Angry gardeners pay high price for good life
A SINGLE mum has been told by the council to pay an extra £150 for her garden – or face losing the vegetable patch she relies on to feed her child.
Beverley Reynolds, 42, has been paying an annual rent of 50 to Wakefield Council for a garden plot outside her home, at Heys Buildings, on Church Road, in Altofts, for the past seven years.
But now the mum-of-one says she has received a letter from the council saying they have re-evaluated the land.
She also claims the council is asking residents to foot the bill for the surveying fees and any new contracts.
Mrs Reynolds will be forced to pay 200 per year if she decides to keep the plot, but she claims people with allotments on Altofts Hall Road next door to her plot are only paying 10 a year.
She said: “I am a single parent and it’s so hard keeping up with bills as it is. I turned a third of my garden into a vegetable patch and I am pretty self-sufficient in winter from the food I grow there.
“Now I may as well go to Marks and Spencer and buy their organic vegetables for the price the council wants to charge me.”
Mrs Reynolds’ neighbours have also been put in the same position and have been given three months to decide if they want to keep renting the plots.
She said: “Everyone who rents a plot has been told the same thing. Because of the different sizes of the plots, people have been asked to pay different rents – it’s just ridiculous.”
Mrs Reynolds also claims one couple’s rent has been put up to 500.
She said: “Before I moved in, an agreement was drawn up with the people who lived here to share out the plots and everyone was charged just 5 a year. My rent was steeper because I moved in after the agreement was made. There was nothing I could do about it then, but now putting the rent up so much is just ridiculous.”
Neighbour Mark Hill, who currently rents a garden plot for 5, has been told his annual fee will increase to 221.
He said: “I think it’s absolutely outrageous. I have spent a lot of money making my garden look nice and then to be told I have to spend more to keep it is just not on.
“I’ve also been told if I don’t keep it on I will have to return it to the state in which I took it on, which will mean dismantling my shed and garage.”
A Wakefield Council spokeswoman said: “The council’s property services team is currently reviewing a series of long-standing garden licences. We are not able to comment on individual cases but if people have concerns they should contact us so we can discuss any issues they have.”
The council can be contacted on 0845 8506506.
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Weather for Wakefield
Friday 25 May 2012
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