Tackling Allotment Waiting Lists- NAS Launches Plan to Include Allotments in New Housing Developments

• The National Allotment Society (NAS) launches brand new service for housing developers and local authorities.
• The service supports developers and local authorities to provide and manage allotments in new housing developments.
• This new provision is part of a NAS strategy to promote sustainable, thriving communities.

The National Allotment Society (NAS) has launched a brand-new service that supports housing developers and local government to include allotment space in new developments in an aim to reduce waiting lists and increase greenspace in communities.

Councils and developers are increasingly recognising that allotments have multiple benefits within the community beyond food provision, with research into the health and wellbeing implications of allotmenteering showing a positive impact on individuals and the wider population. Better health and wellbeing in the local area can lessen the demand on council managed services such as medical centres, care in the community and mental health services.

When well designed with the support of the NAS, allotments embrace the existing landscape and the character of a new development creating community pride, and a habitat for wildlife. With a long-standing tradition of community management allotments are also a low-risk investment with few long-term commitments.

The creation of new allotment sites could mean shorter waiting times for potential plot-holders and will help to meet some of the demand for allotments that the NAS expects to increase with the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis.

For developers and local authorities, well-designed allotments in new developments contribute to their statutory duty to provide allotments under Section 23 of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act (1908) and will enable them to achieve many local and central government targets for sustainable, well-designed, and thriving communities.

This new service provides design-led, policy-based, guidance for planners and developers who are looking to include allotments and covers a variety of new developments e.g., a single housing estate, a series of new ‘Garden Villages’, or a new industrial development where allotments in the immediate residential surroundings can help to achieve Biodiversity Net Gain.

The ‘21st Century Allotment Design’ elements recommended in the guide provided as part of this service enhance new developments by providing Public Amenity Value, and Green Space.

Developers or local authorities can request more information via email at natsoc@nsalg.org.uk