Action Briefing June 2004 - July 2004
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

Victoria Jubilee Allotments

On 13th May Birmingham’s Development Control Committee resolved by one vote to yet again defer Westbury Home's application to build on the site of the Victoria Jubilee Allotments in Handsworth.

But this third deferral is not to continue investigating the case against building on the site. It is merely a delay to enable City Officers to complete a legal agreement with Westbury to transfer those parts of the site not surrendered for new housing to Birmingham City Council with payment for the following “planning gains”: 80 new municipal allotments plus an index linked payment of £21,000 towards their maintenance; an index-linked sum of £27,000 towards the maintenance of a play area and another £25,000 in lieu of a second play area; an index-linked sum of £15,000 towards the regeneration of neighbouring Handsworth Park; two playing pitches and a cricket square plus a pavilion and car parking to the Council’s design; and the inclusion of 24 “affordable” homes.

Handsworth Allotments Information Group (HAIG) acknowledges that seven years of community campaigning against Westbury’s original proposals had prevented the loss of the whole site to hard surface and gained some benefits if Westbury can deliver them. But how much longer do we continue building over a diminishing pool of green space to pay for what’s left? When will we get a sustainable urban food growing strategy for Birmingham?

The vote on 13th May was close. Some councillors abstained fearing that if Westbury appealed against a refusal then the City would lose the planning gain. There were robust arguments from Councillors Gurdev Manku and Alton Burnett for saving the whole site. Cllr. Andrew Coulson voted with them for further research into the value of HAIG’s case for new assessments of allotment demand but was overruled, again by one vote.

We esteem the endeavours of these councillors, knowing they and Birmingham Friends of the Earth share our frustration at the greatest loss of green space in inner-city Birmingham for over fifty years. HAIG’s focus will be to ensure the Council holds Westbury to the Section 106 Agreement rather than treating this decision as an opportunity to question what’s been agreed.

Simon Badderley, HAIG