Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at Angela Rayner for allowing cash-strapped local councils to sell off allotments.
The former Labour leader accused the Deputy Prime Minister of putting ‘the nail in the coffin’ for the ‘precious’ community spaces.
Mr Corbyn, the MP for Islington North who has launched a new left-wing party to rival Labour, is a keen gardener and uses an allotment near his north London home.
He has gone to war with Ms Rayner after it was revealed the Deputy PM had agreed for eight allotment sites across England to be sold since last year’s general election.
The veteran politician lashed out at Ms Rayner, who is also the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, for approving the slew of allotment sales.
So-called ‘statutory’ allotment sites owned by local councils are protected from development or sale under the Allotment Act 1925, except with ministerial sign-off.
In an article for The Telegraph, Mr Corbyn – who has previously descibed marrows as his favourite vegetable – wrote: ‘News that Angela Rayner may approve allotment sales will fill many with deep dismay.
‘Allotments have always been under threat from developers. Now, that threat seems to have Government backing, which makes the future of these precious spaces even more perilous.’
Mr Corbyn said the popularity of allotments had ‘grown out of opposition to enclosures and the privatisation of common land’ in previous centuries.
He also noted how there are ‘at least 100,000 people’ on waiting lists for allotments across the country.
‘Once lost, they never return,’ he added. ‘Their loss makes us all poorer, as we become more and more detached from how food is grown and how nature interacts with us.
‘Allotments provide a vital space for community cohesion, biodiversity and social solidarity.
‘These parcels of land, that cannot be individually fenced, provide growing space for many people.
‘Many people have no access to their own garden, and an allotment gives them the opportunity to grow vegetables and fruit and observe nature.
‘Allotments are particularly important for people who experience stress and mental health problems.’
Mr Corbyn acknowledged that ‘social housing is desperately needed’ as Ms Rayner attempts to fulfil Labour’s pledge to build 1.5million new homes within five years.
But he warned: ‘We need not sacrifice these vital green spaces to build it.
‘Is this Government going to put the nail in the coffin of the joy of digging ground for potatoes on a cold, wet February Sunday afternoon? The battle for the grass roots is on!’
Mr Corbyn’s attack on the Government comes after his recent launch of a new party, temporarily known as ‘Your Party’, with fellow ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana.
Ms Rayner was recently revealed to have approved the sale of allotments in Somerset, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, West Sussex, Derbyshire, and Kent.
In Storrington, West Sussex, there are plans to build 78 new houses on a former allotment site.
A spokesman for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said that councils should only sell off allotments ‘where it is clearly necessary and offers value for money’.
He added: ‘We know how important allotments are for communities, and that is why strict criteria is in place to protect them, as well as school playing fields.’
