Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden has given her two pence on the controversial allotments on the edge of Bristol. Roots Allotments has been turning a field on the main A369 road through Abbots Leigh at the corner of the turning into Leigh Woods into a huge allotment, but has been ordered to cease by council representatives.
The allotment, over which council planners are torn whether it requires planning permission, has sparked controversy amongst local residents, with some physically preventing tractors and lorries from going into the field last week. The location of the allotment has also divided people on social media, with notable figures such as wildlife presenter Liz Bonnin criticising Roots - which already has two commercial allotments in Bath - for "destroying a meadow diverse in grasses and flowers".
This afternoon, April 24, Deborah Meaden waded into the debate. An outspoken environmentalist, Meaden also hit out at Roots for choosing the field over other locations in the area.
Read more: Police called over allotments row as angry villagers block lorry
"This is why ecocide should be a crime," Meaden wrote, quoting Bonnin's tweet. "@Rootallotments has a great idea but needs to be using degraded land NOT biodiversity rich meadows.
"We have already lost 97percent of them in England...."
Meaden has shared several thoughts about the proposed Bristol allotment on Twitter. A graphic posted by Roz Stewart-Hall on Twitter appeared to show that, to use 12m2 of Roots' land each year, gardeners have to fork out £108.89.
"Making money is not a problem in itself," Meaden replied. "And if@RootsAllotments are providing a service the Council can't/isn't then so be it HOWEVER... you can not claim to have sustainability at your heart if you are prepared to rip up healthy meadowland and all the biodiversity that goes with that and to replace with plastic contaminated if the pictures are to be believed."
On Thursday morning (April 20), police were called to the site of the proposed allotment to diffuse a spat between concerned residents and Roots bosses when a lorry arrived at the field, attempting to deliver a shipping container. The confrontation went on for most of the day, forcing the shipping container to be taken away again.
A spokesperson for North Somerset Council told BristolLive last week that planning officers have advised Roots that they should not do anything more until the legal arguments over whether they have to go through a full planning application process first are completed. Roots' bosses spoke of their frustration last week that North Somerset Council has not yet made a decision on whether to give them a Certificate of Lawful Use, or tell them they need to submit a full planning application, and have missed a couple of deadlines on when they have to make a decision.
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