Allotment fees to soar 400%

Allotment fees in Cannock Chase are set to spiral by up to 400 per cent under controversial proposals by council chiefs to claw back cash.

Keen gardeners in Cannock and Rugeley are currently paying about £20 a year for their plots but cash-strapped Cannock Chase Council has announced proposals to remove its £5,000 subsidy, claiming it is not fair to burden taxpayers with a bill for a few allotment holders.

But furious growers have reacted with anger to the plans, claiming it could lead to rent increasing to more than £95 a year.

Peggy Wolstenholme, secretary of the Rumer Hill Allotment Holders' Association, said: "Increases over and above inflation are hard to justify and the proposed increase represents a 300 to 450 per cent rise, compared with current rate of inflation of 5.2 per cent.

"If the rent is increased as planned the viability of the allotment plot will be put in question. Surely the council has an obligation to encourage and sustain allotment gardening among those groups of the community on fixed incomes such as pensioners, disabled and the unemployed."

Council spokesman Jamie Summerfield, said: "The average rise for an allotment holder will be £1.82 per week. During the budget-setting process for 2008-09, it was decided that it was no longer affordable for council tax payers to subsidise services that are used by a small proportion of the district's population."