“If the Olympic ideal means anything, it should apply to much more than four weeks of running, jumping and swimming. Friendship, tolerance, vision and healthy, sustainable living are fanfared by Manor Garden Allotments.”
That’s what Cleve West believes, garden writer for The Independent newspaper, and a Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winner.
Manor Gardens is an urban garden of allotments in Stratford, East London, that sits in the north central section of the Olympic Park. It was bequeathed to be allotments ‘in perpetuity’ by their original owner, the Right Honourable Major Villiers. However, the London Development Agency’s plan is to remove Manor Gardens to make a footpath to the Olympic stadia and now to house a public television screen, in the process destroying a century of devoted cultivation and a close-knit community rooted in this irreplaceable site.
The eviction date is set for 2nd April 2007. The planning application for the Olympic Park will be submitted to the Olympic Delivery Authority at the end of January 2007. The public can lodge their objections for the next three to four weeks by signing an online petition at:
petitions.pm.gov.uk/manorgardens
Old timers Tom and Albert, have been growing veg and keeping fit here for 54 and 58 years respectively, taking over from their fathers. 10 year old Boris, whose parents are members, nags them to come to the plot and wants to hand his plot down to his son. Members trust in the permanence of the site, which led one plot holder to scatter his brother’s ashes on his plot.
This diverse community includes Londoners of Turkish Cypriot, Greek, Jamaican and African origin as well as people who can trace their ancestors back to the East End for generations. As a community, they welcome the potential for regeneration brought by the Olympic development. Rather than being moved out of the way, they want to offer their contribution which seems to them to be entirely consistent with the Olympic and Government ambitions. They believe to remove the allotment gardens would be to rip out the ‘healthy heart’ of the Olympic Park area as well as to fragment the co