Council drop allotment plan

By Philip Evans

View from Lyme Regis 11 August 2010

AFTER months of legal wrangling Lyme Regis Town Council has finally dropped plans to provide 26 allotments at the controversial Strawberry Field site in Charmouth Road.

The council originally bought the Strawberry Field from nearby resident Cliff Powley for leisure and recreation and the 11 acre site was originally earmarked for a new home for Lyme Regis Football Club with two full size pitches, a floodlit multi-use games area and clubhouse.
But the £1 million scheme ran into trouble with the planners after severe opposition from residents of Uplyme parish across the valley. The plan was later shelved and part of the field has been leased to Lyme Regis Golf Club for a pitch and putt course.

With a big demand for more allotments in Lyme Regis, the town council decided to use the rest of the field for 26 new allotments.
They even went as far as ploughing the field, marking out the plots and providing top soil and a heap of manure for each allotment holder at a cost of several thousand pounds.
The 26 plots were offered to local residents on a first come basis and draft short term contracts were drawn up. The contracts were for four years so that the council could revert to their original intention of using the land for leisure and recreation at some time in the future.

The council also sought and received a certificate of lawfulness from West Dorset District Council to use the land for allotments.
But landowner Cliff Powley, who lives at nearby Rhode Barton, put a condition on the 999 year lease that the land could only be used for its original purpose and opposed the council's plan for allotments.
Mr Powley entered into the lease for the sole purpose of providing a new home for Lyme Regis Football Club.

After months of legal wrangling, the newly formed Operational Management Sub-Committee decided last week to abandon their allotment plans for the Strawberry Field and look for an alternative solution.
Town clerk Mike Lewis explained that their initial advice was that it would be possible to use the land for allotments but further advice from the National Association of Local Councils' legal team was "not encouraging".
Mr Lewis explained [that] there was no case law which confirmed that looking after an allotment was a leisure or recreational pursuit and to establish this the council would have to go to the High Court to get a judgement. Councillors agreed that this would be too expensive and decided not to pursue their plans.

The council are now working closely with Turn Lyme Green to encourage more people to get involved in garden sharing schemes and are negotiating with the National Trust for land near to the existing allotments in Charmouth Road to be used.
They are also in discussion with Lyme Regis Football Club to see if they still have an interest in the Strawberry Field.