Bournville allotment holders banned from keeping manure in piles

Nov 14 2009 by Edward Chadwick, Birmingham Mail

PLOT holders at a city allotment site have been hit with a legal notice banning them from keeping manure in piles after a neighbour kicked up a stink.

A resident living near Hay Green Allotments in leafy Bournville, complained that farmyard smells were ruining his enjoyment of his garden.

Council officers said they had only used an abatement order as a last resort after a two-year battle with growers.

The notice bans gardeners from storing the natural fertiliser in large heaps and is enforceable by a maximum £20,000 fine.

Furious plot holders say they are angry that complaints from just one neighbour has led to the order.

Committee member Roger Farrell, aged 80, said: “We’ve been doing this for 75 years without a single person mentioning it.

“This gentleman has moved in very recently and has started making complaints about all sorts of things.

“The manure is well rotted and doesn’t smell in the slightest. We will move the pile of manure but people will continue to spread it on their plots which go as close to the house as the pile of manure was.”

Mr Farrell, who has held a plot for 34 years and runs the allotment shop, said he did not feel as though environmental health officers had consulted with the allotment committee enough before imposing the order.