Woodbridge allotment holders issued with eviction notices

Roger Bridgeman waited 30 years for a quarter plot at the allotments at Kingston Field, Woodbridge

A Suffolk council has issued eviction notices to allotment holders who have had a plot for more than five years.

Woodbridge Town Council said to reduce its waiting list for plots at Kingston Field it decided to cap the tenancies.

It said it was an "extremely difficult decision" to make but it had unsuccessfully attempted to secure additional land.

Allotment holders said they were "shocked" by the decision and it had come "totally out of the blue".

Roger Bridgeman, who has had an allotment for eight years, said he waited almost 30 years before he got a plot.

"I arrived in Woodbridge in 1984 and I wasn't given an allotment until 2014," he said.

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He said there were originally 10 full plots on the land but over the years they had been divided up, and he has a quarter plot.

"We are really upset because we were issued with an eviction notice and it came totally out of the blue, there had been no discussion from the town council. People opened their mail on Friday morning to be told they've been given a notice to quit," he said.

"I was absolutely shocked - some of our members were in floods of tears."

The council said there were 25 residents on the waiting list, some of whom had waited for 15 years for a plot. Kingston Field is the only allotment site in the town, which has a population of nearly 8,000.

"Whilst we have attempted to secure additional land for allotments and have looked at developing a community garden elsewhere on our estate, neither of these endeavours have so far been successful," it said.

It said those who have had an allotment for more than five years would be given 12 months' notice from 1 April.

More recent tenants would be given "sufficient notice to take their term to five years from the beginning of their tenancy".

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