Post by Starchild on Apr 2, 2007 11:42:58 GMT
Allotment holders on the site of the 2012 Olympic Park have been given more time before they are evicted.
Manor Garden Allotments in Hackney Wick, east London, was to be moved to Marsh Lane in Leyton but planners refused the application.
London Development Agency (LDA) has submitted a revised plan, which has pushed back the evictions until July.
Plot holders are campaigning to save the 81 allotments, which are on the site of the main Olympic concourse.
'London asset'
The Green Party is supporting their fight and has called for the evictions to be halted until an alternative site is secured.
The revised planning application is expected to come before Waltham Forest Council's planning committee in May.
Hopes for an April move were dashed and the LDA said plot holders could remain in place until July while the application goes through.
We are a showcase of Ken Livingstone's London - multi-cultural, environmentally-friendly and sustainable
Julie Sumner
Allotment holder
However, the agency was inviting allotment holders to begin handing over their plots ahead of the move.
Each plot holder is entitled to £850 in compensation for the move.
The LDA has promised to move them back to a new and improved site after the Games.
"We have been working with the allotment holders for almost two years to find a suitable alternative site," an LDA spokesman told the BBC News website.
"After the games they will move back to a landscaped site which could be bigger."
Julie Sumner, a Manor Garden Society spokesman, told the website: "We're still not convinced about the arguments for moving us.
"We are a showcase of Ken Livingstone's London - multi-cultural, environmentally-friendly and sustainable.
"Why would you want to remove this asset from the heart of the Olympic site?"
Manor Garden Allotments in Hackney Wick, east London, was to be moved to Marsh Lane in Leyton but planners refused the application.
London Development Agency (LDA) has submitted a revised plan, which has pushed back the evictions until July.
Plot holders are campaigning to save the 81 allotments, which are on the site of the main Olympic concourse.
'London asset'
The Green Party is supporting their fight and has called for the evictions to be halted until an alternative site is secured.
The revised planning application is expected to come before Waltham Forest Council's planning committee in May.
Hopes for an April move were dashed and the LDA said plot holders could remain in place until July while the application goes through.
We are a showcase of Ken Livingstone's London - multi-cultural, environmentally-friendly and sustainable
Julie Sumner
Allotment holder
However, the agency was inviting allotment holders to begin handing over their plots ahead of the move.
Each plot holder is entitled to £850 in compensation for the move.
The LDA has promised to move them back to a new and improved site after the Games.
"We have been working with the allotment holders for almost two years to find a suitable alternative site," an LDA spokesman told the BBC News website.
"After the games they will move back to a landscaped site which could be bigger."
Julie Sumner, a Manor Garden Society spokesman, told the website: "We're still not convinced about the arguments for moving us.
"We are a showcase of Ken Livingstone's London - multi-cultural, environmentally-friendly and sustainable.
"Why would you want to remove this asset from the heart of the Olympic site?"
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6517435.stm
Now I am all for the Olympics but this is ridiculous. did they not think there might be problems over these allotments?
When the govt. keeps on about getting healthy, eating healthy, doing exercise and combatting climate change why do this?
Why not incorporate the allotments into the area, I mean pay them to grow flowers in there for the duration of the games or similar.
petitions.pm.gov.uk/manorgardens/
Allotments are difficult enough to come by as it is and they should at least be with in decent distance for the allotments tenants, not move them to another area.