SAVING OUR ALLOTMENTS

It took one man's vision and an enormous amount of work to save a derelict allotment site. Dave Taylor is the man on a plot-saving mission. YouTuber and expert allotment gardener Nigel Jewkes (aka Muddybootz, pictured right) went to meet him

- Nigel Jewkes

The future of our allotment sites is constantly under threat of being reclaimed for building houses. Against all odds, ‘Brummie’ Dave Taylor took up the challenge to save a failing and near-derelict 75-year-old allotment site and return it to its former postwar glory…..

What inspired you to take on the challenge of resurrecting Longmeadow Crescent site?

I was approached by the chairman of Birmingham and District Allotments Confederation (BDAC) to join him on an assessment of the site. The complete area was appalling, covered in brambles and discarded rubbish (so far we have cleared a total in excess of 20 tons). My first impression was that it was beyond salvaging; on closer inspection the vegetation was above head height. However, after my third visit I decided to take on the challenge, providing I had the backing of the BDAC to tackle it in small sections over a period of time. The initial clean-up started by using machetes to hack a pathway down the centre of the site to make it accessible. The debris was sited in a specific area with the aim to get funding for a large dumper truck and digger to remove it at a later date. Only two or three plots were being worked when I first took on the challenge and these were people who had refused to give in. When I approached them to explain the intention to resurrect the complete site, they greeted me with a smile of disbelief. As more areas got cleared and plots became available again, this appeared to generate some momentum and the work is still ongoing.

What is the history behind Longmeadow Crescent allotments?

The allotment evolved soon after the war when Shard End estate was built around the mid-1950s. Originally a small stream ran alongside the site which was a boundary marker between Birmingham and Solihull, but this has since been rerouted underground.