Alderley Edge Parish Council (AEPC) has issued the Alderley Edge Allotment and Gardens Society with a Notice to Quit the Heyes Lane allotment site.
The notice has been issued under the terms of the Tenancy Agreement, which dates back to December 1976, on the grounds of development needs.
Tenants have been given three months notice to quit the site by 28th May 2014 because the land is required for a new car park.
Fenton Simpson, Chairman of Alderley Edge Allotments and Gardens Society, said "They justify this date on the basis of a clause in the tenancy agreement relating to 'building mining or any other industrial purpose or for roads drains or sewers necessary in connection with any of those purposes'. The letter gives no further details, but we guess that it relates to the forthcoming start of work for the Medical Centre.
"While ending the Tenancy Agreement would reduce the role of the Society, it does not by itself constitute a 'notice to quit' to any plot-holder on the Heyes Lane site. The Heyes Lane site can only cease to be an allotment site if two things happen: Cheshire East Council changes the terms of its lease of the land to Alderley Edge Parish Council and Government, in the shape of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, approves such closure.
"We have no evidence that either of these things has happened.
"We will discuss this notice and other matters at our forthcoming meeting with the Parish Council. We have notified all the tenants on the Heyes Lane site and will keep them up to date with all future developments."
Following the transfer of the three allotments sites to Alderley Edge Parish Council from Cheshire East last year, the Parish Council are moving forward with their plans to relocate the Heyes Lane allotments to land off Lydiat Lane, which is owned by Alderley Edge School for Girls. This will enable them to build a car park on the Heyes Lane site, providing additional spaces for both the new medical centre and revamped hall.
The relocation of the allotments relies on Alderley Edge School for Girls being able to use another plot of land, which is currently owned by Cheshire East Council, to build a new sports facility on. The proposed site is former farm land off Wilmslow Road.
Cheshire East Council recently invited tenders for this 8.6 acre site, which lies within the Green Belt, by way of a 50 year lease for community uses. AESG submitted a tender proposing to use the land to build new sports facilities, including a hockey pitch, which they will make available for the use of Alderley Edge Hockey Club. Football fields will also be provided for the use of local club Alderley United and parking for parents to use for drop off and pick up as well as sixth formers.
The three allotments sites in the village were transferred to Alderley Edge Parish Council from Cheshire East last year, under lease agreements which stated "Not to use the Premises for any purpose other than as land utilised for the cultivation of Allotments".
AEPC signed individual leases for each of the three sites but Cllr Frank Keegan said "We're happy with Chorley Hall Lane and Beech Road, they are standard leases from Cheshire East. We weren't happy with that for Heyes Lane so Michael Jones, in is capacity as Leader of Council, gave us a side letter to say he would, irrespective of the fact that they put that as a standard lease, support our application to the Secretary of State to make it into something other than allotment land.
"We've always decided that in order to make that request we wanted to have an alternative site available which is where Lydiat Lane comes into the picture as being important. We're suggesting that if we give an allotment site bigger than Heyes Lane then call that our statutory allotment site the Minister will agree and Cheshire East have certainly said they will agree and support it.
"That would allow us to have a site free at the end of May to use as a compound for the work because it would take a lot of the pressure off the roads around the Festival Hall not to have lorries everywhere."
In addition to the letter from Michael Jones that says 'as long as Heyes Lane does not fall out of public ownership, Cheshire East will support the right of AEPC to petition the Minister at DCLG to change the land use class at Heyes Lane' AEPC has an Heads of Agreement from AESG which, in summary, says that if AESG secure the land at Wilmslow Road for use as a sports field, then AEPC will have access to Lydiat Lane.
The decision on Wilmslow Road is imminent and access to Lydiat Lane would enable AEPC to approach the Minister by the end of March 2014 to approve the re-siting of the Heyes Lane statutory allotment site of 16 allotments to the Lydiat Lane statutory allotment site where 60 allotments will be provided.
Cllr Keegan added "It requires the Allotment Society and Parish Council to work together to come to a sensible conclusion about the Heyes Lane allotment site we need very much to get on and decide how we are going to do it. We've got a couple of months to sort that out."
Cllr Mike Williamson said "I am looking forward to the announcement from Cheshire East as it has been a long time coming. This forms part of a vision which the Parish Council has had and been working at now for nearly two years. we're talking about a medical centre, refurbishment of the Festival Hall to make it survive into the future and stop the financial burden on the council taxpayers.
"We've got a huge issue with parking in the village. The release of the London Road site to the school will unlock a development for the school itself but at the same time the community football team, they are poised with money ready for investment, and the Alderley Edge Hockey Club, they are poised with investment ready to go into that project. This is a community project, not just for Alderley Edge School for Girls, which will produce huge benefits for the village.
"The relocation of the allotments to Lydiat Lane is definitely the way to go. It allows us the freedom to do what we need to do with Heyes Lane to address a new entrance to the Festival Hall, the long term viability of the hall, reduce the impact of the medical centre on the residences on Talbot Road and Stamford Road. The logic is overwhelming and for me the really important thing is we can't have all this positive progress blocked by a small number of people who are objecting to what we are trying to do even though the overwhelming majority of the population in the village want to see these things happen.
"Now I understand that it is has an impact on the people who have allotments on Heyes Lane, and I don't apologise for that because the benefit to the whole community is so overwhelmingly significant that we have to ask these people to accept this inconvenience and I want to challenge the Allotment Society not to stand in our way. Accept where we are going with this, the positive aspects of this and work with us to make sure these projects reach their conclusion for the benefit of the 8000 patients on the doctor's lists and the residents of Alderley Edge.
"This is really really important stuff and with the greatest respect to people on Heyes Lane, 26 allotment holders can't really expect to hold up all these benefits for the whole village so I plead with them now to join with us and work constructively to move these projects forward and we will undertake that the Lydiat Lane facility is the best we could possibly make it."
Alderley Edge Parish Council and the Alderley Edge Allotment and Gardens Society have agreed to meet next week.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
However Mr Keegan and Williamson think that notwithstanding these obvious problems, it is prudent to serve notice on the allotment holders?
When the facts do not make sense I have always found it useful to look for the missing bit of information. I am with Kirsteen Peel on this one but feel we would get very slim odds at Ladbrooks.
How can the allotments be served notice before the new allotment site is confirmed and prepared?
Yes Ed I too think you are missing something.
You are not missing something! The village will be massively better off, including better allotments.
> I read above there are 26 allotment holders on 16 allotments.
From their web sites..
> There are 300 boys at AUFC (who don't even have a flat, forget dry, football pitch in the village. )
> There are 1500 members at AECC, of which 500 play hockey (but all 1500 would benefit as the whole club indirectly fund pitch hire at 3 other locations).
> AESG has 500+ pupils all of which presumably must do PE.
Let's say that's 1300 people who will directly benefit. I won't include the 8000 medical centre patients as they hopefully won't all be trying to park.
So that's a ratio of 50 to 1.
Maybe we should scrap the whole plan and all share the Heyes Lane site? If we share the 16 plots by all 1326 of us we each get.... err .... ah, I don't need to do the maths ... I guess they have already made it clear what they think about sharing it with the rest of us.
Can you see the car park remaining open with all the building work taking place?Elf an Safety will have a field day.
ASK THE DEVELOPERS to take note of how well the limited space at the Alderley Motor Co has been used,!! use what you've got.
The allotments still have covenants on them,you can't magically make them disappear.
No planning permission has been given for a car park.(at the mo. it's a pipe dream)
The only thing that is fact is that the allotments were given to the people of Alderley for that purpose,also to ensure that every bit of real estate was not grabbed for development.
If I asked Michael Jones really nicely would he give me a side letter too for a friend who wants to convert a barn into a house in his own field?
Or would I be pushing my luck...