For nearly four decades Grace Gray has tended to her plot at the Park Road allotments in Isleworth, west London.
Each day she travels a mile from her home to the three-acre piece of land. She studies its nature – the loss of pollinators, the glut of apples and the influx of green and spotted woodpeckers – finding pleasure in watching the land, and the people who care for it, grow.
“The community is so strong and sometimes there’s nobody here but this peace and tranquillity – it’s so peaceful,” said Gray, 80, unperturbed by the noise of planes overhead, descending towards nearby Heathrow.
But the space is under threat, as one of Britain’s oldest aristocratic families intends on paving over the open green space belonging to the Grade I-listed Syon Park estate.
The land, now owned by the 12th Duke of Northumberland, Ralph Percy, was first used as allotments after the first world war, leased to the council by the duke’s ancestors to help grow vegetables. The present situation is not that different from 1917, Gray argues, as people reel from the cost of food and fuel.
“I just don’t understand how they can possibly allow this to happen, it just doesn’t seem right,” said Gray, looking at her plot of radishes, tomatoes, rhubarb, carrots and runner beans, which she takes home, shares with others, or donates to the local food bank.
In 2015, the Percy family revoked the lease and regained control from Hounslow council, with plans to build on the land that were later rejected. In October 2021, a second application to build 80 flats was lost after the council received more than 900 objections from local people. The latest appeal, brought by the Northumberland Estates development company, began on Monday.
“It’s an absolute travesty. It shows no understanding of the value of this place, particularly in ecological terms,” said Gray.
The allotment benefits people’s wellbeing, says Gray, who recently lost her mother and partner. She points to one plot belonging to a Ukrainian couple, and another to an Afghanistan war veteran.
However, with the looming development plans some people have left their plots. The uncertainty has also meant that certain vegetables, such as asparagus, which does not crop for three years, have not been planted.
“Just let this remain an allotment,” said Gray. “We just really need more people of Isleworth to be here … and we need it to be maximised and loved.”
In Northumberland Estates’ second appeal, the company said the plans to replace the allotments with dozens of new homes would provide an income stream for conservation works to Syon House – which is privately owned but open to the public – and would provide 40% affordable housing.
The proposed development would leave a small fraction of the allotment for the existing users.
Salman Shaheen, an Isleworth councillor who has been working with local people for years to preserve the site, said the dukes of Northumberland used to have “a great sense of noblesse oblige and wanted to do something for the community.
“But this duke is very different. I think that he sees it only in terms of pound symbols. And I don’t think he sees it in terms of the value it provides to the community.”
While a decision on this week’s inquiry may not land until the autumn, Shaheen believes the community has a strong case. The local open space is protected by law, he said, adding that Hounslow council had already met its housebuilding targets and did not need to sacrifice green space to do so.
On Thursday afternoon, as the inquiry went into its third day, Jennifer Langley, 39, was tending her plot alongside four of her five children. The duke’s development plans, she said, spoke to a greater issue of nobility owning so much land in the UK.
“He should see himself as a custodian of communal land, yet he takes it upon himself that he thinks it’s for him,” she said. “Let’s say they won – would you be proud to say ‘oh yeah, we developed this thing on an allotment’? I find it incredible that he’s even trying to do it.”
Dawn Ellis, 67, is an organic gardener who has lived in the area for eight years. But with the future of Park Road allotments hanging in the balance – and 900 other individuals waiting for allotments in the area – she had to find a plot elsewhere.
“We’re all so interconnected, and it’s almost as if these people have no idea how interconnected everything is,” she said. “The real people are fighting for their own lives in a way. Why don’t you have it for the community, and all the activities that go on, and for the lungs of this area?”
A Northumberland Estates spokesperson said: “Although some have tried to personalise the issues discussed at the inquiry, we hope planning permission will be granted and we can deliver a scheme that benefits allotment holders and the wider community.” They added: “We can adequately supply allotments for all existing allotment holders and additional plots under the plans for development.”
• This article was amended on 8 August 2023 to include additional comment from Northumberland Estates.
