long before they get their hands on one.
Ms Davies, 57, is one of the fortunate few. A former gardener turned librarian, she has had her plot at Fitzroy Park allotments in Highgate for about 20 years. Before taking on the 10m by 20m patch, she had been on the waiting list for about six years, although she had been warned that she would have to wait for up eight years for a plot to become free. To have an allotment in the capital was, she admitted, “a bit of a privilege”.
Today she would not stand a chance. Camden has 200 plots for which people pay up to £272 a year. There are 1,000 names on the waiting list, which was closed years ago. The National Allotment Society said that an average of 52 people were waiting for every 100 plots, although waiting times varied widely.
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A spokesman for Camden council said that the turnover of plots was low because holders often kept them for life. “We estimate that currently somebody on the waiting list will need to wait between 30 and 40 years for an allotment plot,” he said.
In Bristol, the waiting time varies. The city council says on its website: “Many people think the waiting lists are very long, but this is not the case in most areas of Bristol. In some areas there are vacancies, while in others there is only a short wait.”
The shortage of allotments was highlighted this week when Charlie Dimmock, the TV gardener, suggested that one way of reducing waiting lists would be to offer half or even quarter plots, which would bring the advantage of not being too much work for one person.
The National Allotment Society, which was critical of Dimmock’s remarks, argues that a 250 sq m plot should be the standard, because it is enough to feed a family of four.
However, plots of this size are not found everywhere. Many areas have smaller plots, and divided plots are common in many areas, including Camden.
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Nick Beagin, a committee member at Barriedale allotments in New Cross, southeast London, said that their waiting time has been more than ten years. “We have tried to promote smaller plots but there is only so small you can make them before they are useless for most.
“We are also quite keen on removing those who don’t garden or leave the weeds to go to seed, so as to get new blood in, but it isn’t always quick or easy. Ideally we need more land, but here it isn’t really going to work. There just isn’t any space and we are lucky to have what we have.”