We’re locked in a £100k war over our allotments – we’re spending our life savings to avoid being booted out
A GREEN-FINGERED couple have spent more than £100k fighting to keep allotments they have tended for more than 20 years.
But Wayne Armsby, 70, and Elsie Price, 71, are due to be thrown off the two plots they rent in Finchley, North London, tomorrow.
The couple became embroiled in a “petty” dispute with the “dictatorial” allotment management site, which has ended in a legal battle.
Wayne and Elsie pay £150 a year for each of the two plots that they rent, but are being booted off after being accused of using them as a garden.
The allotments are meant to be used for growing fruit and veg, with limited flowers allowed.
But the couple have installed sculptures, ponds and a seating area - sparking the complaints.
They have refused to give up the land, which is close to the end of their garden, and launched their legal battle nearly three years ago.
The couple have managed to run up a six figure legal bill which continues to rise, and have almost wiped out their savings and pensions cash.
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Both have borrowed money from family and friends to pay for their cause, which they say is important on principle.
Last month they won a county court case when the judge ruled a decision to evict them on the grounds of anti-social behaviour was unlawful.
However Pointalls Allotments, who own the land, gave the couple 12 months' notice and the eviction date is tomorrow.
A landlord is not legally required to provide a reason when evicting with proper notice, leaving the couple terrified that they will “send in the bulldozers” to destroy everything they have created over the years.
Elsie told : “If you'd have told me at the start it would cost us £100,000 I wouldn't imagine where in the world we would get this money from but we have done it.
“As the costs mounted up, we had considered giving in. This whole process has caused immense pressure, we've suffered many sleepless nights, but we've had so much support from the community that we've kept on going.
“They are a dictatorship.”
Pointalls has 160 allotments for members to grow fruit and vegetables, which is managed by a board of directors.
The couple have access to a communal area with fruit trees, where they sit and relax, along with two ponds.
When they were threatened with eviction the couple removed a moon-shaped sculpture that they had created from garden waste.
The couple claim that they worked to improve the “standards of cultivation” on their plots, and the relationship between them and the management broke down in 2017.
'DICTATORSHIP'
After a committee meeting the couple were served the eviction notices for anti-social behaviour, and were refused access to the mediation meeting.
When they were threatened with eviction at the start of the long-running dispute, Mr Armsby removed a moon-shaped sculpture made from garden waste that he had created.
The couple also worked to improve 'standards of cultivation' on their plots. Relations between them and the management broke down in 2017 and two years later they were served eviction notices for anti-social behaviour after a fractious committee meeting.
The couple, who live in a Victorian end-of-terrace house, requested the dispute go to mediation but the allotment company refused.
Eventually the case came before the Central London County Court in December last year.
Judge Mark Raeside QC rules last December that the couple’s anti-social behaviour eviction order should be overturned.
However because the company had already given them notice, they still have to leave, but the couple have pledged to fight for their gardens.
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Chairman of Pointalls Allotments Ltd, Paul Hendrick, said: “Yes, we've had arguments with them and others where plots are not properly cultivated, where we have a procedure to give people notice, encouraging them to cultivate their site properly.
“Wayne and Elsie had this view that the allotments could be used as gardens rather than for the production of fruit and veg and that is simply not in accordance with allotment legislation.”
