Losing the plots: Sheffield’s biggest allotments have descended into acrimony

There aren’t many things in this world more wholesome than an allotment. They conjure up images of smiling pensioners in ill-fitting cardigans and worn jeans, growing tomatoes for this year’s chutney (Christmas presents for the grandkids). And in Sheffield, with its lefty political heritage, the allotment stands for something more; at the heart of a green-socialist vision of sustainable food and community ownership.

But what happens when allotments go bad? Up in Darnall, the city’s biggest allotments have rapidly descended into acrimony. With no warning, community groups and allotment holders — one we spoke to had been there over fifty years — have been evicted. Padlocks are up, CCTV has been installed, and the police have been making their presence felt. Meanwhile rumours swirl that all was not well at the allotments — with suggestions that XL Bullies were being bred here and animal welfare had been seriously neglected. Correspondence seen by the BBC even suggests that animal slaughter was taking place here.

So what’s the truth? We sent Dan out to do some digging, and today’s story is his report. To read, you’ll have to join our very own community, which unlike allotments has no multi-year waiting list (or indeed, XL bullies).

But first we have your Tribune briefing. And for members, scroll to the end of the story for our recommendations for a top weekend, featuring mediaeval pubs, winter tonics and opera.

Your Tribune briefing

💷 Yesterday’s budget had lots to interest South Yorkshire. As well as more money for Supertram, Chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced that in future the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority would get a so-called “single pot settlement”. This will give the authority more freedom over how it spends the money it gets from the government and is something Mayor Oliver Coppard has long argued for. Councils will also get longer term funding agreements in order to better plan their finances.

🚨 A 16-year-old girl has been ordered to undergo an intense year-long rehabilitation programme — known as a referral order — after she threw stones at police during the infamous riot outside a Rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers. The teenager, who cannot be named due to her age, is the first woman or girl to be sentenced in connection with the riot and has received the only court order that is not recorded as a criminal conviction. Sheffield Youth Court heard that she “bitterly regrets” her involvement and had “tagged along” to impress her crush. You can read Dan’s first-hand account of events outside the hotel here. 

✈️ The University of Sheffield has renewed its contract with “global education provider” Study Group for another decade, following recent reports that a drop in international enrollment has hit the university’s finances hard. Study Group is a recruiter which funnels international students to UK universities through controversial “pathway courses,” which have lower entry requirements than those expected of other students, in return for a cut of their first-year tuition fees. A former Study Group executive previously told The Sunday Times that “the nature of the business is to bring in the overseas students, pile them high, and as long as they have the money, they will invariably be accommodated in some way.” In response, Study Group’s CEO wrote a public letter of complaint to the paper, insisting the provider stands “fully behind the quality of our students and their commitment to fulfil their dreams and ambitions through global education”.

Losing the plots: Sheffield’s biggest allotments have descended into acrimony

The alarm emitted by the machine is ear-splitting. A blue obelisk topped by cameras facing in all directions, and fronted by two giant solar panels, it sits up on extendable legs, giving it the air of a martian rover. I half expect it to start firing at me like the creepy doll from Squid Game. I’m told that at other times in the last few weeks it has delivered a stern message from a Surrey-based firm of bailiffs.

The surrounding terrain has a similar martian quality — stony, wild and forbidding. Diggers have criss-crossed the site, crushing fences and churning up the earth. The remnants of doors and sheds are scattered across the landscape.

These are the city’s biggest allotments, in Darnall. Only a month ago, they housed over 200 allotments, as well as community groups like the Darnall Allotment Project. Some were used by people who have worked this land for decades. 

Now, civil enforcement letters in flimsy plastic jackets are strewn across its boundaries; and within, mobile CCTV units read trespassers their rights. Those trespassers include me, as well as anyone whom the owners haven’t explicitly authorised to be here. How did it come to this?

There are a few facts everyone can agree on. On 1st October, the owners of the allotments came along with council staff and police officers to close the site and seize the land. Just a few days later, allotment holders received an email from an anonymous address, saying they had just one day to get their belongings off the site — something they could only do if they were willing to send over proof of ID (given the anonymous nature of the email, most allotment holders refused). Since then, padlocks have been put around the site, and people have been told their allotment is permanently closed.

Johnny Davis got his allotment here when he was 25. He’s now 76. In recent years he has come down twice a day to look after his chickens and pigeons, once in the morning to feed them and let them out, and then again in the evening to put them away for the night. He tells me thirteen police cars, several RSPCA vans, and council vehicles turned up en masse that day. “I’ve been coming to these allotments for a long time,” he says, ruefully. “And I miss it.” He also tells me that since that, police have regularly come to the site, summoned by the alarm.

Then there’s a plot owned by Darnall Allotment Project. The volunteer-run project was set up 20 years ago by a local GP who thought health should be about more than just going to the doctors. They have provided services to thousands of people who want to learn about gardening, to be more active or just get out of the house more. Sarah Emberson, organiser at the project, tells me that on 2 October, they turned up at their plot at 8am to find the gates padlocked and a sign saying the allotments were closed. “One group came on the Friday afterwards to find the whole place barricaded up,” she says. “It is devastating.”

The plight of these beleaguered allotment holders has been getting increasing attention, with the story being covered by the BBC this week. The owners, who bought up the site in 2014, have come in for heavy criticism. But as I’ve dug into the story, things have become stranger. Darnall allotments were perhaps not quite the green and pleasant land you might expect. Rumours are swirling about poor animal welfare, illegal dog breeding and even illegal animal slaughter.