HOUSEBUILDER PROVIDES ACCESSIBLE ALLOTMENTS FOR LITTLEHAMPTON COMMUNITY

Local housebuilder Barratt Homes commemorated the handover of new allotments at its Kingley Gate development in Littlehampton to the local town council this week. Together with Littlehampton Town Council the housebuilder hosted council members and new plot holders for a handover ceremony. Though demand for allotments in the town is always high, this year, approximately 60 people have been allocated their first allotment, with the numbers set to increase as the new occupants settle into their plots at Kingley Gate.

Members of the Littlehampton Town Council, new plot holders, and Councillor Billy Blanchard-Cooper, Mayor of Littlehampton, were invited to visit Barratt Southern Counties’ Kingley Gate development last Wednesday 12th December. The ceremony formed the most recent of a series of celebratory events that have taken place at the development. Mayor Blanchard-Cooper was invited to cut a ribbon and say a few welcoming words at the beginning of the event, representing the passing of ownership of the allotments from the housebuilder to the council, and officially opening the new gardening space on the development.

The allotments were developed with the whole community in mind, as the housebuilder took steps to meet the need for more accessible public spaces. The allotment’s careful design includes raised beds and flat pathways, ensuring that occupants with reduced physical abilities have all-weather access to their allotments, and a consistently stable surface to work from. Pairing up with construction hardware company Bliss, the housebuilder was able to install wheelchair-accessible picnic benches and plotting benches, which will form the heart of the allotment area.

Julian Hodder, Managing Director of Barratt Southern Counties, commented, “It’s very rewarding to see our plans for the community gardens come to fruition, and we were delighted to be able to meet with the new occupants. We are particularly proud to be able to create spaces such as these, which have the power to bring the community together. The inclusion of the wheelchair-accessible seating and flowerbeds ensures that even those with reduced mobility aren’t prevented from benefiting from the social and natural space.”

Councillor Ian Buckland, Chair of the Town Council’s Community Resources Committee and Allotment Working Group said “It has been an ambition of the Town Council for many years to be able to offer accessible allotment plots so we were thrilled to have been able to finally provide local residents with this opportunity thanks to the Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme.  We are also extremely grateful to Barratt Homes for all of their help and support in delivering the project as part of the new allotment site at Kingley Gate.  The Town Council will continue to work hard to deliver additional allotments for the community as the Town grows in the coming years”.

Bags of Help is run in partnership with environmental charity Groundwork, and sees grants raised from the sale of carrier bags awarded to thousands of local community projects every year. Since launching in 2015, it’s provided more than £63 million to over 20,000 local community projects.

Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “Bags of Help continues to enable local communities up and down Britain to improve the local spaces and places that matter to them. The diversity of projects that are being funded shows that local communities have a passion to create something great in their area.”

Those interested in renting an allotment plot should visit Littlehampton Town Council’s website where you can check availability and make an enquiry, visit our allotments page.