New allotment rules drawn up at Cockfield in wake of long-running row

A FIVE year spat over “untidy” allotment plots looks to have entered its final chapter.
Cockfield’s Brian Jackson was threatened with eviction from his two gardens earlier this year after the village allotment association deemed his plots in breach of the rules.
But Mr Jackson hit back, accusing the association of a campaign of bullying and harassment at last week’s Cockfield Parish Council meeting.
He said: “The information you get from the allotment association is biased.
“I have always been an object of hostility and judgement – we have had four apple trees cut down.”
No fewer than three letters have been sent to Mr Jackson warning him about the state of his allotment in the past three years.
However, Mr Jackson accused the allotment association of being “run like a clique” and has threatened to take legal action in a letter to the council.
Parish chairwoman Cllr Brenda Singleton pointed Mr Jackson to the allotment rules on fence heights and tidiness while Cllr Neville Singleton sought a solution to the row.
He said: “We have sent you three letters but this latest one came through the other allotment holders saying that it was spoiling their allotments by not being cultivated. 
“We are here to amicably settle this situation.”
Mr Jackson revealed he had kept going to his allotment despite being beset by a number of health and mobility problems.
He added: “After my heart bypass I suffered a stroke and lost the use of the right-hand-side of my body. I also had mental deterioration in my memory.
“This is where the prejudice comes in because if the allotment association thought I could not handle my allotment then why was I not offered the use of a polytunnel?
“I have been kept in the dark for years.”
A £5 annual fee gives plot holders access to rotavators, tunnels and specialist equipment.
Cllr Christine Watters, who is part of the association, said nobody had ever been stopped from using the poly tunnels. She also said she’d put a letter about the equipment use through Mr Jackson’s front door adding that the association was aware of his ill health.
She said: “Allotment holders were fully aware of the situation – what was agreed was we would continue doing it as much as we could.
“At the end of the day our concern then, which is our concern now, is whether you feel well enough to do it.”
An unwritten convention at the West End allotments is if a plot holder falls ill, neighbours and fellow plot holders help keep it tidy.
Mr Jackson said the allotments had helped him get his mobility back.
Cllr Neville Singleton added: “I appreciate you have gone through a difficult time, and still are, but if you were getting abuse you should have come here and it could have been nipped in the bud.”
Judith Waldock, chairwoman of the Allotment Association, said none of Mr Jackson’s allegations had been reported and confirmed she’d posted an invite to the group’s next meeting through his door.
It was agreed that two councillors would go along to inspect Mr Jackson’s plots and every plot holder would have until June to get their garden “sorted”.
A document with the rules, regulations and conventions on equipment use, as well as procedures for notifying the association about illnesses, is to be written up and signed by all allotment holders.
Cllr Jonathan Milroy added: “Draw a line in the sand and get it sorted. There’s no ‘I don’t understand’ if people have read it and signed it.”