'Angst and disharmony' over water at Chatteris allotments

Councillors have agreed to look at schemes to help conserve water on a set of town allotments where rows over its usage have seen plot holders almost coming to "fisticuffs".

Chatteris Town Council agreed to consider proposals put forward by the allotment association at the Honeysome Road Allotments, where some tenants have been abusing the 'free' water supply by attaching hoses and sprinklers. This has led to tensions between plot holders.

Sam Pearce, one of the tenants, was joined by fellow plot holder Suzanne Lewin to make a presentation on the issue at Tuesday night's town council meeting.

Allotment holders have had to battle with the dry weather this summer to grow their crops.(Image: Sarah Cliss/Newsquest)

In August, the Cambs Times reported that the water supply to the Honeysome Road site was being temporarily turned off by the council, which runs the allotments, due to plot holders "abusing" the system.

Town clerk Joanna Melton highlighted the issues with the way the water was being used at the August meeting, and the council's financial officer, Angela Papworth, warned the authority could not afford a massive water bill as the funds were not in the budget to pay.

Mrs Melton reported at that meeting that the situation had become very heated between individual plot holders and that it had almost come to "fisticuffs" with tempers fraying.

Mrs Pearce and Mrs Lewin presented suggestions from the Honeysome tenants on how to improve the situation.

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She said the issue had been discussed at length, and they had come up with a number of suggestions.

These included installing 12 plastic dip tank troughs (six on each side) - these would allow members to fill up watering cans, but hosepipes could not be attached. They would refill like a toilet after it has been flushed.

For those less able, then plastic water containers with taps would be issued to individual plots, eight additional standpipes would be installed across the site, but would be covered with lockable caps and padlocks.

These taps could be used to fill up water butts once or twice a month.

In the meantime, all allotment holders would continue to be encouraged to carry out rainwater harvesting on their plots.

Mrs Pearce said this year's long, hot summer had caused problems for plot holders trying to grow crops with a lack of rain leading to higher water usage.

But she said: "The topic of water use is always very tricky. It needs to be available, fair, and accessible for the whole site.

"There's been flagrant misuse of water because it is kind of 'free' and people feel entitled. We want to level the playing field, making it fair for all."

She said this summer had seen a lot of "angst and disharmony" over the way some people have been using the water.

Mrs Lewin argued there was a surplus of funds from money raised through plot rents, and this should be ploughed back into the allotments and not spent on other council services.

She argued the money was there for the council to spend on the association's proposals.

The estimated cost of the association's proposals was around £2,050, without the cost of individual water butts, which would be £32 each, and there would be an installation cost on top.

Councillors agreed to a recommendation that Mrs Melton obtain quotes for the installation work before members decided whether or not to proceed with the proposals.

In the meantime, allotment holders are facing a rent rise of £2 per plot for those on Honeysome Road, and £1 for the Queensway site (which has smaller plots and no water), from next autumn.

Councillors had a separate discussion on allotment rents. The current price is £38 for a full plot, £22 for six months, and £18 or £19 for a half plot.

Cllr Anne Hay proposed increasing rents by £2 from September/October 2026 ( the council must give a year's notice on any rent increase).

There was some discussion on whether that was too much, but Cllr Hay, pointed out the council was considering investing quite a lot of money at Honeysome Road, and other maintenance might also be needed in the next few years.

She said that if the council were to set up a separate bank account for the allotments, then it could show the money was being spent on them and not on other things.

Cllr Ian Benney thought it would not be too outrageous to ask for £50 a year, but his fellow councillors thought that would be a move too far.

It was eventually agreed to increase the rent at Honeysome by £2 per year, and by £1 a year at Queensway.